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My Home Is Always Tidy (Just Don’t Peek Inside the Closets)
by Clara Jennings
Updated: June 2, 2020
Originally Published: April 28, 2017
Image Credit: Daniela Staerk / Shutterstock
Perhaps it’s due to my upbringing by a cleanliness-obsessed mother. Maybe it’s my classic Virgo traits that make me uneasy around disorder. Or perhaps, if you ask my partner and children, I simply enjoy annoying them with my endless reminders to “clean this” and “get rid of that.” Regardless of the reason, my living space is nearly always presentable.
However, I do have a few hidden messes (and I might mean that literally if you dig deep enough – who knows what’s lurking in my closet?). Despite the tidy appearance of my home, you risk getting buried under an avalanche of chaos if you dare to open any door or drawer. My closets, cabinets, and pantry are a total disaster, and they always have been.
Back in the day, when my mom would tell me to tidy my room, I would shove all my belongings into a massive pile, bulldozer-style, into the closet, and shut the door. Boom! My room looked clean, my mom was satisfied, and I avoided trouble for being messy. Sure, I had to use all my weight to get the closet door closed and would lose items in the pile for months, but hey, my bedroom was presentable.
Fast forward a few decades, and here I am, still struggling with organization behind the scenes. It’s not as chaotic as my childhood closet, but it’s still embarrassingly unkempt for someone who appears to embody the “everything in its place” philosophy. Every time I open the kitchen cabinet for pots and pans, something crashes out in a noisy tumble of cookware. My wardrobe is more of a jumble than a neatly hung collection. And if you’re injured, you better hope you’re not bleeding too much while you rummage through the nearly empty and expired tubes in my first-aid drawer.
I don’t have a valid excuse for my hidden mess (pun intended). It’s pure laziness, I suppose. I know that if I just dedicated time to organize everything, it wouldn’t take nearly as much effort to keep it up. But, I mean…I also know that giving up junk food would help me achieve that dream body I fantasize about, yet here I am, hoarding snacks in my disheveled kitchen.
If I had my way, I’d have a pantry that rivals those of organization gurus, where everything is perfectly stacked with labels facing out, and a closet where my clothes are ironed, hung, and sorted by season and color. I’d also have someone to clean the rest of my house to my liking, so I could focus on organizing the chaos behind closed doors.
But that’s not my reality — so until I can magically afford a maid or a professional organizer (or discover a way to add more hours to my day, which seems unlikely), I’ll just focus on keeping the visible areas tidy. Yes, it bothers me that my hidden spaces aren’t as organized as the rest of my home — I’m neurotic like that — but not enough to stress over it. I simply don’t have the energy.
I may share the same 24 hours as a celebrity, but I doubt they spend any of theirs cleaning out their closets.
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Summary:
Keeping a tidy home can be a challenge, especially when hidden messes lurk behind closed doors. The author reflects on their upbringing and ongoing struggle with organization, admitting that laziness plays a significant role in their cluttered closets and cabinets. While outwardly their home appears well-kept, the reality is that some areas remain chaotic. The post touches on the desire for a perfectly organized space and the reality of balancing cleanliness with everyday life.