What are your personal quirks?

[Cooking Goddess]

You know you have them! You know they delight and/or annoy your loved ones.

The Penzeys Spice thread devolved into how we arrange our spices, to people 'fessing up to alphabetizing them, to all the other strange ways we like to do certain things. Figured we could come here to list them. Plus, I'm hoping there are others just as strange as I am.

I'm a spice alphabetizer. I'm a dishwasher re-arranger, always trying to get the most in and still get them clean. And I always use my bath towel twice, using the back of the towel first and the front of the towel second. And I bet PF and Andy know exactly why I do it in that order.

I KNOW I have more strangeness in me, but I want to hear some other stories. Do tell!

 

[Addie]

I CAN'T stand sugar or salt granuals on my counter tops. I have to move everything and clean the whole counter top if I find just one grain. I also arrange my books by height. I have a small bookcase so it is easy to find what I am looking for.

I also can't stand waste of any sort. No matter how old, I am sure I will find a use for "it" someday. I have a lot of "its" right now. Time for a housecleaning. I have craft stuff that I will never use again. A whole big cabinet full. My craft cabinet is bigger than my food one. I have bath salts that I will never be able to use again. Just used once. I should toss it. It is only six years old.

 

[Kylie1969]

Steve things I have mild OCD

I call it organised

 

[Aunt Bea]

No crumbs in the butter!

I tend to invest my memories of people into things they once owned or gifts they have given to me.

This has caused me to accumulate a very odd collection over the years.

My precious junk!

 

[Zhizara]

I'm pretty organized.

I don't organize my spices by alphabet, but by type. Savory spices on one side of a 2 door cabinet (thyme, oregano, basil); sweeter spices on the other side, (ginger, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon); and, other things in the middle, (cooking spray, balsamic vinegar).

I have a couple of those bamboo spice steps type racks, which let me at least see the tops of the spice containers, so I've learned to look for different tops in the correct section.

I keep them pretty much in the same places so they are easy to find, except when I find myself not using one for a period of time, then I may switch that one with another spice I've started using more, placing the less used one in the back.

 

[MrsLMB]

I too am a dishwasher re-organizer. Seems not matter how many times I show someone else how to do it "right" they do it wrong and I "have" to fix it.

The entire kitchen is my quirk. DH seems to have been raised with no rules for a kitchen. He puts butter on his toast laying the toast on the counter rather than getting a plate, he cuts the toast on the counter and he double dips that crumb covered knife into the butter. Then he lays the buttery crumb covered knife on the counter while he gets a plate for his toast

Last night I had to leave the kitchen. He was putting sour cream on his baked potato.

Put the plate on the counter. Put the fork he just used to smush his potato into the sour cream. Hold it about 2 feet up in the air and fling it down onto the potato. I have asked him in the past about this and he says it spreads the sour cream better

I love him to death but sometimes that "death" part .. well ....

His habits aren't just his .. his entire family does this stuff and more

Oh there's more .. but that' enough for now

 

[Andy M.]

I never rearrange the DW because I'm the only one allowed to fill it.

I alphabetize spices (and other things) because they're easier to find that way.

I always put the same things in the same place in the same way because it's easier to know where they are without having to think about it. All to save time and make life easy.

I'm also a pretty private person so I'm not likely to share much more.

 

[Katie H]

I never rearrange the DW because I'm the only one allowed to fill it.

I alphabetize spices (and other things) because they're easier to find that way.

I always put the same things in the same place in the same way because it's easier to know where they are without having to think about it. All to save time and make life easy.

I'm also a pretty private person so I'm not likely to share much more.

I'm with you, Andy, on all of the above and I can add that, especially in reference to the spice rack, when a spice is empty or nearly so I turn the container upside down so I can remind myself to buy more. I do that with other goods in the pantry, too, as well as in the laundry and bath. As a result we're rarely caught without a needed item.

As for how the kitchen is arranged, I have always put the tools/pans, etc. in cabinets nearest where they are used. The configuration of each kitchen is different and can pose challenges in achieving this organizational goal, but I usually come close. One of the beauties of my present home is that after we got married, Glenn built a huge 8-foot-wide, 2-foot-deep, floor-to-ceiling "pot locker" for me in the utility room, which is adjacent to the kitchen. THAT has been a godsend for sure, especially for storing seldom-used large vessels and bakeware.

Other areas of the house are set up similarly. For example, each bedroom has several sets of linens in dust-free storage bags under each bed. Both bathrooms have their own tote of clean-up supplies, along with extra bulbs for the vanity fixtures and nightlights.

I really dislike wasting steps and time and do what I can to make my time and energy count.

The fuze box for the house is in the den...and so are the spare fuzes. Not in the drawer in the utility room, which is where they used to be. The utility room is the farthest room from the den than any other room in the house.

I'm sure there are more, but these are the first that came to mind.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

...I always put the same things in the same place in the same way because it's easier to know where they are without having to think about it. All to save time and make life easy.
....

Similarly to Katie, I "save" place for all-gone things. But I do that only in the refrigerator. If I run out of a staple I'll put the empty container on the kitchen counter so I can add it to my next shopping list. Meanwhile, I've already done that when I brought up the last one the previous time, so I almost always have replacement waiting on deck.

It never fails that if I take the last of something in the 'fridge and leave the space empty, something else materializes in the old spot. Then when I do go to put the new product in the 'fridge there's no room.

I kinda have to operate my refrigerator the same way some city folk have to save their freshly shoveled parking spot - put something in it when the "car" is gone. (Boston area posters will get this right away - if you're confused you can google it of course)

 

[Andy M.]

Similarly to Katie, I "save" place for all-gone things. But I do that only in the refrigerator...

I don't have a chance of doing that in the fridge. Two other hands are in there too much. The head that operates those two hands doesn't have the same priorities as I do.

 

[pacanis]

...I kinda have to operate my refrigerator the same way some city folk have to save their freshly shoveled parking spot - put something in it when the "car" is gone. (Boston area posters will get this right away - if you're confused you can google it of course)

hmmm, that must like the way some country folk tie lawn chairs together in a string alongside the road to reserve their spot for the town parade

 

[Andy M.]

hmmm, that must like the way some country folk tie lawn chairs together in a string alongside the road to reserve their spot for the town parade

That is done here as well.

 

[Dawgluver]

hmmm, that must like the way some country folk tie lawn chairs together in a string alongside the road to reserve their spot for the town parade

Or when folks at a resort with a pool put their towels on the prize real estate chaise lounges at 5 am and go back to bed, returning after noon.

 

[GotGarlic]

I can't think of any right now. I'll check with DH and get back to you

 

[buckytom]

mine are not quirks, they are features.

they're what make me special.

just as my mom...

No crumbs in the butter!

I tend to invest my memories of people into things they once owned or gifts they have given to me.

for me, it's no hair or anything else on soap. <<shudder>>
i cannot stand even one shaved leg hair on a bar of soap in the shower.
but my legs do look fabulous, though.

but really, i also remember who gave me what gift, and attach a sentimental importance to the object that's burned into my memory forever.

it often takes me a long time to use something given to me by a loved one, especially if that loved one has passed away. i have an awful lot of fishing lures that will never be used for fear of losing them.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I am not human when I wake up in the morning, takes me an hour for my brain to start functioning. I'm not in a bad mood, I'm not in a good mood, there is nothing there. I get the cats fed, check my blood sugar and pressure, take my meds, make coffee and breakfast, eat and boot up the computer...all on auto-pilot. If something gets in my way...it can take me ten minutes to get back on track. Once my brain wakes up, I'm fine and ready to start the day.

 

[Zhizara]

For things that run out, I leave the container on the kitchen counter and it doesn't get thrown away until it is on my grocery list (in the other room).

I call it a nag. I leave things out where they don't belong to nag me to do something.

For my crochet, I leave it in sight of my hangout spot to "nag" me to pick it up and work on it.

I also learned to never stop at the end of a row. It's too easy to ignore it once you put it down. I try to stop in the middle of a row, which is surprisingly hard. I usually end up working another several rows before I can put it down.

 

[Kylie1969]

We too have the spices in alphabetical order, it is the law

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I can't go to sleep if I have finished a book, I have to be involved in the next book, even if just by one page.

I keep my medications in a lunchbox, unless I can't get another week set-up, I leave them out to remind me to call for refills.

I have dry-erase boards on the inside of the pantry and the linen closet...one for groceries, one for soap, deodorant, toothpaste, OTC meds, etc. I write how many are in there and do a count down on the boards. I get down to one and put it it on the next shopping list. I have the lists set up for what store I buy the item.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

For things that run out, I leave the container on the kitchen counter and it doesn't get thrown away until it is on my grocery list (in the other room).

I call it a nag. I leave things out where they don't belong to nag me to do something.

For my crochet, I leave it in sight of my hangout spot to "nag" me to pick it up and work on it....

My old van would "ding" if you left the headlights on and opened the door. If you left the keys in the ignition and opened the door. For all kinds of things if you forgot and did something else. Since I drove it most of the time I did what I needed to do before the warning "ding". The headlights were the biggest issue. Himself has a car with an automatic setting for the headlights. They do it all on their own. When he'd use my car and it would "ding" at him he's call it the Wife Car. Not because it was his wife's van, but because it would nag him. I still let him live...so far.

BTW, my new car has automatic headlights.