Shelley Craft's simple but effective tip for dealing with the post-Christmas clutter.

If you were lucky, you hopefully received many gifts over Christmas.

It’s lovely and thoughtful but once the ham is finished and the tree is put away you’ve got a problem – where to fit it all.

The Block‘s Shelley Craft has a simple but effective trick for dealing with the post-Christmas clutter.

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The 41-year-old swears by the most popular decluttering rule – for something new to come in, something old has to go out.

“New Year is a perfect time to get this happening due to the number of gifts and toys the girls received over the Christmas break,” she wrote for Nine Honey.

She lays out a number of rules for the ‘one in, one out’ policy, including having a bin set up in the garage marked either ‘clothes’ or ‘toys’ so they can be easily donated to charity.

Listen: Shelley Craft’s parenting mantra. Post continues after audio.

She also advises doing one area of your home at a time or per day. While it can be tempting to dive in and do it all, we guarantee three hours in you’ll be deeply regretting turning every room in your house upside down.

The rule can also help you save money by buying less ‘stuff’. If you know you’re going to have to get rid of something you already own to make room for your new item, you’re going to really think about whether it’s worth it or you really need it.

The number one tip for successful decluttering is to be ruthless. Ask yourself if you really need or use that item or if it’s just been sitting in the cupboard for months or years. This applies to clothes, kitchenware, newspaper cut outs… anything.

Once decluttered, you’ll no doubt feel some sense of relief. However, the bigger problem is how to stop it building up again.

According to Organised Home, the trick is to allow some clutter within reason by giving it boundaries. So you may have a drawer in your kitchen where you put all the bits and bobs you don’t know where to put otherwise. Or a chair in your bedroom on which you put clothes you can’t be bothered to put away yet.

Having allocated spaces means things aren’t just lying all over the place cluttering up the house.

Now go forth and enjoy your decluttered home. For now, at least.