OCD – The Little Things

Wikipedia defines a guilty pleasure as, “something one enjoys and considers pleasurable despite feeling guilt for enjoying it. The guilt involved is sometimes simply fear of others discovering one’s lowbrow or otherwise embarrassing tastes. Fashion, video games, music,movies and junk food can be examples of guilty pleasures.” I define it as something I like and get enjoyment out of, but would probably be judged for it and therefore, I don’t go around broadcasting it to the world…

or do I?

5. Rearranging the dishes in the dishwasher at work

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I’m not going to lie, we have a pretty crappy dishwasher at work. The “spokes” of the rack are spaced much too closely together and we have rather large/thick dishes in our kitchen. People are forced to shove their dishes into place and the spokes become bent creating even more inefficiency. Regardless of the technical flaws with the machine, people just pile their dishes into the dish washer, not really taking into consideration proper dish placement, an art form that I have definitely mastered. As a result, I spend approximately 5-10 minutes, probably every day, rearranging the dishes in the dishwasher. Honestly, it is really embarrassing when someone catches me doing this – I try my best to conceal. But the thrill of seeing all the dishes lined up properly, as well as the creation of more usable space, it really quite exhilarating. I know, working with me is pretty much a ~~nightmare~~ dream come true.

4. Refolding, sorting and color coding my clothing

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Every five or six weeks I tackle the project of reorganizing my closet. Most of the time when I begin this project my closet is pretty neat and organized. Or at least that is what most people would think, but not me. I begin by piling everything onto my bed and begin folding, sorting, and organizing before putting it all back in place. The entire process can take a few hours. In the end, my goal is to have my closet look like the shelves and racks of a high-end designer boutique. I want all of my sweaters to be folder perfectly with a piece of tissue paper inside. I need matching coat hangers – at least within each “section” of my closets (i.e. dresses, skirts, blouses, tank tops, etc). And ideally things should be color coded. Basically, I want my closet to mimic that of Ms. Martha Stewart herself. When Matt and I moved in together this goal became much more challenging as I lost roughly half of the hanging space and now have to deal with his disorganized system, which includes metal hangers and shirts in plastic bags from the dry cleaners. I’ve yet to include his clothing in this re-org project, but I am not too sure how much longer I can hold off. Although Matt would probably be furious with me, the idea of having our entire closet organized is just too tempting.

3. Buying things on sale and bragging about it

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I love a good sale. The thrill of getting something at a discounted price is definitely a high for me. Even though there is typically a huge retail mark up, I think that because I am not paying full price, somehow I have “won”. After nearly every shopping trip where I have saved something, be in 5% off or 75% off, I need to brag about my accomplishments. Typically I call either my mom or my sister – they are the most likely to be impressed and make me feel good about my purchases. Sometimes, if I have purchased a really practical item, I will call my dad. I NEVER call Matt because he always makes me feel guilty about spending money – no matter how much I have saved (major buzz kill – I guess it is something about perceived savings…) Just last week I called my mom to tell her about the great articles of clothing I got at the Gap, all at ridiculously discounted prices. She was appropriately impressed and even thought about making a trip to her local Gap store as well. Unfortunately in my haste to score a deal, I didn’t try on anything and ended up returning half of the things I purchased this afternoon. Sad. But hey, returning clothes is essentially like making money, right?

2.TLC

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Toddlers and Tiaras. Extreme Couponing. ~~John and~~ Kate Plus Eight. 19 Kids and Counting. Say Yes to the Dress. Sister Wives. Hoarding: Buried Alive. Sarah Palin’s Alaskan Adventure (I know, I just threw up in my mouth a little). You name it – I’ve probably seen it.

I’ve got nothing here – I just like trashy, low quality tv. John Hamm – please don’t hate me. I still love Don Draper.

1. Tween Music

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It began when I was a tween – New Kids on the Block, Spice Girls Britney Spears, ‘N Sync, Back Street Boys and 98°. It then progressed to Hanson, Mandy Moore and Jessica Simpson. Lindsay Lohan, Jesse McCartney and Hilary Duff rounded things out as I ended the teenage chapter of my life and entered my 20s. Unfortunately, my love of the tween pop sensation stayed with me. Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, the Cast of High School Musical, Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber all make regular appearances on my iPod.

And now, there’s Carly Rae.

Please don’t judge me.

As a child, I found comfort in order and structure. This is not something that is unusual in children. While schools have started using more progressive curriculum, specifically using lessons from real word experiences rather than text books, many schools remain structured in their daily schedule and teaching style. While many adults grow out of this need for order, I seem to have only gotten worse.

As a child, I had a neat room, especially compared to my sister who didn’t share the same sense of passion for cleaning. Not only did I enjoy having a clean space, but I also found pleasure in the actual act of organizing. The problem is, once an organized person gets something the way they want it, it will very rarely get messy again. So, in order to fulfill my need to organize I was constantly rearranging my furniture, pulling everything out my closet and then putting it back in again and refolding and sorting my clothes. I would spend an afternoon in my room, where my parents assumed that I was playing with Barbie or Fisher Price Little People. When they came up to check on me, much to their surprise, I would have my room rearranged with everything put away and organized to my liking. My room was small in size with 3 windows so it limited the number of ways the furniture could be reconfigured, but I would constantly rotate through the 3-4 different set-ups.

Occasionally I would take my obsession into other areas in the house. I worked to clean out our “junk drawers” and went through countless “organizational tools” in an attempt to help my family keep these areas organized. One Mother’s Day I gave my mom the gift of “cabinet organization.” This involved pulling all of the food out of the cupboards and putting it back in a way that made more sense, complete with handwritten labels on each shelf. Unfortunately, through the chaos of life, the cupboards managed to get themselves back to their previous state.

Now in my own apartment, I have enjoyed setting things up “just right.” I am very lucky to have found a 27-year-old boy who also enjoys a clean apartment. I owe this to his parents who take “clean” to a whole new definition (you can eat off their garage floor – literally!). Since moving in a year ago, I have color coded the closet, reorganized the books on our shelves according the genre (although I want to organize them according to spine color), rearranged the furniture in our living room about 4 times and sorted my Real Simple, Martha Stewart Living and Wedding Magazines according to issue date. I am happy to report that I can add kitchen cabinet organization to that list. I am confident in saying that they are now perfectly set up (or at least until I get that organizing itch again!)

For Christmas this year I created a “wish list” that had bout 6-8 things on it. One of these items was a label maker. At my first job out of college, we had a label maker that I used basically every day. I would label folders, drawers, my co-workers head – basically anything that I thought could use a label, got one. I even used the label maker to create labels for things at my house (shhh, don’t tell Dwight Schrute that I was using company supplies for personal use). When I left that job, I felt a gaping hole in my heart – it was the missing label maker. Hence, its addition to my Christmas list.

Unfortunately on christmas morning, as I made my way through the presents under the tree, it soon became clear that I was not going to get the label maker that I had hoped for. Afterwards when I asked my parents why they didn’t buy it for me (I know, I am a brat) my mom responded by telling me that they didn’t want to support my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I guess she had a point, but I went out and bought myself a label maker two weeks after the new year. Since that time I have found all sorts of things to label, especially with the creation of the craft nook!

I recently combine the power of the label maker with the sheer awesomeness of The Container Store. After multiple trips to the store and an entire role of label tape, I am now satisfied with the state of my kitchen cabinets.