Household quirks: we all have them

One of my favorite sections in HGTV Magazine (which I recommend highly) is the “Sound Familiar?” section. It’s full of those weird, OCD little quirks we all have when it comes to our homes…like making sure the cushions are adjusted right every time you walk by the couch.

I can usually relate to most of these because I’m a bit of a perfectionist. (The Hubby just laughed at the “a bit” part.) I like having things neat and tidy, not because I don’ think a house should look “lived in” (it should!), but because it gives me a sense of calm to be in rooms that are pretty and orderly.

So, since I love reading about other people’s quirks, and since I’m pretty sure plenty of you out there can relate, I thought it might be fun to give you a glimpse into just how OCD I am. I hope you don’t think I’m too crazy at the end of it! (I sound like a nag to live with, but these are all things I do myself…I promise I’m not getting into fights with The Hubby over them!)

My household quirks

• All pillows on the coach must be “just right” at the end of the day or before guests come over. “Just right” means arranged in such a way that they look casually thrown around but are actually very carefully arranged (the blue pillow is straight, the pink pillow on top of it is at an angle, etc.) I know this makes no sense since people are just going to sit on them anyway and move them around, but I can’t help myself!
• TP is put on the roll with the sheets over, not under. (This is a quirk I learned to change after living with The Hubby long enough, so does that mean I’m not totally OCD?) 🙂
• The dishwasher should be loaded back to front, not front to back. Because who wants to reach over things to put new items on the rack? Also, similar items (dishes, cups, etc.) should be grouped together for easier unloading when they’re washed
• If I find a tissue box in the multi-packs we buy that matches a room perfectly (no easy feat, I might add!), I will try to “recycle” that box when it’s empty by opening up the side of it and inserting the contents of another box that doesn’t match so well. Then I seal it back up with craft glue so it looks like nothing happened. The first time The Hubby caught me doing this “Kleenex surgery,” as he calls it, I think he had serious doubts about marrying me.
• I hate when there’s time left blinking on the microwave if someone takes a dish out before the timer’s run out. (This goes for home and work.) It’s not like that extra 5 seconds blinking on the display is going to drain all the energy in our house or anything, but it makes me feel like something’s not complete. So I secretly reset it.
• The Hubby has this weird habit (maybe this is one of his household quirks!) of leaving drawers open after he gets something from them, instead of taking the extra half a second it takes to close them again. When he’s cooking, I’ll come into the kitchen to find every cabinet door wide open while he works away. How he hasn’t beaned his head like a million times I’ll never know. This one I fix every time I see it just to keep him from injuring himself!
• I have to keep our bathroom stocked with like 5 extra rolls of TP at any time, in a cute little holder right next to the toilet. My worst fear is that we’ll have guests over and they’ll get stranded in the bathroom without any TP, or they’ll have to rummage through all our bathroom cabinets trying to find extra rolls. I had that happen to me once, and it’s super awkward!
• When I make the bed, I like to have the open ends of the pillowcases facing in so they’re not open to the room. Why? I have no idea. It’s not like something’s going to happen to them because they’re “exposed” or someone is going to come into our room and be scandalized by seeing the insides of our pillowcases. But it just looks messy to me otherwise.
• I have to check my alarm several times before going to bed to make sure it’s set right, ditto for the laundry to make sure I’ve got it on the right setting. (I think this is pretty common one.)
• Even though I clean the bathroom weekly, every night before I go to bed I have to wipe down the sink and the mirror. They get used so often it seems gross to let things build up for a whole week!
• Cups and glasses should be open side-down in our cabinets…keeps them from collecting dust if we don’t use them all regularly.

What weird little rituals and quirks do you have when it comes to your house? Make me feel less crazy by sharing in the comments!

~Heart,

Em

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photo credit:  Marthin Sühl