Secrets in my Closet

Contrary to what it may look like in this blog, I try to keep my house tidy (try being the operative word). I can't stand clutter and messiness - it makes me feel disordered and out of control. If you're into astrology, I'll explain by saying I'm a stereotypical Virgo: enough said. Obviously I'm not always on top of things, otherwise I wouldn't complain as much as I do ... but overall, I would consider myself at least a semi neat-freak.

Which is why it's a mystery to me that most of my cabinets, drawers, and closets look something like this:

The linen closet in the hallway. Note the bizarre collection of items: Candyland on top of the random picture frames beside the toilet cleaning supplies ... yeah. Weird. (And that red thing under the roll of paper towels? That's a can of Christmas-scented Febreze air freshener.)

Our closet. Part of it, anyway, but I assure you the rest of it is just as much a mess ... you can't see the rolls of Christmas wrapping paper, or the broken lamp. Or my clothes.

Under the kitchen sink. Cleaners, fish tank necessities, bird seed, trash bags, and Wal-Mart sacks that I've been meaning to recycle ... for about a year.

The strangest thing is that when I do organize these ridiculous messes - which, believe it or not, I do on occasion - I'm really anal about it: in our closet, for example, I hang clothing according to color and sleeve length and such. Or alphabetize our DVDs. Or group cleaning supplies according to the ones I use most frequently.

Sadly, though, they never stay organized for long - and they end up looking like these pictures within, like, a month or less. You know what? Somebody should start a cleaning service that's devoted solely to de-cluttering such "hotspots." I would totally hire them.

Anybody else a "closet" clutterer?