There’s a lot to be said for a neat, tidy home where everything has its place. If you’re anything like me, you’ll find it extremely hard to focus when the place is a mess or you have the feeling that things aren’t precisely where they should be. And yes, this includes inside the fridge.
Of course, that wasn’t always the case. When I was young, I didn’t place much emphasis on organization around the house — not because I didn’t care, but because it simply wasn’t something I thought about. I was too busy living in the moment, rushing from one activity to another, leaving small messes behind me like breadcrumbs.
I guess I’ve got my mother to thank for the fact that the house always looked spotless anyway, as if it were ready to be pictured for an estate agent’s portfolio at a moment’s notice. She had a natural sense for where things belonged, a quiet magic when it came to cleaning and arranging, and it gave our home a kind of everyday elegance that I didn’t fully appreciate until I became an adult with a space of my own.