Moving house is stressful – we all know that.

And much of this stress is down to the pressure we put on ourselves to make our places look perfect ahead of the all-important photos and viewings.

If, like me, you struggle to part with stuff, clutter can be a barrier to having your home look its best - which is why some movers are getting the experts in before putting their places on the market.

In this week’s feature (p42-43), Richard Burton spoke to a local lady who opted to bring in the big guns - a declutterer and a property stager - to get her home looking tip-top before she put it up for sale.

The pros wasted no time in clearing out the cupboards, loading up the binbags and repositioning the furniture to make the space look its absolute best.

This sort of service isn’t cheap of course - the decluttering starts at £160 for a basic home audit, while the staging service is upwards of £395. But when viewed in the context of the price of a house in St Albans or Harpenden, this sounds like small change.

When we sold our last house last year, I opted for a more DIY approach. When the agent came to take pictures, I followed him round, moving things out of shot. Friends have gone a step further, hiring storage facilities, or simply loading up their cars with the random clutter they didn’t have room for.

Because, as Tracy Ross of Blissfully Organised told Richard, where viewings are concerned, there’s nowhere to hide - every cupboard is at risk of being opened, meaning ever piles of shoved-in clutter is at risk of being exposed - and possibly exploding out onto a potential buyer.

Who wouldn’t appreciate an expert’s help when marketing their home? The luxury of having a pro over to wade through the chaos and create a snazzier, more streamlined look might just be a price worth paying.