General information about this weeks' plan can be found here. The theme for this week is: "A Child In Focus".

This week, we are continuing to think about your personal space, but extending the scope a little...

Group Two is for people who generally have a tidy home, but are worried about a few disaster zones spreading.

Please pick a group for yourself and stick with it for two months. Once you decide which group you belong to, don't attempt to follow advice for other groups at the same time, as you will have too much to do. If you are not sure which group you should join, start with the lower numbers as they include introductions to the concepts of later groups.

You may sometimes think that you could have achieved more in one week, but don't assume this means that the programme isn't going at your pace. If you find you have achieved everything I mentioned for a particular week, find a way of adapting the same theme somewhere else in your home. We have to go slowly, because you have other things going on in your life and if you have a few days where you feel overwhelmed, you may well decide to ditch the de-clutter programme first. This is why we are going to take it slow.

Also, the key to continued success is to get into the habit of doing it, not to have a de-cluttering frenzy several times a year!

If you have a Group 1 child living in a Group 2 home(!), follow the plan for Group 1 this week.

General: Continue to work at stopping more clutter from appearing around your home, by keeping on top of mail as it enters your home, by keeping better control as to what you spend your money on, and by putting everything that has a home back in its correct place.

This week, let's pick a child's bedroom to de-clutter. If you have more than one child in the bedroom, just deal with the area associated with one child - don't worry about the shared areas to start with, as you can look at them if you have time later in the week.

If the room is generally clean and tidy, but there are one or more disaster zones, look at the items involved and try to trace the history of how they came to rest in their present positions:

• Was something brought into the house without providing it with a place for storage? Will it hang from a hook?


• Is something too much hassle to put away? Consider providing a new way to store it.


• Was the child too tired to put it away, and then forgot to later? Perhaps it would help if you prompted him/her in the morning?


• Are you doing all the tidying up for your child? Fair enough, but try to come up with a way of motivating your child to do more, as this will help him/her to develop the habit of de-cluttering too.

This week, remember that instead of thinking What do I need to do in order to sort out this room? it will be more helpful to ask the question What does my child need to make the room easier to keep tidy? - the answers could include help, guidance, motivation, or simply more storage. If you made notes about the room during Week One, sit down with your child and review them together. Talk about your feelings with regard to de-cluttering the house in general and see how your child would feel about applying the "little by little" approach to his/her room. Take your time this week and don't worry about not seeming to do much as you need to ease your child into the idea of de-cluttering the room too. Even if s/he is very enthusiastic, de-cluttering can soon become overwhelming and the habit mustn't seem too much like an obvious chore.

Due to popular demand(!), there will eventually be a children's de-cluttering section on Spiritsense.

• Don't forget to come back to the list with tips and suggestions for those in Group 1! We need you!

As always, I welcome your feedback because it helps me to come up with new ideas and solutions for you.

Good luck everyone, and DO try this at home!

Wendy.