I am somewhere between the two, and feel like I have a little angel and devil sitting on each shoulder. "But it might come in handy" says little devil. "It would be so much easier to clean without the clutter" says little angel.
I think this feeling of being pulled in both directions stems from my childhood (this is starting to sound a bit Freud but bear with me). My Mum is a certified OCD hoarder of the kind you might see on Grimebusters or How clean is your house? No joke. It is so bad that even though she has a 3 bedroom flat there is no space to put up guests. You can barely find an uncluttered route to walk across the floor and the carpet hasn't been seen for years. This made it hard growing up; I could keep my room reasonably tidy but the rest of the house was impossible. I'd find excuses to put friends off visiting. I'd meet boyfriends in town rather than risk them seeing my mum's place. When I was 16, I made my escape by going to college on the other side of London and moving in with my Dad.
I know how this sounds... selfish. Why didn't I help? I have tried but it is the sheer volume of junk. I once had a week off work and spent it going through the crap with her (she refuses to let us chuck out anything, even a pile of old newspapers, without her consent). We ended up with 12 bin bags of rubbish, 8 for the charity shop along with a few pieces of furniture, and several wheelie bins worth of recycling. It barely made a dent on the flat. Then I found she had been sifting through the bin bags and pulling stuff back out. I was physically and mentally done in.
Not surprisingly, K hasn't been round there yet. Me, my brother and our partners are hoping to blitz the place in the new year. The council are fitting a new kitchen and bathroom in April so they will need space to get in!
I am pretty ruthless when it comes to clearing stuff out but sometimes I think "Why did I chuck that? If only I still had it". I had one of those moments when I saw this...
I have a feeling my badge collection was in one of the 8 charity shop bags. Otherwise I might have a go at making one of these myself!








