Neat

According to my mother's standards, I will always be infinitely disorganised, untidy and chaotic, whilst compared to the majority of my friends, my bedroom is as neat as a pin. Perhaps, I am now beginning to think, my mother's 'minimalistic' approach has actually rubbed off on me, and whilst not quite permeated my soul in the same way (yet) means that I am actually relatively tidy.

However, whilst I have become programmed to preferring as little clutter as possible on show, my personality clashes when it comes to hoarding versus ruthlessness. For example: I can mercilessly throw away several t-shirts and last season's much loved dress, much to some people's horror. But when it comes to a birthday card, or a beaded necklace I seem to switch into forager mode. I've never in my life thrown away a safety pin, of which I have many despite also never having spent a penny on one. And thus I have accumulated a whole lot of crafty stuff over the years, despite spending very little time doing crafts. And so although on the surface, everything looks awfully dreamy, chaos bubbles all too near the surface.

It was all getting a bit much. Yesterday, when searching for some sequins in the many, many places they could be, my sister upturned several boxes. Today when in a bout of efficiency I organised all my work I couldn't find any labels. It was then that I decided to do tidy up - properly. No half-hearted sweeping all the surfaces clean, or even focusing on one chaotic section. I absolutely blitzed the room, starting with the 1000000000001 pens, pencils, graphite sticks, felt tips, gel pens, highlighters and crayons littering the room. I put all my sequins, ribbons and material in one place and my card somewhere else. A whole drawer became devoted to paper, and another to stationary. Then to the pile of bags, hats, gloves and six year old make-up lurking at the bottom of my drawer; here I stopped and polished the dust-ridden floor before moving on. I even sewed up all the holey gloves whilst my efficiency was still in full-blast.

The best part was all the things I found, which I'd forgotten I had. First came a free DVD I got last Halloween buried under stacks of cardboard, shopping bags, receipts and a big red net. Then I found a Statement of Results for an exam which I'd thought I'd promptly lost back in August fallen down the back of the drawers. Next it was an old purple cardigan in the forgotten in the DIY pile under several bags. Best of all was a pound coin lurking in the pocket of a messenger bag which I definitely haven't used in the last 12 months.

I love my newfound neatness. Despite my still littered desk, and clothes-covered bed, I feel tidy on the inside. In the same way as a food detox, I feel cleansed because I know that behind those gleaming drawers and wardrobe doors are my equally beautiful and organised things. I am proud of myself, and rightly so, because the very first day of my holiday has been so very productive. That is, until I realise that however extreme a method, I've yet again resorted to procrastination in the face of proper work.