Do I have OCD?

[ToyStory20000008]

I grew up in a house that was only cleaned when people came to visit. This would happen about 4 times a year so we were all drafted in and it was very stressful. My sister has reacted to this by never cleaning her house and never inviting anyone round. I on the other hand like to have a house that if someone knocked on the door, they could walk in and I would not be embarrassed.
Family are now saying I have OCD and it is not healthy to live in such a clean house.

So I am setting out here what I aim to do and how often so you lovely people can tell me who you think is right.

Daily
keep kitchen and bathrooms clear of mess and tidy, wiping down kitchen surfaces after each meal
Hoover small entry hall to stop muck being walked in
Keep rest of house as tidy as possible

Every 1 to 2 weeks
Clean bathrooms
Hoover whole house
Dust whole house
Change and wash bedding and towels

Less often
Clean windows
clear our a cupboard
declutter
skirting boards

I would say that is a completely normal amount of cleaning. Not obsessive, but also not leaving it until it gets disgusting.

This is very unreasonable, OCD is a debilitating MH condition not something to be thrown around about people with clean houses.

OCD stands for obsessive compulsive disorder.
The sufferer has intrusive thoughts or images that cause immense distress and as a result perform compulsions to alleviate this distress.
These compulsions may be physical and visible or internal and mental.

OCD is NOT liking a tidy house.
OCD is NOT feeling bothered because your house is untidy.
OCD is not specifically related to cleaning and order, there are multiple themes of intrusive thoughts and compulsion.

I thought I was about to read that you deep clean everyday and that it dictates how you organise your life.

What you've described is a perfectly reasonable level of cleaning and tidying. By "family" do you mean your parents and siblings? The ones who do no cleaning?

And to give examples,
I clean my bathroom three times a week.
I hate it dirty
I change bedding and sheets more often than you
In fact I clean everything more often than you, no shade OP just examples, and I DO NOT have OCD. I just like to see my house clean.

People really need to stop bandying about this nonsense and inform themselves about OCD. It's a serious mental illness and people reducing it to being a liking for cleaning are contributing to the lack of awareness which keeps sufferers from seeking help.

Please educate yourself around OCD.
It's bloody offensive to those who actually struggle with it to suggest that it's around cleaning frequently/too frequently.

OCD is not about cleaning.

If you don't clean, how do you feel? Do you have intrusive thoughts that by not cleaning you'll be poisoning your whole family and everyone might die? Do you struggle to leave the house because you've not cleaned enough to quite the intrusive thoughts? Do you find yourself having to clean to higher and higher standards just to feel safe and try to find calm?

You don't have ocd.

One of my neighbours has diagnosed OCD and is being medicated for it.
She gets up at 4.00am every single day and cleans her house from top to bottom - from attic to kitchen and all rooms in between. She then goes to work.
She comes home at 5pm and starts to clean again - from attic to kitchen.
She goes to bed at 9pm, sometimes panics that she hasn't cleaned properly and will do it again.
The medication and talking therapy is beginning to work but it will take a long time.

There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a clean and tidy home.

Who is this aimed at? I assume you mean I should educate the people accusing me of OCD?

Totally normal amount of cleaning.

Educate yourself. Why did you come on here with such a stupid question if you know that it's not OCD?

It isn’t coming directly from them but from people who I assume they have told about my house. It is exhausting being accused of things that are not true.

I had OCD (then I had CBT) I washed my 6 sinks about 10 times a day each. I’d hate people to come over, couldn’t manage if one stat of my blind wasn’t perfectly straight, I had no life, for me it was debilitating. I’d get up in the middle of the night and plump my cushions and things like that. Getting any work done in the house was a nightmare, I once had a massive argument with the guy fitting our new kitchen accusing him of not putting the work top on straight.
CBT literally changed and maybe saved my life.

Well, you seem open to the possibility that they might be right, so yes.
You too.

No. It means you should educate yourself about what OCD is. It’s a debilitating mental health condition that has nothing to do with keeping a clean and tidy house. It’s highly offensive to those people who do have OCD to throw around the label so casually.

I had diagnosed OCD any my intrusive thoughts were about my house.

Yes, it's crap being bombarded with opinions that contradict reality and it's easy to fall into doubting yourself. I hope this thread is reassuring despite some of the hostility.

I DO NOT BELIEVE I HAVE OCD.

Hope that helps any confusion.

Yes, intrusive thoughts can be about anything. Literally anything.
They are not specifically related to cleaning though.

This nonsense about being super clean and tidy being OCD needs to be challenged.

On what planet could cleaning the bathrooms and changing the bedding and towels every ‘1 to 2 weeks’ be ‘OCD’? 😂 (and I agree the casual use of this term is offensive)

Our cleaner does the bathrooms weekly and we give them a quick wipe around between that, we wash our towels every 2 to 3 days. Bedding is changed weekly. And we are completely not anal about cleaning. That’s basic standards imo.

Also really annoys me when people talk about being 'a bit OCD'

It doesn't work like that.

So why take to the Internet to ask the question?
Pure nonsense.

Sincerely I'm glad to hear it OP.
I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

I hope you don't take these posts as personal attacks, they're really not meant to be, but it is crucial to educate people on what OCD really is
Someone posting that they like a bit of cleaning and asking if they have a serious mental illness is going to get fairly strong answers. Because of the lack of public knowledge or the cleaning stereotyping many sufferers are unaware of their condition for a long time and therefore do not access treatment.

That is not having OCD. That is having a clean house. For context I do (well sort of) similar if not more. OCD is more like
someone cleaned and you can tell things aren’t exactly how you like them such as the toaster is 1cm to the left and you can’t let it go so you need to go fix it. And before people comment on this post - it’s one way it can present itself and I’m describing it in very simple terms and I am aware there is a wide spectrum.