Keep your choice of furniture simple. Getty
Keep your choice of furniture simple. Getty
Keep your choice of furniture simple. Getty
Keep your choice of furniture simple. Getty

Naturally messy? Here are 6 tips on how to keep neat and tidy


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Wouldn’t it be lovely if your living space could look like something from a home interiors magazine? They’re always so neat and tidy, so perfectly styled, but the truth is most of us fall far short of that level of perfection unless we have important guests coming round. For people who are ­naturally messy, achieving anything close to a show home can seem impossible.

Thankfully, being messy doesn't have to mean you're destined to live in a state of chaos. There are plenty of design tricks you can use to either help make sure your home stays clutter-free, or at the very least distracts the eye so the mess is less noticeable. Here are just a few examples...

Declutter, declutter, declutter

Even the tidiest person will struggle to keep an excessively full home clean. You don't have to become a complete minimalist to have a neat living space, but you do have to ensure that you don't have more possessions than you do space. Otherwise, you're fighting a losing battle, constantly shuffling one thing out of the way to make room for another.

Marie Kondo's KonMari method is a good place to start when it comes to decluttering. Her process takes you through your entire home in a regimented order, starting with clothes and ending with nostalgic items, such as photos and diaries, things that are hard to part with. The KonMari technique won't necessitate getting rid of everything you own, only those things that don't "spark joy". With less in your home, it will be harder to be messy.

The KonMari technique won’t necessitate getting rid of everything you own, only those things that don’t “spark joy”. Getty
The KonMari technique won’t necessitate getting rid of everything you own, only those things that don’t “spark joy”. Getty

Nail that storage system

Kondo also has some great ideas for storage, with her key principle being that everything in your home should have its own place. Even inside a drawer, she'll advise having a number of small boxes to divide items. Similar to how you might have a cutlery tray for dividing spoons, knives and forks in the kitchen, you could also have dividers to separate ties, socks and underwear in an accessories drawer in your bedroom.

Elsewhere, open shelving and clear, flat surfaces are danger zones for messy people, inviting you to put stuff down in an arbitrary fashion until an inevitable avalanche ensues. If you need to store things in these areas, choose attractive but functional storage boxes, trays and other containers to keep your possessions in an orderly fashion. Make sure that each has only one function and label it so you don’t forget what it is. With your system in place, tidying up should become super-simple and therefore not a chore you put off until you’re living in disarray.

Group items in drawers with dividers. Getty Images
Group items in drawers with dividers. Getty Images

Choose low-maintenance decor throughout

The smallest thing can make a room look messy, even if you've tidied away all that clutter only moments ago. Wrinkled sofa cushions, textiles that shed fluff, fingerprints on glass or metallic surfaces, rugs that have slipped into an uneven position – staying on top of these high-maintenance items can be too much for a naturally messy person to handle. So try to fill your room with furniture and accessories that will make your job easier.

Also, remember that the more pieces of furniture you have in a room, the more cluttered it will look and the more work you’ll have to do to keep it all tidy. Choosing built-in furniture is much more effective, allowing you to find a place for everything without having to have excessive numbers of bureaus and dressers all over the place.

Target the junk traps

There are a few classic areas where junk collects, even in the neatest of homes. Hallways get cluttered with bags and shoes that are discarded when you arrive home. Stairs can often sprout piles as we pop things down "to take upstairs later" and then forget about them when we're trudging up to bed. Paperwork also has a nasty habit of covering spare surfaces until the problem is big enough to prompt us to take action.

Beware of areas where piles of clutter collect, such as under the stairs. Getty
Beware of areas where piles of clutter collect, such as under the stairs. Getty

You probably recognise that one or more of these issues is something you face – in which case nip it in the bud. Hang hooks in the hallway and invest in a shoe stand so bags and footwear can be neatly stowed with no effort. Put a pretty – and easy to carry – basket on the stairs so that clutter is contained while it's there and can then be moved to its rightful place easily. And put an "in-tray" somewhere central so that paperwork is also contained and ordered for when you're ready to either file or action it.

Get the kids involved

Children can really scupper your efforts to stay mess-free. Let’s face it, the majority of them are untidy and quite often have to be bribed to clean up. But if you can make the process fun, you’ve already won half the battle. Colourful storage systems with easy-to-understand labels will make packing away their toys at the end of the day much less of a chore.

Depending on their age, you may even be able to get them to help you create a suitable storage system, picking out furniture or accessories so they have a sense of ownership. This should make them willing to accept their role in keeping their spaces in order.

Style your house tidy

Although no one is suggesting you get rid of everything decorative that you own, accessories can create a cluttered feel. Naturally messy people struggle to keep everything in its place and – perhaps more importantly – dusted. So, go back to Kondo's method and get rid of anything that doesn't spark joy. With what's left, think about how you can curate them into impactful groupings, which will give your room a much more styled feel. For example, instead of having small vases and knick-knacks scattered around, group them together on a decorative tray or, better yet, under a Victorian-­style cloche to save dusting. Equally, a printer's tray is great for small items.

This idea of curation goes beyond accessories, too. In the kitchen, if you place your tea, coffee and sugar containers on a suitable tray, you’ll not only make it look better but you’ll be able to move it around more easily when cleaning.

You may not be able to change your innate nature, but by putting in a little thought and effort now, you can set up systems that will help you stay tidy despite yourself.

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Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

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JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH

Directed by: Shaka King

Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons

Four stars

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SUE%20GRAY'S%20FINDINGS
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Indoor cricket in a nutshell

Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai

16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side

8 There are eight players per team

There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.

5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls

Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership

Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.

Zones

A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs

B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run

Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs

Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full

Volvo ES90 Specs

Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)

Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp

Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm

On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region

Price: Exact regional pricing TBA

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Tomato and walnut salad

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Badrijani nigvzit

A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.

Pkhali

This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.

TERMINAL HIGH ALTITUDE AREA DEFENCE (THAAD)

What is THAAD?

It is considered to be the US's most superior missile defence system.

Production:

It was created in 2008.

Speed:

THAAD missiles can travel at over Mach 8, so fast that it is hypersonic.

Abilities:

THAAD is designed to take out  ballistic missiles as they are on their downward trajectory towards their target, otherwise known as the "terminal phase".

Purpose:

To protect high-value strategic sites, such as airfields or population centres.

Range:

THAAD can target projectiles inside and outside the Earth's atmosphere, at an altitude of 150 kilometres above the Earth's surface.

Creators:

Lockheed Martin was originally granted the contract to develop the system in 1992. Defence company Raytheon sub-contracts to develop other major parts of the system, such as ground-based radar.

UAE and THAAD:

In 2011, the UAE became the first country outside of the US to buy two THAAD missile defence systems. It then stationed them in 2016, becoming the first Gulf country to do so.

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Isaac Sackler and Sophie Greenberg were Jewish immigrants who arrived in New York before the First World War. They had three sons. The first, Arthur, died before OxyContin was invented. The second, Mortimer, who died aged 93 in 2010, was a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. The third, Raymond, died aged 97 in 2017 and was also a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. 

It was Arthur, a psychiatrist and pharmaceutical marketeer, who started the family business dynasty. He and his brothers bought a small company called Purdue Frederick; among their first products were laxatives and prescription earwax remover.

Arthur's branch of the family has not been involved in Purdue for many years and his daughter, Elizabeth, has spoken out against it, saying the company's role in America's drugs crisis is "morally abhorrent".

The lawsuits that were brought by the attorneys general of New York and Massachussetts named eight Sacklers. This includes Kathe, Mortimer, Richard, Jonathan and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt, who are all the children of either Mortimer or Raymond. Then there's Theresa Sackler, who is Mortimer senior's widow; Beverly, Raymond's widow; and David Sackler, Raymond's grandson.

Members of the Sackler family are rarely seen in public.

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
DMZ facts
  • The DMZ was created as a buffer after the 1950-53 Korean War.
  • It runs 248 kilometers across the Korean Peninsula and is 4km wide.
  • The zone is jointly overseen by the US-led United Nations Command and North Korea.
  • It is littered with an estimated 2 million mines, tank traps, razor wire fences and guard posts.
  • Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un met at a building in Panmunjom, where an armistice was signed to stop the Korean War.
  • Panmunjom is 52km north of the Korean capital Seoul and 147km south of Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital.
  • Former US president Bill Clinton visited Panmunjom in 1993, while Ronald Reagan visited the DMZ in 1983, George W. Bush in 2002 and Barack Obama visited a nearby military camp in 2012. 
  • Mr Trump planned to visit in November 2017, but heavy fog that prevented his helicopter from landing.
Scoreline

Al Wasl 1 (Caio Canedo 90 1')

Al Ain 2 (Ismail Ahmed 3', Marcus Berg 50')

Red cards: Ismail Ahmed (Al Ain) 77'