I live in chaos – can decluttering experts really help me?
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My late father used to say, ‘a place for everything and everything in its place,’ delivered with great irony because A) he was the messiest person I’ve known and B) totally comfortable with it. It must be in the DNA as I am messy too. But unlike Dad it stresses me out and brings me down.
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As neuroscientist Dr Tara Swart writes in her bestselling book The Source, ‘our physical environment plays a major part in maintaining our mood, perspective and stress levels… a space to recover from stresses and worries.’ However. My home is making me stressed and worried.
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This contrasts with my work life where I am ‘obnoxiously organised’ as a friend once complimented me, but like many of us I simply have Too Much Stuff; my wardrobe is so crammed I can’t see what clothes I have, as for the floordrobe think changing rooms on the first day of Primark’s sale.
When I try to tidy my one-bedroom London flat – of which I’m very well aware I am very lucky to have – I create more chaos and during my attempts at decluttering I get overwhelmed and throw my toys out of the proverbial pram into the ‘utility cupboard’ aka dumping ground.
It also makes for a joyless cycle as I have ADHD and there are links between this and mess – but whatever the medical evidence, I find is hard to accept that I could do with a hand. Until now…. It’s a cold and grey Monday morning and my bed is covered with every bag I possess in order of size from holdalls to evening purses.
