A novelist who researched compulsive hoarding for a new book has revealed how looking into the topic made her re-evaluate her own relationship with her belongings.

Author Fiona Harper, 50, from Kent tackles the subject of compulsive hoarding in her new novel The Memory Collector, and began to recognise how she herself was guilty of hanging on to items long after she should have let them go.

After embarking on a mission to declutter, her home has undergone a transformation and the way that she thinks about her possessions is drastically different, leaving her feeling free and with happier and healthier surroundings.

Here, she tells FEMAIL how she learned to let go of some of her most treasured childhood mementoes, and reveals how you can also de-clutter your home.

Author Fiona Harper (pictured) tackles the subject of compulsive hoarding in her new book The Memory Collector. She shares her own experience of hoarding items and reveals the impact researching the book had on her

Your house is burning and you have time to salvage three items. What do you take? Your laptop? A precious photograph? A piece of jewellery? It's a hard decision, isn't it?

We all have possessions that have great meaning for us, that we would be sad if we lost. Objects remind us of a place or a person or a special time in our lives, and we treasure them because of that.

But what happens when this very normal urge rages out of control? This is what I wanted to explore when I started researching and writing The Memory Collector.

Can the same 'stuff' that brings us pleasure, connects us to happy memories, also ruin our lives?

Fiona's research had the unexpected side-effect of making her look at her house and the things she had in it with fresh eyes. One of the items she decided to throw away was Freddy. Freddy was a three-foot monkey she got as a birthday present when she was ten or eleven (pictured)

It all began when I had an idea for a story where a child goes missing - but maybe everything is not as it seems.

I knew I needed my character, Heather, to come from a dysfunctional family, but I was struggling to find the right background for her, that is until I was browsing through the cable channels one day and stumbled across a reality show about compulsive hoarding.

That's it! I thought. This is exactly what I need.

Let's face it, there wouldn't be multiple television shows about compulsive hoarding if it didn't fascinate us, but what is it that makes them such compelling viewing?

A little bit of seeing-how-the-other-half-lives, for sure – and maybe feeling a little bit better about our own messy house in the process – but for me there was more to it than car crash television.

Fiona's character Heather comes from a dysfunctional family and the author decided to give her a hoarder background. Pictured is the book, The Memory Collector

Compulsive hoarding is a mental illness. There's discussion in the medical community as to whether it's a form of OCD or a similar but separate disorder, but whatever its definition, hoarding is a dramatic outward expression of an inner mental state, and that in itself makes it intriguing.

Hoarders or the people around them often link and compare the state of their home to how they feel inside: chaotic and out of control.

Extreme hoarding is often born out of trauma or tragedy. Many of the sufferers have endured loss or abuse.

They feel an emptiness inside, and they attempt to fill that hole with physical possessions. Hoarders can focus on just about anything and get obsessive about ‘collecting’ it – clothes, machinery, toys, food, books, animals or even rubbish.

Ironically, their behaviour often drives those closest to them away, both robbing them of a healthier support system and compounding their problem.

An unexpected side-effect of researching compulsive hoarding was that I began to look at my house - my stuff - with fresh eyes. Why was that pile of books sitting in the corner of my bedroom?

An unexpected side-effect of researching compulsive hoarding was that I began to look at my house - my stuff - with fresh eyes. Why was that pile of books sitting in the corner of my bedroom?

Why was there always loads of junk and paperwork on my dining room table? Why did I have crates of items that had been in my loft for years - never used, never looked at?

The clutter that had been invisible for so long began to bother me. I told myself I'd sort my house out when the book was finished and in with my editor, but it turned out I couldn't wait that long.

So what did I do? I did what every serious bookworm does when in trouble - I bought a book on the subject.

I chose Banish Clutter Forever by Sheila Chandra and read it from cover to cover. The idea was to start with just one room - the bathroom - and keep it tidy for two weeks by sticking with the 'toothbrush principle'.

Why do we never lose our toothbrushes? Because we a) keep them where we use them and we b) put them back in that place when we've finished with them, the book said.

The writer had to decide whether to keep Freddy or another teddy from her childhood, Charlie (right), a large yellow teddy she's had all her life. Pictured is Fiona as a baby with Charlie

Could it really be that simple? In a word, yes. My bathroom was decluttered and cleaned and for the fortnight afterwards stayed pretty much tidy with minimum effort. I was converted, and I instantly set to work on other rooms in the house.

That’s when I ran into my first hiccup. There were very few items that held sentimental attachment in my bathroom.

While a compulsive hoarder might have difficulty throwing away an empty bottle of bleach or a broken toilet roll holder, I had no problem at all, but I had some much tougher choices to make when I reached my bedroom - especially when it came to Freddy and Charlie.

My parents had divorced not long before I got him, and I think it was a time in my life when I'd needed a lot of hugs

Before you start getting really worried, Freddy and Charlie are not my children - I might have got the bit between my teeth on this decluttering thing, but I didn't go that overboard.

Charlie is a large yellow teddy I'd had since I was a baby and Freddy was a three-foot monkey I got as a birthday present when I was ten or eleven.

He had long arms with Velcro on the hands which meant you could wrap his arms around you, attach the Velcro and - voila! - Freddy was hugging you.

My parents had divorced not long before I got him, and I think it was a time in my life when I'd needed a lot of hugs.

Despite her mission to declutter her home, Fiona added that you don't have to get rid of everything. Pictured is Fiona after her novel, The Other Us, won a Romance Novel Award in the Paranormal and Speculative Romance category at an awards ceremony in London on March 5

What is it about childhood toys that makes them so rich with memories, so impossible to part with? Maybe it's because we owned them when we were still young enough to believe they were more than just fabric and stuffing and beady eyes could be.

However, both toys had been jammed in a cupboard above my wardrobe for more years than I could remember, taking up much-needed storage space. As I began to declutter my bedroom, I knew at least one of them had to go.

I'd tried to throw Freddy away once before, had actually put him in a black sack and left him out for the bin men, only to get up early the next morning and rescue him before they arrived.

Fiona also shared a few tips that you can follow in order to de-clutter your living space. She advises looking at one room at a time - otherwise you risk overwhelming yourself

Sadly, thanks to a rather vicious attack by my pet hamster many years ago, the stuffing was coming out of one Freddy's hands too badly to repair. He was scruffy and broken and neither of my kids wanted him.

I took a deep breath and made the decision. I was ready to keep the memories of Freddy but let the dishevelled monkey go.

Charlie, however, continues to live in the cupboard. I get him out occasionally. If I hug him, he still smells of childhood and comfort.

Fiona's tips for decluttering If, like me, you’re seeking to banish a bit more clutter from your living space, here are a few tips and hacks: Start with just one room - don't overwhelm yourself! Get everything out of the storage areas. Ask yourself three questions about each item: 1. Do I need this item and use it regularly? 2. Does this item enhance my life in some way? 3. Do I have to store this item for legal/business/family reasons at the moment? If you can't say 'yes' to one of those questions, think about letting that object go by either throwing it away, donating it to charity or giving it to someone you know who might benefit from it. When it comes to putting the 'keeper' items back, keep them where you use them. It makes it simple to put things away when you've finished using them, making tidying a doddle! Advertisement

I have no shame about keeping him, even if I am a middle-aged woman with teenage children of my own – I dare anyone to honestly say they haven’t kept one treasured item from their childhood if they’ve had the choice.

Childhood is a magical time, so why wouldn't we want to hang onto a little part of that?

And decluttering doesn't mean making your house a clinical, minimalist space; it means clearing out the excess so you can enjoy and use your home how you want to, whatever your decorating style – and mine involves a bit of colour and busyness, thank you very much!