TEN YEARS AGO, I left England carrying just one rucksack. Apart from a few items left in the care of family and friends, this rucksack contained all my worldly goods, pared to the minimum in the months before my departure. It was a liberating feeling to be heading into the unknown, without baggage, without job, without commitments and plans. I felt as light as a feather.
Fast forward to 2006, and I have a house full of baggage and belongings. I have cupboards full of VCDs, shelves heaving with books, files, old magazines and newspapers, a desk full of unfiled documents I'm not sure I'll ever need, drawers I dare not open, and suitcases packed with clothes I haven't worn in years. And to top it all, four children and all the clutter that goes with them.
Some things I wouldn't change for the world - the children for one - but I would be lying if I said I was happy living with all my clutter. I'd love to have the kind of clean home you see in magazines, or be someone who could sweep things under the carpet. But I know it would never be 'out of sight out of mind'. It would all still be there waiting for me, making me feel as though I could never relax.
I'm not alone, according to Sue Kay, a Britain-based so-called declutterer and author of No More Clutter: How to Clear Your Space and Free Your Life (Hodder Mobius). Clutter is a modern phenomena, brought about by a consumer society in which people have more money to buy more stuff.
'Affluence has had the biggest effect on clutter in people's lives,' Kay says. 'You used to buy a washing machine that would last your life. Now, you can expect to replace it within two years. I read recently that children now receive something like 70 presents a year. That's more than one a week.'
Kay, who set up her decluttering business in 2002 after organising her own belongings and finding it life-changing, defines clutter as things you no longer love or use. She says everyone has clutter and no one is perfect.