Ask me or any of my friends about my cleaning habits and you'll probably get an eye-roll. It's true: I love being tidy. Cleaning is one of my hobbies next to cooking, but I think that it's a bit more than just a hobby for me. I clean everything everyday and cleaning to me is scrubbing, disinfecting, and polishing everything in the apartment. Everything has to have its own place and be put there in order for me to feel sane. As you may have guessed, being a neat freak does have its disadvantages.

1. The Roommate Situation

Now, I don't have a roommate anymore, but second semester of last year I lived with one of my good friends. She wasn't what you would call "dirty," but she was nothing like me if that makes any sense. My main motto is, "if you make a dish, then clean it right away." Needless to say, that was not her motto. I've found that living by myself is a way for me to stay positive and happy because the only person to blame for the place being a mess is me -- and things can never be a mess for more than five minutes.

2. Over-Organizing

If you ever get the chance to take a look into my closet, then you will find a rainbow. No, I don't mean you'll find overly-flamboyant clothing choices picked by yours truly; I mean my closet is color coded by the rainbow. From left to right, my clothes progress from red to violet and from shortest length to longest length. Neutrals are always on the furthest right of my closet because they don't fit nicely into the rainbow scheme that I have going.

3. Alphabetization is Key

Anything that has letters on it is of course more or less alphabetized. My spices? Alphabetized. My produce? Alphabetized. My books? Alphabetized. My candles? Yes, even my candles are alphabetized by scent and color coordinated to make finding each one of them easier. To me, alphabetization isn't just a busy task to do; alphabetization is how I keep my sanity. It helps me to know where everything is at all points, but gee is it time-consuming.

4. Anxiety With Having Guests

Again, I love all of my friends and they are always welcome over at any time if they just give me a notice. However, whenever I seem to have people over there always seems to be a mess that follows. My anxiety with having guests stems from two things: 1. Is my place too big of a mess in the first place?; and, 2. How am I going to be able to pick up later/what is my plan of attack?

5. Dry Skin

Of course no good cleaning regimen would be complete without a vast assortment of cleaning products. Personally, I'm a Lysol or Clorox kind of guy. I use bleach for most things in the bathroom, the floors, the sinks, and the counters. In all honesty, aren't most of life's messes bleachable? (Yes, that's from a Clorox bleach commercial). Bleach is kind of the be all and end all for household cleaners. It's like playing with fire: it'll disinfect and clean most surfaces, but it can be deadly if swallowed. I have to admit that when I use bleach, I do wear rubber gloves. However, dishes is another story. I use the skin rejuvenating dish soap, but no amount of lotion can ever undo the damage I've already done to my hands.

6. Smelling Every Soap at the Store

Yes, I am that person. I figure that as much as I'll be using everything that I buy, I might as well make sure that I want my apartment to smell like that cleaning product. Anything that says "fresh scent" or "lemon" are generally good for me, but each brand has slightly different opinions on what fresh scents and lemons smell like. I LOVE the smell of tide laundry detergent and Downey dryer sheets. There's nothing a little good smelling cleaning product can't fix!

7. Dating...

Dating is something that I always think that I want, but end up being annoyed by. Finding a nice guy to get involved with would be great, but it's hard to find someone who's compatible with my need for cleaning. Cleanliness just isn't something that makes first-date conversation.

8. Not Cooking

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE cooking more than anything else! I just hate cooking when I'm tired because I won't be able to fall asleep. I just can't leave the kitchen dirty overnight without waking up every half hour.

I know that a ton of people always say that they're jealous of my crazy need to clean, but don't be. My constant, nagging need actually is quite annoying.