Neat Freak or Slob?

When I was younger I think I had a slight obsessive compulsive issue. It wasn't very severe, but I just was kind of a neat freak. I was the weird kind of kid who liked to clean when I was little. And I must have been pretty annoying too because I would always sing the "Clean Up Song" whenever I cleaned.

My stuffed animals had to be in an exact order every single time I set them up on my bed. My "OCD" got to the point where when my friends came over and they picked up one of my stuffed animals I'd have to try my hardest to restrain myself from putting it back in the right place. Eventually I would give in and put them back in the exact order, otherwise I would be bothered throughout my play date. My best friend thought I was kind of weird. I needed to sleep with my blankets folded a certain way and my stuffed animals in their exact places. The result is that I have less space to sleep than my stuffed animals.

It's not as bad now. Sometimes after my mom changes the sheets on my bed and the animals order is messed up, I don't freak out anymore.  Seriously though, I know that I will never be able to forget how my stuffed animals and toys are supposed to be set up on my bed, and I'll always know if one of my buddies is missing.


I used to be crazy neat too: I had all of my clothes folded into neat little piles in my drawer organized by long sleeve, short sleeve, tank top, and whatever else. Every time my mom wanted to go through my drawers to donate things that don't fit me anymore to Goodwill, I would get really upset because she would mess up all my neatly folded piles. When she gave up and asked me to pick things out to donate, I couldn't bear the thought of giving up anything. In fact, I would go though what she had sorted out to donate and secretly retrieve my things without her knowledge. The result is, I still have shoes and clothes that date back to second grade which I can't wear anymore.

In middle school, my OCD sort of stopped. I had too much homework to deal with so eventually I sort of just got messier and messier. Every now and then though, I'll get some weird tingly feeling and just think I'm living in this dump of a place and I'll go all out and clean and mop the floor and everything. The problem with that is, I then forget where I put things and get frustrated trying to find the things I squirreled away. These days, I'm more relaxed. My room sometimes ends up a complete mess and I'm not bothered by it.

By contrast, my sister has never been neat, and is in fact, a complete mess. Go figure how we are so different.

My sister's room on a neat day.

Let us know what kind of a kid you are (were): Neat freak, or slob?