In December last year, a large box was delivered to our home.

It was from my beautiful soul-sister, Kerry – and the message inside read, “A Christmas House Gift.”

Inside was a fire pit for the garden.

That night we set the fire pit up, loaded it with wood and old receipts and accounts from times gone by.

We then lit it up.

For ages we stood, watching the flames, feeling the warmth and relishing the feeling of letting go of old stuff that marked the end of a business relationship, commitments, stuff.

We then spent two weeks clearing out our attic to create a loft-living-room where I can escape from everything and write and study.

Boxes and boxes of old stuff has been decluttered and taken to the charity shops, or given away or sold.

Since then, Spring has sprung, double somersaulted and landed in a jumping-jack stance in our house.

The fire pit is out again and I’m in the garden, slashing and burning and clearing and rolling out a red carpet of space for this wonderful new season to arrive.

Despite my personal geekery for clearing spaces, I also understand that decluttering can be an emotional thing.

Certain items can hold huge sentimental value and deciding what to do with something can rake up all sorts of resistance. For me, clearing things that I felt attached to but didn’t necessarily use was a matter of “transmuting the item into something equally beautiful.”

For example, after my Dad died I inherited all of his homeopathic books.

I had an entire library of them and some were worth a lot of money.

I loved them and I loved him, but the contents of those books were gobbledygook to me. One day I lay on my bed and wondered what to do with them.

Then I was struck with an idea.

What if I sold Dad’s books to someone who could actually use them and then put the money towards publishing one of my own books.

This instantly FELT right in my heart. I knew my dad would have happily given his blessing and the thought of his books being transmuted into bringing new books to life felt perfect.

Another nice way of turning an item that you love into something equally beautiful, is to donate it to people who genuinely need it. Take old clothes, books and items to charity shops. If you’re still resistant to this, invite a friend around to help and support you through the process.

I noticed the other day that on the Facebook Salvation Army page there’s a nice #LentChallenge taking place. The idea is that every day you put one item that you don’t need into a black sack and at the end of the forty days, you donate that bag to the Salvation Army to those in need. To be fair, this challenge did start on March 1st, but hey – you could just throw some extra items in!

By releasing and letting go of material things that are no longer useful to you, you will elevate the quality and create space for more gorgeousness to flow into your life and home.

If decluttering your whole home feels like a major mission, why not just look at your space with fresh eyes?

Ask yourself whether your environment makes you feel relaxed and peaceful, or edgy and unproductive?

Is your home working for you?

And what is REALLY lurking in that cupboard under the stairs?