You may have noticed we have a penchant for organised living here at The Box Room. Scroll through the blog and you’ll see we’re always going on about rejecting a stressful life full of the piles and piles of things that, despite our best efforts, we all accumulate, and ending your stuffocation. So while the sun’s high in the sky and the days are long, we’ve got some advice for those thinking of having a thorough summer declutter. Trust us: there’s no better time to do it.

See also…

• 8 signs you need to declutter (and how to take immediate action)
• 5 tricks to make your London flat feel HUGE
• Moving house in London? 5 lifehack services that’ll sort you right out
• How to buy the art you fall in love with
• London self storage with a difference: all you have to do is pack!

1. Get some help

Approaching a big old declutter can be a daunting task. If you live with other people, insist that they muck in. You never know, they might quite enjoy the shared challenge of sorting through all your things. No, really! Stick on a great album, make yourselves a cup of tea and prepare for intense nostalgia as you find old photos, letters and cards.

There are also lots of handy tools to make the process easier. If you’re trying to make a little space in your wardrobe, chest of drawers or under the bed, vacuum packed bags are great for squeezing clothes and linens into a tiny space. For those wishing to put an end to scrambling through drawers – chucking its contents on the floor in the process, naturally – drawer and cupboard organisers are a dream. Read more about them here.

And of course, if there’s simply not enough space no matter how much vac-packing you do, you can try Boxman – the London self storage company with a difference. They deliver, collect and return the boxes to your door and, because they charge by the box, not the room, it’s only a fiver per box per month and a fiver to get it back again.

2. Make the most of the summer

Imagine waking up on a freezing cold, dreary winter morning and knowing that you had to spend the day sorting through your things. All you really want to do is put all your layers on and watch an uplifting film while lying on the sofa under your duvet drinking lots of tea. But when the summer’s here, it’s a different story! Open the windows, let the sun stream in, put some happy music on and have a little dance – it’s a totally different experience. So make the most of the long, warm days to get some decluttering done.

It’s also useful to have a sort-out in the middle of the year because, if you live in the UK, you probably have more winter clothes than summer clothes. By their nature, your summer clothes will be smaller and easier to store. So while you’re unburdered by your winter coats and woolly jumpers, use the benefit of hindsight to be really ruthless about what you wore last winter. Anything you haven’t worn for a year should go to the charity shop or friends. Anything else can be vacuum-packed or popped into storage for a while. Plus, when your numerous bags are full to the brim of fashionable donations, you can take them straight to the charity shop without worrying it’s going to snow. Bonus!

3. Plan ahead

This follows on nicely from point two. It’s the beginning of August, which means you’ve probably got another two whole months before you’ll have to think seriously about discarding your summer wardrobe. So consider what you’re going to need for the coming weeks – are you going on holiday? Going camping? Going anywhere cold? – and chuck what you’re not going to need into storage. There’s no point having five coats hanging in your wardrobe until it’s absolutely necessary. And, once you finally give in and admit it’s not practical to wear sandals when it’s 5°C outside, you can make room for your bulky winter warmers by putting your summer stuff in storage instead.

4. Get organised

Declutter is only fun when you’ve got all the tools you need at hand. Firstly, make sure you put enough time aside and blimmin’ go for it. You can do it in stages if you like – room by room, for example – but if you live in a small space there’s something so satisfying about getting it all done in a day.

Make sure you’re wearing comfy clothes, you refuel regularly and you’ve got plenty of bin bags on hand for your cast-offs. Somewhat Simple have created a great print-out that allows you to tick off certain spaces as you go. Don’t know about you, but we really love ticking off items on our to-do list. So. Much. Fun.

5. Think strategically

It’s amazing what a little reorganising can do. Imagine this: you have an attic, a cupboard under the stairs and all those other normal spaces in a home. The stuff you don’t need very often – but will ultimately need – should go in the loft or in storage. Getting stuff down from there is a pain so try to ensure you don’t have to do it too much. Your cupboard under the stairs should be for bulky items that you need to access regularly – the hoover, for example, or suitcases if you’re a frequent traveller.

Other spaces around the house should be for relevant easy-access items. Consider whether you actually need what’s in the loft and get rid of it if not. Then reorganise your cupboard under the stairs so that it’s accessible and convenient. After all, decluttering is all about making living in your home as stress-free and enjoyable as possible.