Not poking fun - cause I think many of us have some of these tendencies..

[mom2cinderella]

I'm on the highest dosage of Wellbutrin there is for depression. Wellbutrin is commonly prescribed for OCD but it hasn't helped my tendencies.

I forgot to mention that I will wake up in the night out of a sound sleep to check the oven.

It's very stressful when you have to deal with these compulsions.

 

[indimom]

Believe it or not, just reading this is making me panic. You have to do something!! I would hate for something bad to happen. Maybe if you say "burner turned off" everytime you turn it off, that will help. They say that you can form a habit in 2 weeks. I hope you can figure something out!

Sorry, that wasn't my intent. I'll try saying it out loud. Maybe that will make it stick.

 

[CaliforniaDreamin]

Sorry, that wasn't my intent. I'll try saying it out loud. Maybe that will make it stick.

OH, I know you didn't mean to!! Heck, I didn't know I would have that reaction. This is my problem, not yours. Please don't worry about it.

 

[MushyMushy]

I'm on the highest dosage of Wellbutrin there is for depression. Wellbutrin is commonly prescribed for OCD but it hasn't helped my tendencies.

I forgot to mention that I will wake up in the night out of a sound sleep to check the oven.

I didn't know that! I'm on Wellbutrin for depression as well, and one big thing it helps with is my obsessive thoughts. I thought that just went hand in hand with the depression and didn't make the connection that the Wellbutrin might be clearing it up.

 

[wickey's friend]

I have been diagnosed with mild OCD. My main thing is checking the stove. If I have cooked at all that day, I will check about 5 times in everyway I can to make sure it's not on. I'll check the knobs to make sure they are in the off position. If I have to adjust it just a little so it's exactly on the off position, I have to check later to make sure that minor adjustment didn't turn the oven on. I check each burner by hand, regardless what the knob says. I also open the oven door to make sure I don't feel any heat.
I unplug every appliance I can after every use. I'm so scared that the girls will leave a curling iron or straight iron on, so I go behind them, unplug them and set them on a non flammable surface. I'm the same way with the iron.
I have my whole family say with me "Oven off" or "Iron unplugged" because then if I'm at work and I can't remember, I can call my husband and see if he remembers us all saying "iron unplugged". My DH suggested an automatic shut off iron, I looked at him like he had 4 heads. I would NEVER trust anything that is supposed to turn off by itself because it could malfunction.
Before I left my job, I got to where I would iron my clothes in the morning, unplug the iron, move it to a counter where I felt it would not catch on fire and take a picture of it with my cell phone. That way I would have a time stamp on it to reassure me I had not left the iron plugged in that day.

I so understand. My "checker" routine in the mornings includes the bathrooms, closet lights, ceiling fans and the appliances in the kitchen -- I do the same thing with the burners and knobs. I didn't used to do all of this -- wonder why I do it now?

I hadn't thought of medication -- that's interesting that the OCD tendencies are affected by the meds.

 

[bettymae1121]

Twisted telephone cords. If I see one all twisted or even knoted up, it drives me nuts. If it's a situation where I can untwist it (like at a friends house) then I absolutely have to. Fortuneately most people have cordless phones now so I don't run into it much anymore.

 

[CaliforniaDreamin]

I didn't know that! I'm on Wellbutrin for depression as well, and one big thing it helps with is my obsessive thoughts. I thought that just went hand in hand with the depression and didn't make the connection that the Wellbutrin might be clearing it up.

Yep, it's used off label for minor cases. Now someone with very severe OCD would probably be put on a different med. Wellbutrin is also prescribed off label to help you quit smoking. Now this did actually work for me. It was a great side effect.

 

[LilyWDW]

Yep, it's used off label for minor cases. Now someone with very severe OCD would probably be put on a different med. Wellbutrin is also prescribed off label to help you quit smoking. Now this did actually work for me. It was a great side effect.

My father is on medication for much more severe OCD then I have (I don't recall the name of it). I think a few of my tendencies are actually learned behavior from him, including the checking of all doors, windows, and plug. Luckily I only have to do it once and I am okay. He would do it once, get out the door and in the car, and then have to go back in to do it again.

I am trying to deal with the OCD diagnosis without medication if at all possible. I am lucky that it isn't that severe and doesn't impact my daily life to a point where it is a big issue. However, for some people, medication is a huge help. It really really helped my father and made it easier to live with him.

BTW, for an example, my window routine is: unlock the window, open the window, close the window, lock the window, and then tug on the window.

I am also a list maker... I have made lists that remind me to make a list for something.

 

[SandrA9810]

Twisted telephone cords. If I see one all twisted or even knoted up, it drives me nuts. If it's a situation where I can untwist it (like at a friends house) then I absolutely have to. Fortuneately most people have cordless phones now so I don't run into it much anymore.

I used to unplug the phone cord and untwist it too. And I hate cords that are way stretched out. And if the coils got messed up, I would fix it.

I blame my aunt for the grocery line up. One too many times she went back into a store after the kid loaded up the car to yell at the manager about the bags being packaged wrong. Ok, cans on top of grapes are not a good thing, but she did it over petty little things too.

I hate it when some one disorganizes something I've done. I can deal with some one else making/living in a mess. But if I straighten it out and clean it up, I expect it to stay that way.

I hate clothes hanging, except for long sleeve shirts and some dress clothes. But all the clothes must be folded a certain way. And put into the draw a certain way.

certain foods are allowed to touch, but for the most part, I hate it. Like I can't stand to have gravy on my green beans. So when I order my usual at cracker barrel, gravy has to be on the side.

 

[erincon23]

I'm with you all on the grocery thing. I try to do all my own bagging. At the grocery store I go to most often, I do the self-checkout, but there's one clerk who likes to come up and start your bagging for you -- I'm sure there are people who really appreciate this very nice lady, but I have to stop her every time.

Reading all these, I'm wondering if any of you would like to come to my house and use some of your tidiness compulsions over here... I do sometimes worry that I'm nowhere near compulsive enough.

The only other thing that I really get worked up about is dish placement in the cabinet. I have four different sets of dishes in one cabinet (and I've often been concerned that the cabinet will come off the wall with the weight of all those dishes). We've lived in this house with all these dishes for nearly 10 years -- and the other day, my DH empties the dishwasher and mixes up the dish sets on the shelves! NO!!! The green ones go on top of the brown ones, the flower set only goes on the second set. GET A CLUE! The kids figured it out quickly.

 

[dismom2]

The toilet paper roll HAS to have the tissue come down from the top. I don't know why, but if anyone here puts it on the other way, I will change it.

I also like things organized, labels facing forward in the cabinet, and towels folded a certain way.

I wash my hands a lot, especially after touching money.

I'm safety conscious, so I also check to make sure things are turned off, doors are locked, appliances unplugged.

When I buy fruit or veggies, I pick one from the back/bottom in case someone sneezed on the ones in the front/on top --I wash them when I get home too because I know they are not clean anyway, but for some reason, I just can't take the ones that are on top.

My eyebrows have to be well groomed. MUST use Q-tips after showering.


Wow--I could go on. I definitely have some OCD tendencies.

 

[LilyWDW]

MUST use Q-tips after showering.

Dang it... another one to add to the list! I do this as well. When I was younger I swam a LOT and ended up with more then one ear infection due to the water sitting in my ear. So now I can not stand the feeling of any water being in my ears.

 

[lyncecelia]

My biggest one (which DBF teases me endlessly on) is I HAVE to have my watch on AT ALL TIMES! I only take it off to shower. If I can't find it or forget to put it back on I FREAK OUT. It's really bad actually, I almost had a panic attack and was begging Tim to get me a new one because I couldn't find it.....it "accidently" ended up in the drawer . Because I always have to wear my watch, I tend to go through them fast. So I always get the $9 one from Walmart. But it has to be the same style and digital..... this is fairly new, and I don't understand it....but as I tell DBF, it could be WAY worse...

Another thing I do is I HAVE to file EVERYTHING! Every receipt after every bill etc. If it's paid in cash I don't care *as* much, but if it's charged, I need the receipt. DBF and I came to a consensus on this. He prints/puts aside in a certain spot the receipts/bills and I file them. He knows how to file them, but he also doesn't want to mess my "flow". I'm planning on doing this even more extensively to organized "unpaid bills" and "unpaid medical bills" to take out every month, but I'm afraid we'll forget about them lol. We had little "slot" things for them, but they are full. It's just a quirk

 

[LilyWDW]

double posted...

 

[dismom2]

Thought of another biggie for me:

If I lose something important, or fairly important, I go nuts trying to find it. I nearly can't stop looking until I have looked everywhere, or have exhausted myself looking for it. It drives me crazy to not know where something missing is.

 

[lyncecelia]

I am a planner. I have to know what is happening and when. I can NOT deal with "we'll decide when we get there". This also means that when something goes wrong with the schedule I don't take it too well. I will blow it out of proportion and react irrationally.

I do this a lot. I will ask my BF every morning when he leaves what time he'll be home and if he is going running. This is important though! It tells me what/if I need to make dinner (he refuses to eat before running).

But it's much bigger on weekends when we see the kids. I need to know what we are doing all weekend. When are we picking them up, what times are games, what are we doing for meals, what time do they go home. I have no idea why....

I compulsively make lists for everything, if I do something that was not on my list- I add it to the list and then check it off

I have TONS of spreadsheets on here to organize EVERYTHING! I have one for Christmas that has 5 sheets, documenting EVERYTHING. It is something I always do to stay organized.

 

[charming23]

I have to have all my cd's and DVD's facing the right way when the case is open. It drives me nuts when someone messes mine up.

I need to have lotion and lip gloss to leave the house. I keep both in my purse, my backpack, and car so I am never stuck somewhere without.

I too put the groceries in a certain order on the belt and get mad at my mom when she tries to help because she just flings them onto the belt.

 

[indimom]

The toilet paper roll HAS to have the tissue come down from the top. I don't know why, but if anyone here puts it on the other way, I will change it.

I also like things organized, labels facing forward in the cabinet, and towels folded a certain way.

I wash my hands a lot, especially after touching money.

I'm safety conscious, so I also check to make sure things are turned off, doors are locked, appliances unplugged.

When I buy fruit or veggies, I pick one from the back/bottom in case someone sneezed on the ones in the front/on top --I wash them when I get home too because I know they are not clean anyway, but for some reason, I just can't take the ones that are on top.

My eyebrows have to be well groomed. MUST use Q-tips after showering.
Well, cr@p, chalk up another one for me. I CAN'T STAND WATER IN MY EARS! If we are out of Q-tips, I want to go out of my mind!!!! (Actually, I'll wrap toilet paper or something over the end of a tweezers and find a way to get that water out of there!)
Wow--I could go on. I definitely have some OCD tendencies.

These are a lot of fun. I was talking with my sis last night and quoted a couple of our funny tendences, and she admitted that if a table has a pattern on it (like a checkered table cloth at a restaurant) she finds herself compulsively lining up her drinking glass into the corner of the squares. She also does the skittles thing and was caught doing it at work by a coworker who was VERY AMUSED!

 

[wilma-bride]

I have a white board at work, in the office, that I maintain with a list of what cases each of our desk officers are working on. I am very pernickety about anyone writing on my board in their scruffy writing which everyone else in the office thinks is highly amusing. Since I only work part time and finish at 2 pm, most mornings I will get in to find some clown has drawn a picture/written somewhere on my board after I left the office the day before

At home, I am less 'OCD' but I cannot stand bare feet on my sofa, to the point where I have spare socks which I will lend to friends who come to the house barefooted, if they want to curl their feet up on the sofa

I also have to wash dishes in a certain order, although we do have a dishwasher so it is rare for me to actually wash the dishes

All my DVDs and Blu-Rays are in alphabetical order (although the blu-rays are kept separate to the DVDs as they're obviously not the same height)

 

[keagansmom]

Ok-- This makes me feel better

I do the clothes in the closet. They are organized by type, color, length. For example in the black shirt section they are organized with Tanks tops first, then t-shirts, then short sleeve shirts, then short sleeve shirts with a collar, then long sleeve t-s etc.... For this reason alone my husband is not allowed to touch my closet, ever...

Groceries--I specifically put heavy items on the belt first-- so that they can go on the bottom-- bugs me if they do not load them that way.

I would label everything if I could-- I have been ordered to not touch my husbands office or garage But I sooooo want to

Pillows belong in certain places on the couches, chairs, beds.. Do not mess with this.

I must clean each room in a certain order. For example-- bathrooms -- clean showers & tubs first (because I have to setp in them to clean) , then mirrors & glass, then countertops, then sinks, then cabinets, then toilet, then baseboards, then lights, then switches, then doors & handles, then faucets, then I do the floors last. I have to back out of the room when mopping/vacuuming so that I don't leave any footprints.

I love lists.

Sooo much more.....