The idea of decluttering my flat fills me with dread. It’s full of junk: old clothes, battered books, cables that I’ve not used (nor owned the electronics they charge up) for years. But while it’s a massive weight on my mind – and honestly, an eyesore – I can’t find the time or energy to sort it out.According to a new survey, I’m not alone. Twenty-one percent of homeowners told David Wilson Homes they find decluttering ‘too overwhelming’, while 57% say they only bother clearing out a few times a year. And unsurprisingly, this isn’t great for our mental health. As per pretty much every survey ever, clutter acts as a visual distractor, overwhelming your senses, dividing your attention and draining your cognitive energy.The key, as with pretty much every big task, is to break it down into manageable chunks. It’s like a negotiation: your brain says ‘no way’ to spending six hours sifting through rubbish, but 30 minutes seems much more doable, so you’re mind acquiesces.Want to know the best way to use those 30 minutes effectively? Keep scrolling for our top five (actually feasible) decluttering hacks.The bag-it-up methodThe bag-it-up method is ideal for those who are struggling to get started with decluttering, because their countertops and floor space are too busy. It involves removing pretty much everything so you have a clean space, packing it in labelled bags or boxes such as ‘cables’, ‘furnishings’ and ‘toys’.This clears the clutter, and gives you some breathing space and a reminder of how nice your place looks without all the rubbish. Then, in daily increments, you can go through each bag one by one, sorting them into throw out and keep piles – making sure you immediately assign the keep items a new ‘home’ out of the way.The beauty of this method is twofold. Firstly, it doesn’t need to be done all in one go – you can do one bag every day, or whenever you get 30 minutes and feel like tackling a small section.Aside from that, putting everything out the way helps you understand what you actually use. There might be items you think: ‘I wish that were still in here’; there might be ones that you don’t even notice are missing. This makes the final ‘keep’ or ‘ditch’ decision way easier, because if you’ve not missed something lying around, you know it needs to go.The anti-Marie KondoRemember when Marie Kondo was literally everywhere, and you couldn’t read a home magazine without the words ‘spark joy’ appearing? Her idea was to ‘thank’ items when you get rid of them, to express your gratitude for their service.But someone on Reddit has shared a different method – and one that we actually think makes way more sense. ‘Instead of thanking things as I toss them,’ one user explains, ‘I'm telling them why they suck and need to get out of my house. Being ridiculous and loudly telling off clothes for being uncomfortable/unflattering/not my style actually made it way easier to not talk myself out of keeping stuff I don’t, or won’t wear.’Not only is it a good decluttering hack, but an opportunity for some much needed stress relief. Sign us up.The use-it-or-lose-it methodThis one is for all the things you can’t quite bring yourself to chuck, even though they’ve been sitting untouched for months. The fancy moisturiser you promised you’d start applying twice daily. The jumper that looks lovely but itches around your neck. The mystery jar in the kitchen cupboard from a short-lived Ottolenghi phase.Instead of letting them lurk there forever, give them one final chance. Wear it, cook it, read it or use it within a week. You’ll usually remember very quickly why it never made the rotation. If you love it, great – it stays. If it annoys you, makes you itchy or still doesn’t appeal, out it goes.Keep a bag or basket nearby for the rejects, so failed ‘auditions’ can go straight to the charity shop pile, rather than becoming clutter all over again.The 30-day challengeThis one is ideal if you need a proper clear-out but can’t face doing it all in one go. For 30 days, you declutter the same number of items as the day you’re on: one item on day one, two on day two, three on day three, and so on.It starts off easy – one old receipt, job done – but by day 25, when you’re hunting for 25 things to remove from your home, it becomes a real task. It’s particularly useful before birthdays, Christmas or any other occasion where loads of new stuff is about to enter the house.Anything decent can go on a local Buy Nothing group, where it will often be claimed within a day or two. Otherwise, donate it, recycle it or bin it. By the end of the month, you’ve shifted hundreds of items without having to surrender an entire weekend to the cause.The upside-down testThis is a brilliantly low-effort way to work out what you actually use, rather than what you think you use. Pick a category – mugs, shoes, books, picture frames, anything else lying around gathering dust – and turn everything upside down for a day.As you use each item, put it back the right way up. By the next day, you’ll have a very visual answer. Are things still upside down? They’re probably not earning their keep, and you can chuck them.You can do the same with clothes by turning all your hangers backwards. Each time you wear something, hang it back the right way round. After a few months, anything still facing the wrong way is basically saying: ‘You never wear me.’