My wife thinks I'm OCD. A cleanliness and orderliness freak who cannot stand a mess.
I don't think so, but then again, no one really thinks they have any disorder.
Let's see what my wife comments about me.
I can't stand a messy/dusty floor. So I vacuum the house at various times of the day. Whenever the floor has a build up of hair, dust, I'll just take out the vacuum cleaner and have a run around the house. It's pretty fast, around 5 minutes. We use a standing vacuum so there's no wires that we need to think about. It's those battery charged ones. I really like it cos I can use it at any time to have a quick clean up of the house. Else if I use a wired vacuum then I would find it a hassle to plug in, plug out and move around the house. I've tried using a broom and the hairs just get stuck on the bristles of the broom. It's just inefficient. Ever since I got the stand up battery charged vacuum, I can easily clean up the house at any time of the day.
I can't stand a messy drawer or a messy storeroom. Drawers and storerooms are meant to store stuff. AND also for easy retrieval of stuff. All my drawers are packed nicely and neatly, also, anyone can easily get stuff from the storeroom without having to move out half the stuff at the front of the storeroom. I've had this experience when I stayed with my mother. The storeroom was just packed full and messy. I couldn't get any tools or stuff from the back of the storeroom and basically, it was a turn off to get stuff from inside. I didn't even have the mood to take out half the stuff take what I wanted, use it, then put it back and put back all the stuff which I took out. So I made it a point to pack all my drawers and storeroom efficiently. Everything must be within easy reach without having to move stuff around.
Is this normal? I heard it's not normal...
The documents are in a mess. My wife files the documents, bank statements, bills, credit card bills, etc. She just stuffs them into folder. I get really upset about this. Cos retrieving is a nightmare. Every few months, I need to plough through stacks of papers to clear out the old bills for discarding. I think she's intentionally leaving it messy, cos she knows I can't stand it. And if I can't stand it, means I'll likely be volunteering to take over the filing of documents soon. And there's a high chance that I will. I'd like to have my bills and documents nicely filed so that I can easily look back if I need to check something or if I need to clear out the old bills, I can easily just identify which ones are 6 months old and destroy them.
Like everyone files their documents nicely right?
It's not just me who likes to keep them nice and orderly?
The fridge and food cabinet has to be well stocked up and accounted for. I make it a point to make sure there's food in the cabinets and fridge and also make sure that I use them all on time. So there's no wastage. Most stuff I buy, we use it within a week, the canned food can last for longer so it's there when I'm lazy to prepare fresh food.
I'm sure everyone keeps track of their food stocks right?
Then can determine what to buy and what needs to be finished by when so that there's no wastage. Can't be letting the food expire or turn bad right?
Oh then there's the kitchen cabinets. They shouldn't be stacked full. I'm pretty sticky about this. I make sure that the heavy stuff are all on the lower shelves. The middle shelves are only for the light stuff. If you stack heavy stuff like plates and canned food and whatever on the middle shelves, the wood will bend, especially in the center. So I make sure all the heavy stuff are on the lowest shelf, and on any of the higher shelves, all the stuff there are light AND they have to be loaded from the sides. Meaning, the center of the shelf should have almost nothing and that the sides of the shelves have most of the items. Cos the wood won't bend at the sides, it bends at the center, so there should be almost no weight on the center part of the shelf.
Ok, personally, I think this is not normal. Most folks won't care about the loading of shelves.
And yet I don't think I'm OCD.
I'm very willing to leave some areas pretty messy.
Like, certain areas of the house which we don't go to much, some corners, or under some cabinets. I'll just leave them dusty. Cos I won't be touching those areas on any regular basis so it doesn't affect me. If it doesn't affect me, I don't need to clean it.
Or the toilets, I clean that every once in a while, maybe once a week or once in 2 weeks, as long as there's no stains or mold growing on the floor, etc.
So I don't really think I'm OCD. Although my wife keeps saying that I'm a cleanliness freak.
I even know of folks who clean BEHIND the refrigerator. As in, they MOVE the whole fridge out and wipe the floor and back walls of the fridge, and they clean up the house everyday, clean the shower curtains and all that. So I think I'm just pretty normal in my fussiness.
Hmm, but then again, everyone thinks they are normal, cos the world always looks normal from your own perspective.
If I think about it, most people have their storerooms in a mess. That's probably normal. So I'm abnormal on this point.
Most folks clean the toilet once a week. I'm normal here.
I'm not sure how often people clean the floor though. It ranges cos some people clean daily and some folks might let it be for 2 weeks.
I'm probably weird about my fussiness about the loading of the kitchen cabinets. But I really think it's something that needs to be done to ensure the longevity of the kitchen shelves.
As for the food in the fridge... I suppose it's quite common for most people to lose track of what's in the fridge and have expired food around?
I dunno... so what's normal?
It's quite interesting cos normal or average is so different from everyone's point of view.
What's acceptable vs what's not acceptable...
Would really appreciate some sharing of experiences here like how well organized do you readers keep your home? Or am I pretty much really overly focused on neatness and efficiency?
Thanks!
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