I was in a branch of the Container Store, a US chain devoted to selling things to help you organise your clutter, when I had two horrifying revelations. The first, which will be understood only by fellow anal retentives and stationery obsessives, was that I was - surrounded by filing systems and boxes - completely happy. The second was that I'd finally figured out why Karl Marx was wrong. Capitalism was never going to collapse in on itself. Instead, in an ingenious act of self-preservation, it invented the anti-clutter industry, which asks us to deal with having too much stuff by buying more stuff.

If you bought every book on clutter in the past few years (with titles such as Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui; Clear Your Clutter, Clear Your Mind; and, my personal favourite, Clutter's Last Stand), you'd just have created more clutter. But there are a few recurring gems of advice if you're feeling submerged:

1) Categorise your clutter. You won't be able to figure out what to do with any given bit of stuff if you don't know what kind of stuff it is. There are things you know you want to get rid of, and things you need that just happen to be in the wrong place right now. But there's a third category: stuff you just want to hang on to, even though it's never going to be useful. Severe anti-clutter coaches think you should be asking yourself some tough questions at this point. "Are you storing reminders of lousy times? Painful memories? Heartbreak?" asks RebeccaSue River, in Clear Your Clutter, Clear Your Mind, a frighteningly detailed book that outlines a whole metaphysics of clutter (apparently it traps "stagnant energy" in your home). The more lenient advice: pack this third kind of stuff in boxes.

2) Use "collection buckets". Another great idea from David Allen, in his book Getting Things Done, for which this column is starting to sound like a weekly advertisement. Mentally separate the idea of collecting up all the things that aren't where they should be from the idea of actually dealing with them. Corral a floorful of toys into a crate in a corner, a deskful of paper into an "in" folder. The point is to get the clutter into holding bays. Process later, as time permits.

3) Divide your home into zones. Attack each in surgical strikes and develop routines. It's ironic that by far the best website on this subject, flylady.com, is itself very cluttered, but take a deep breath and explore.

Alternatively, join the pro-clutter backlash. Next year sees the UK publication of A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits Of Disorder - How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, And On-The-Fly Planning Make The World A Better Place. "Moderately messy systems", according to its author, a business school professor, are more efficient and resilient. At the least, it's a brilliant excuse.

oliver.burkeman@ theguardian.com