Tidiness

Should you force yourself to be tidy? Is a bit of chaos good for creativity? What's the difference between vacuuming and hoovering?
Vocabulary
  • Laundry (noun) — dirty clothes that you are washing, or clean clothes that have just been washed.
  • To leave something to be desired (phrase) — To be somewhat inadequate or unsatisfactory; to lack an indeterminate portion of what is desired or required/to be much worse than you would like.
  • Drawer (noun) — a box-shaped storage compartment without a lid, made to slide horizontally in and out of a desk, chest, or other piece of furniture.
  • Orderly (adj.) — neat, tidy, and well-organized.
  • Chaos (noun) — complete disorder and confusion.
  • Losing battle (noun) — a struggle that seems certain to end in failure.
  • To pile up (phrasal verb) — if something piles up, or if someone piles it up, the amount of it increases a lot.
  • To sweep (verb) — to clean (an area) by brushing away dirt or litter.
  • To vacuum (verb) — to clean with a vacuum cleaner.
  • Frenzy (noun) — a state or period of uncontrolled excitement or wild behavior.
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Questions and answers
Maria: Rory, are you a tidy person?

Rory: Usually. Though, right now my laundry pile leaves something to be desired. But in the main, yeah. I’m quite good at having everything in its place and tidying up and cleaning dishes and things, so yeah, I’m pretty good at that.

Maria: What do you do to be tidy?

Rory: Well, I like everything to be in its place, so everything has a place that it should be in or at the very least it’s out of the way and I know where it is. So that’s just one way of doing it. The other thing is just making sure that everything is organized. So if we talk about clothes, like I have drawers for different clothes. So if we have all the socks in the sock drawer, then they’re all in the right place. It’s not just, like, a mess, for example.

Maria: Do you think that it’s necessary to be tidy?

Rory: Well, because I’m a tidy person, I’m supposed to say yes, but actually no. I don’t think so. I think it’s actually a personality thing. Most people think it’s, like, the key to being the best at everything — to be tidy and organized. But like I say, if your personality is not like that, then you shouldn’t force yourself to be, because you just make yourself miserable. So if you’re an orderly person, then you should definitely try. But if you’re not, then don’t worry. It’s not the end of the world. Just find someone that understands why you’re untidy.

Maria: Do you think that people should be tidy all the time?

Rory: No, I think, like, a little chaos can be a good thing, actually, because it forces you to think creatively about, well, how to solve the problem of chaos, I suppose. So in this sense it’s not it’s not something that you have to one hundred percent be all the time, but it is something that I try to be most of the time.

Maria: Do you keep your workplace tidy?

Rory: Well, I definitely try to, but it feels like a losing battle sometimes, because the work often piles up and then I’ve got to get through everything. And so the focus is on the work more than the being tidy. But then I’ll come back to the tidiness. So it’s not like I completely give up.

Maria: What about your house?

Rory: Yeah, it’s quite tidy. like I say, apart from the laundry pile. But it’s a laundry pile so it doesn’t have to be tidy… It is my logic at the very least.

Maria: When was the last time you cleaned up?

Rory: Like, you mean everything?

Maria: Yes.

Rory: Well… Oh God… Well it’s called spring cleaning, but to be honest, I did it before I went on holiday in the summer. So I guess that would be about a month ago. But then I do like little bits and pieces of tidying every day.

Maria: And what did you do during this spring cleaning?

Rory: Um. Oh, God. Everything! Like, I cleaned the dishes, all of the surfaces in the kitchen, swept the floor, did the vacuuming, even the parts of the apartment that I’m never usually in, I was vacuuming. So, yeah, I just went on a bit of a cleaning frenzy, I suppose.
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