Every so often, the lounge becomes a battle zone. Old newspapers and magazines will sometimes be spearheading the offensive, protected by the insistence of various household members that they had not yet finished reading that magazine or the crossword puzzle in last week’s newspaper needs to be completed.

It is essential that storage is considered as soon as possible in order to maintain organisation within any environment, as this will assist in giving all items a designated place to be found. By simply creating ease through storage, people can become less stressed as they avoid having to plough through all manner of items before reaching what they need.

Most councils now provide a collection service for anything made out of paper, and even those annoying catalogues that keep arriving from a mail-order company you only used once, several years ago, can be condemned to the recycling bag.

Drawers, cupboards, shelving units and paper racks are all potential hiding places. Old bills, bank statements, mortgage and insurance documents for example will sometimes lurk here. Any kind of paperwork that you know may be needed in the future could be stored in a box or container that was to have been thrown away and stored in the loft.

It is also a good idea is to use a marker pen to clearly label the box and what its contents are before consigning it to its temporary resting place. The inventive DIYer could use odds and ends of wood or other materials to build storage racking into which the boxes could be organised.

Remember that magazines, especially hobbyist ones might be of interest to somebody else and there are plenty of second-hand shops run by various charities that will be able to sell them on. Set aside a separate bag to sort these into.

The contents of the upstairs rooms can be quite alarming at times. The bathroom, for example, will often have windowsills, shelving units or cabinets filled to bursting point. Take cardboard or plastic storage boxes in there and put everything in it that isn’t nailed down.

Put the box outside the bathroom if you are sharing the house with anyone else, and insist they sort out what they do and do not need. If you find a bottle of tablets or liquid and no label, make sure you dispose of it responsibly if you are not sure what it contains.

Now you can clean the shelving and cabinets properly. Once you’re finished, find a space in the bedroom to take out the contents of the box and throw away anything either past its use by date or simply not needed.

Next, tackle the spare room. Charity shops sometimes post collection bags and you could take one with you to dispose of anything that someone else might be able to use. Creating shelf storage space in a closet is surprisingly easy when old t-shirts, dresses and other items of clothing are cleared out.

Odd socks, threadbare clothing and towels are sometimes collected by the council as long as you store them in a separate bag for textiles only. If old shoes or slippers that are falling apart have been stored out of the way in the spare room, you may find a local cobbler who will take them and they can be recycled.

Implementing storage solutions for your household is a sure-fire way to keep on top of the many belongings you have, and keep your home tidy and organised all the while.