Reverse decluttering is here, prompting a shudder from me and my fellow neat freaks. Why would you want to be surrounded by mementos when you could be perfectly tidy?
Older doesn’t always mean wiser. Jo Whiley has spoken about a home hack she picked up from – clang! – Dame Judi Dench, and I’m afraid I’m opposed to it with every fibre of my being. Whiley is in a new phase – her four children are grownup – so she recently began the most satisfying project of all: a decluttering spree. Hard even to type those words without a shiver of anticipation. Trigger warning for fellow neat freaks, though: this anecdote does not end well.
Whiley went to interview Dench for her RHS Roots podcast and found the actor’s house “packed with family photographs, children’s drawings and memories everywhere”. Mind-blowingly, she means this as a positive. “Seeing Judi’s reminded me that lived-in spaces are often the most beautiful because they reflect a lifetime of love, family and shared experiences,” she says. “I suddenly thought: ‘Why am I putting all these things away?’” As soon as I got home, I immediately put all the family photographs back out.” TLDR: I cleaned up and then I made it all messy again. Shudder.
