Disclaimer: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a mental health disorder that affects people of all ages and walks of life, and occurs when a person gets caught in a cycle of obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are unwanted, intrusive thoughts, images or urges that trigger intensely distressing feelings. It is a serious disorder and this series in no way undermines the importance of this health issue. I have had a number of serious OCD patients in my own family and understand the suffering it brings. I myself suffer from it though not to an extreme case of it but still need medication to keep it under control. This cleaning and organizing bit is just a tiny part of my issues. Hence I am made this series, just to make fun of my own self. No offense to anyone who is suffering from OCD. 

My friends already know this about me and my family.. well they are ALL a bunch of OCD patients themselves! I have inherited this trait from my mum’s side of the family..

I have grown up seeing her & my aunts cleaning obsessively! Every month, our cupboards full of clothes, would be out on the bed.. cause we needed to re-organize! Every thing had a place..and HAD to go there! If not, there were consequences (that was a lot of scolding from my mum). My dad would complain about my mums obsession with cleaning an ALREADY clean house! (which now my husband does.. he says that the floor of our home is cleaned so many times that we can probably just eat  food off the floor… eeewwww but that’s what he says!). I do believe its a disorder that definitely runs in my family…. You’ll know if you have it too if..

• Unpack 5 suitcases within a few hours, after coming back from a 18 hour flight and can’t sleep if you don’t (that’s me!).
• When cleaning the room,  before the maid (maasi) leaves is so important,that you switch off the fan and open the curtains wide open, even though your child might have slept late after studying (my mum’s favorite!)
• When you start to broom under the dining table, after EVERY meal to clean the crumbs, even when people have still not left the dining room (my sister!)
• When you move full cupboards (really heavy ones) to broom the dust underneath the cupboard (my aunt  .. Thank God for built in cupboards ).
• When you can’t find a spec of dirt on the outer side of the windows, that open in a garden, in a place like Karachi. (my husband goes around my aunt’s house looking for dust- and he hasn’t found it yet.. its been 12 years!)
• When you are in a hurry to clear up the table and take away stuff even when people are eating! (my cousin!)
• When cleaning the ceiling fans is a part of the weekly cleaning routine.
• And countless others signs of this disorder …

I am the youngest of the three siblings and shared my room with my elder sister, which she ABOSULTELY hated, because I was the mess maker! I didn’t care where I put my stuff..  I left my books untidy on my study desk because, hey- I have to study again next morning! I didn’t quite understand the logic why I need to clean up at night when I will study there the next morning… anyways.. I was the rebel… who didn’t make her bed or fold away/hang her clothes or tidied up the room after playing.. But little did I know that though I was defying the OCD at that time.. it was in my blood!

Since I got married and assumed the role of a home maker.. the OCD in my DNA kicked in! and now I clean and organize with PASSION! (lol). I have basically turned into my mom.. what I saw all my life.. is how things SHOULD be done! My kids listen to lectures from me on how the things should be kept in their place.. we spend a day from their spring break , spring cleaning their rooms and they get into trouble for not doing it! And my husband, is how most of the guys are.. the mess-maker! (with the exception of my maternal cousins who have this disorder running in their blood too!).

When I got married, I would organize my husband’s closet and the clothes had to be neatly folded and lined in order.. but he being him, would just pull out a shirt, leaving the others just at the verge of dropping on the floor.. I hated it!! I would refold his shirts and put them away neatly .. and the next day he pulls another shirt and the whole closet would be a mess again! He didn’t realize how much effort it took to organize the clothes neatly and KEEP it that way! So one fine day when I was DONE with re-doing his closet all the time..  I took out EVERY single thing from his closet and dumped it all on the bed (believe me, it was a verrrry difficult thing to do, for me with my OCD), but I did. When he came home from work.. he got the shock of his life.. I made him put everything back neatly (of course I helped him..as I couldn’t see the mess on the bed!). And it worked.. ever since.. he is soo careful in taking his shirts! He lifts all the shirts on top of the stack with his left hand and then take the shirt he wants with his right and then put the stack back in order! (LOL it IS a transferrable disorder!!).

I love to browse Pinterest looking for organizing hacks.. ( I told you I do it with Passion!).  Some ideas are really cool but I feel they are not very practical and sustainable, specially for me, with 3 little kids and living in an apartment! I don’t have walls to display my ribbons or put peg boards for caps or a wall to hang my kids backpacks..etc. Therefore, I will share with you some AWESOME ideas that I have implemented in my apartment and are great workable solutions for small living spaces, so do watch out for my organizing hacks – coming soon on the blog!

Till then, Ciao & Happy Cleaning!