Sort through your belongings room by room and deal with these prime clutter suspects.
 

• Gather any clothes that don’t fit or that you’ve kept for sentimental reasons
• Get rid of broken objects you haven’t gotten around to repairing
• Set aside impractical or uncomfortable furniture that’s rarely used
• Throw out old bed linens, tablecloths and towels that are beyond repair
• Pile up books and magazines that no longer interest you
• Go through children’s artwork — save the best, toss the rest
• Scrap seldom-used or chipped kitchenware
• Discard old paint cans (the color won’t match the walls after six months)

Once you’ve gathered the clutter, give it a new lease on life:
 

• Donate clothes, furniture and any useful items to charity
• Hold a yard sale — you’ll get rid of junk and make money
• Hand down or swap children’s toys and clothing

Create realistic storage spaces for your belongings to prevent clutter buildup.
 

• Keep entryway mess down by rotating outdoor gear with the season
• Place attractive filing trays and a trash can where you open mail; separate bills, correspondence and junk mail as you open them
• Allocate a shelf or cubby to family members who don’t get to mail quickly or who leave keys, wallets or other small items lying around
• See how piles of loose change add up with an electric money sorter
• Divide and conquer: separate sweaters from swimsuits and crayons from markers — open-plan arrangements can quickly become a tangled mess

Try these tricks to conceal storage systems.
 

• Fit roller blinds over open shelving, or hide a home office with a full-length curtain hung from a ceiling track
• Stash seasonal clothing under your bed in drawers or boxes; choose containers that have castors for easy access
• Make closets blend in by painting them the same color as your walls and using inconspicuous knobs
• Create “secret” storage areas: fit drawers with kitchen kick plates and hide gear in the space under stairways

Tip: Think Inside the Box
Fill a cardboard box (or three) with potential castoffs. Seal it, date it and leave it in your garage for six months. If you haven’t had to open it, let it go!