Except for the neat freaks and organizer types, dealing with clutter is not anyone’s idea of fun. But give these decluttering tricks a try and we guarantee that you will have a field day throwing out all the junk and unnecessary items in your space. Best of all, you’ll be a step closer to a cleaner and more relaxing home.

1. The KonMari Method
There’s a reason why Marie Kondo, author of "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up," has gained a huge following all over the world–her decluttering method is very simple but leads to amazing results. Go through each of your items at home and ask yourself, "Does this spark joy?" If it’s a yes, keep the item. If not, discard or give it away. Super easy and super effective.

2. The Four Box Method
This is the most common way of decluttering and it helps you get a lot done in just a short period of time. Get four boxes and label them with the following:
• "Keep" for things you want to keep;
• "Store" for things that you’re not sure what to do with or you think you’ll need later on;
• "Donate/Sell" for stuff that can be donated or sold; and
• "Throw Away" for items that need to be discarded.

Sort through your clutter and decide whether an item should go to the Keep box, the Store box, the Donate/Sell box, or the Throw Away box. Don’t let go of the item unless you’ve made a decision. When you’re done, spend a few minutes emptying the boxes accordingly–put the items in the Keep box in their proper places; get the Donate/Sell box to a charity or to a second-hand store/online store; throw away the items in the Throw Away box; and put into storage those in the Store box.

3. The Reverse Hanger Trick
This trick is a game-changer for those who struggle with full closets and can’t let go of their clothes. Hang all of your garments backwards, so that the open end of the hangers face you. After wearing an item, put it back in your closet with the hanger in the correct direction (open end of the hanger is away from you). After a few months, you’ll know exactly which clothes you have not been using. Take out all the items on the backwards hangers and donate or sell them.

4. The Packing Method
This decluttering trick is based on the out of sight, out of mind principle and it’s easy to do – just put all your clutter in a box, seal it up, and put it away. If you find yourself needing an item from the box, then unseal it to retrieve the item, and put the box back in storage. After a few months, you can safely get rid of the items that are still in the box by donating or selling them. In fact, most people who try this method never open their clutter boxes and just simply discard them!

5. The "Would You Buy It Again" Test
Another way to get rid of clutter, according to the blog Budgets Are Sexy, is to ask yourself, "Would I go out NOW and buy this particular item again?" If the answer is a definite yes, then hold on to the item. Otherwise, you can chuck the item in your donate/sell pile or simply discard it.

6. The One In, One Out Principle
This method is easy to implement but it takes a bit of self-discipline in order to be effective. It works like this: Every time a new item comes into your home, a similar item in your possession must go–either to your donate/sell pile or to your throw away pile. This will keep you from accumulating too many items and it keeps your possessions lean and manageable. If you have some major purging to do, you can try varying the number of items to discard, e.g. one in, two out.

7. The Bedsheet Bundle
An easy and effective way of organizing your linen closet according to Martha Stewart, is to put your sheet set inside one of its pillowcases. This way, all your matching sheets are stored together and they won’t get lost in the linen closet. You can also stack the sheets according to bed size or by the room you use the sheets in.

8. One Item a Day Method
If you look around at your desk, closet, or room, surely you can find something that you can get rid of right then and there. So make it a point to discard or donate one item a day. If you do this consistently, you can clear out a significant amount of clutter without any huge effort.

9. Open your mail next to the trash bin.
Mail can be a huge source of paper clutter. To keep things under control, make it a habit to open your mail next to the trash bin. This way, you can easily throw out junk mail and keep only the most important letters.

10. Set a deadline.
Another effective way to clean out clutter is to set a hard and fast rule of donating, selling or discarding anything that you have not used in six months up to a year. As you go through your stuff, ask yourself if you’ve used an item within the given time period, and if not, get rid of it. You can also adjust your deadline to a much shorter period (e.g. three months) if it’s more comfortable for you.

Other sources: Organized Home, Lifelisted, and Trulia.

Photo: Pixabay; GIFs: Giphy