Are You Too Tidy?

Is cleaning an addiction and a waste of time?

Are you doing too much housework? Are you a cleaning pest? If so, what, if anything, should you do about it?

I work with a lot of people in their early 20s. Most of them live in disgusting pigsty flats. One of them has had enough and has decided to turn his life around. He said to me last week, "I am so gross, I have to start cleaning up after myself".

Overall, I think this is a good thing. I know his landlord will appreciate it. We have all heard horror stories of messy tenants and their beer-soaked carpets, mouldy curtains, broken toilet seats, piles of rubbish and smeared walls.

While studying at Otago University, I really enjoyed my years of living in filth. But nowadays, I have gone completely the other way. I am too clean. I have a taste for tidying, and I can't stop.

If you look around your house, you can always find something that needs cleaning. Over time the goalposts of messy move towards the minutiae.

When the relationship with the mother of my children ended a few years ago, I bought a townhouse. This place is a trap. Modern apartment-style living enables over-cleaners to indulge themselves. It's so sterile, any little spot of dirt sticks out. It screams at you to clean it.

Where I used to let the dishes pile up till they fell over, I now stress if there's a single bowl sitting in the sink for more than 5 minutes.

When friends come over, I spend the whole time hovering around them waiting to recycle their bottles. I spend more time wiping the bench, sweeping up and collecting glasses than I do talking to people.

Cleaning is a slippery slope.

Yesterday I spotted a single needle leaf on the 12th step of a flight of stairs in my house. Instead of picking it up or ignoring it as a sane person would, I immediately ran to the cupboard and feverishly fitted the small attachment to the V15 Dyson Complete. I shoved it into it’s powerful, battery-draining boost function, got down on my knees and carefully cleaned all 28 steps.