Wouldn’t it be great if being at home could be a little like being on holiday?

We were very lucky to have spent Christmas in one of my favourite places on the planet. Club La Santa, Lanzarote. If you like sport then this place is heaven. All activities (Over 80 sports), group instruction and equipment hires are included in the cost of your apartment. I can’t begin to list the vast array of opportunities that are there as this is not really a post about this amazing destination but more about how your surroundings matter and the influence they have on us.

In this very special place Christmas takes on a whole new meaning. There’s a 7.45am triathlon to get the day going, an invigorating “Body Combat” class at the lawn or a relaxing stand up paddle board on the lagoon. And it’s all done in a very pleasant 20 degrees and light breeze. It is hard NOT to want to be active here. Everything is made incredibly EASY to do. There’s also plenty of time for connecting up with others and resting. This is quite the opposite of some of the more stressful festive periods we’ve had at home.

The space around us can inspire, lift and support us OR it can drain, exhaust and deplete us. We often use holidays as a way to “escape” our usual surroundings. I feel there’s an awful lot of good we can take from them and apply to our homes.

One of the statements I’ve frequently heard said to me since becoming a professional organiser goes along the following lines “I love the feel of a holiday home, it’s just so clear. It makes me realise I don’t need as much as I do”.

There’s pretty compelling scientific evidence that clutter causes anxiety, inhibits our ability to focus and leads to an increase in stress levels. Neuroscientists at Princeton University established that a disorganised space overloads the senses and makes any tasks much more difficult to undertake.

Of course, most of us can’t stay on permanent vacation. We have to return to obligations and routines. But perhaps we can bridge the gap a little, make our houses more enticing, reflect some of that feel-good factor into our homes. I’m not talking about turning our dwellings into 5* luxury hotels. Although some people have done and love that option. First and foremost for me it’s about simplifying.

Here’s a few ideas to assist with this:-

· Unsurprisingly, my number 1 tip is declutter, declutter, declutter!*@ Asking ourselves what we want to get out of a room is important. Is it primarily for relaxing, being creative in, bathing etc. ? Once we’ve got clear on this, we can start to decipher the important elements that are key and those items that get in the way of the prime purpose. Hotel rooms and apartments tend to have just those items that are necessary and not a whole bunch of extras.