The internet's latest viral trend 'shelf faffery' takes killing time to a new level - and you're probably guilty of doing it too

Stop faffing - it’s something I heard a lot growing up. The practice of doing things we don’t know need to instead of tackling the main task at hand - faffing - it’s something we’re all guilty of.

We all have a method of wasting time in the most enjoyable way. I personally like to kill time (when I should be cleaning) by rearranging my bedroom candles.

Planning your living room ideas, it can be far less overwhelming choosing the best home scents to place in there. There’s something about choosing aesthetic jobs over the more important - more boring - ones.

This style of faffing has made its way into our home with the term ‘shelf faffery’ going viral over the past week.

Shelf faffery is a little different than your stereotypical faffing about - a little more than simply organising or how to declutter, it’s the art of meticulously arranging small spaces like bookshelves and shelves to be beautiful.

@audreyishome

♬ original sound - Audrey Lin

What is shelf faffery?

‘Shelf faffery is when you're "faffing" with your homes' shelving in order to make it look more aesthetically pleasing. It's about taking the time to arrange and style your shelving and its decorations so that it looks good. It’s not just chucking things on a shelf, but instead it's about carefully curating the space with much more thoughtful placement of the likes of books, plants, decorative items, personal items,’ says Lee Trethewey, interiors expert at Sustainable Furniture.

It’s not quite house, shelf faffery is a little more artistic, requiring you to really think about where you're placing your items.

What's the difference between faffery and housework?

You may be thinking shelf faffery is just a convoluted way of saying house work, but it’s not - faffery is all in its decoration.

‘Faffery is all about the decorative side of things, and making those little adjustments to make your home look just right and much more aesthetically pleasing and attractive,’ says Lee.

‘House faffery could be anything from rearranging cushions, switching up picture frames, rearranging cabinets and table top items, and of course in this case it also includes shelf faffery.

‘House faffery isn't essential work, and isn't about keeping your home clean, which is what housework generally tends to be.

‘However, house faffery can be time consuming. Although it might be more fun to do than housework, it's not a necessity and shouldn't really take priority over housework and cleaning jobs. Housework should always be prioritised, and once it's done, house faffery could then commence.’

Benefits of shelf faffery?

‘From a psychological perspective, there's something innately satisfying about bringing visual order to chaos through compulsive reorganising. It taps into our need for security and predictability. Those perfectly curated shelves become physical manifestations of our inner restlessness finally finding its place,’ says Dr Daniel Glazer, clinical psychologist and co-founder of US Therapy Rooms.

‘Incorporating pockets of intentional reorganising into our daily routines could be a healthy way to destress and realign our Chi. At the very least, you're left with pristinely stylized shelves providing a little ray of domestic feng shui...and that's not the worst way to spend an idle half hour,’

Not only is shelf faffery enjoyable, but your home will thank you for it, too. I know what I’ll be doing the next time I have a spare 30 minutes on my hands.