Any diagnosed germophobes or hoarders on this forum?

@Escaped_Goat OMG, I've never seen that before - how do they even get the food to stick?! 😮

I'm actually a food addict, so I can have takeaways, but I wouldn't have that milkshake.

@NatureLover Melted chocolate is the glue.

chips are usually safe for me because nobody touches them after cooking.

fine dining is a big no even if I could afford it.. too much touching during plating.

no... I never wonder why people think I'm weird. I know how weird I sound 😂

@Escaped_Goat melted chocolate makes it even worse 😮

Pizza is safe for me as although they make it with hands it's cooked at high temps and they don't touch it when it comes out.

And being weird is good! Makes life interesting! Imagine if we were all the same, lol - how boring.

I'm a big reader, and library books pose a problem as they can carry germs and I don't know their history. So I have lots of face washers, and ritually dry-wipe the library books 10 times each with dry clean face washers. If the library book looks old I wipe it more than 10 times, up to 32 times. This takes ages and yes, I do a lot of laundry washing... 🙂

I am aware that it's not so much whether something is actually dirty, as whether it's dirty in my head. On the other hand, I think it's sensible to sanitise after touching things like door handles, especially toilet door handles, as it's a known fact that they carry germs. So I'm caught between thinking what I do is irrational, and on the other hand rational. It's a confusing conundrum.

Have just had a reply from the Moderator saying that we need to be aware of not posting triggers and apply the guidelines on triggering content. The guidelines state that focussing on strategies for recovery is best and that graphic detail is to be avoided. Personal experience for peer support is OK.

I am not entirely sure how to apply this to germs but will do my best.

@NatureLover I saw foot pulls on toilet doors somewhere and I can't remember where now but I wish they had them everywhere!

The numbers thing is interesting. I find if mine creep up and I do have specific numbers I use... but if I reach my higher level number I will conscientiously work on bringing it down level by level until I get back to the lowest number that I feel safe with. I know ideally I should work on having no number but I'm not there yet.

@Escaped_Goat that's interesting about trying to bring down your numbers. Thanks. Would getting down to no number mean you would no longer have your OCD traits, do you think?

I haven't done much work with my psychologist on my germophobia, as we've been focussing on my childhood trauma and the hoarding disorder. The one thing we tried, not washing my hands as much during breakfast, I couldn't make it work due to fears about contaminating the rest of my house. But I could work on the number thing with the library books.

Foot pulls on toilet doors would be great.

One good thing about this Covid-19 scare is that I realised I was using far too many tissues to wipe things with. Tissues became unavailable, although they seem to have come back into the shops now. I started using the clean face washers instead, and now I'm shocked at how wasteful of tissues/trees I'd become.

Do you have areas of your house that are cleaner than others? My bedroom is always clean and uncluttered, whereas the entryway by the front door is my area for 'dirty' things like shoes.

@NatureLover I think that having no numbers would possibly mean most of the traits would be gone which is probably why I haven't managed to go that far on my own yet. Safety net.

I'm not sure how it would feel to simply leave the house. Baby steps.

I mentioned downsizing before? I live in a converted double garage aka granny flat now so only one room plus bathroom/laundry combo. Because my stuff was in storage I was able to part with loads of it when moving in here and have managed not to gain more. As it's an open space I do keep it clean and clear although I'm not a minimalist by any stretch of the imagination. Everything has a place and it brings me a lot of satisfaction to see everything in its own place. I even did more decluttering before my surgery.. things I hadn't touched since moving in here that I thought I needed but obviously if I haven't touched after a year I don't. Not easy but I was super proud of myself afterwards and don't regret it. It does get easier each time... just so you know.

@Escaped_Goat thanks for the encouragement. I find that decluttering only works if I'm in a strong frame of mind...but you've put the idea in my head that the more I do, the easier it will get. It's such a big deal in my head, tackling the clutter. Maybe I could make it a smaller deal, like getting rid of just one item a day. I think I could handle that.

You deserve to be super proud of yourself. I have heard the saying that for every 100 items you get rid of, if you regret just one then you are still ahead...something like that. And you don't regret any, so you're winning 😄

Not quite sure what you mean about leaving the house and baby steps...

@NatureLover I'm a checker. Did I leave the iron on? No! I checked X times! Along with every single other light switch and power point 🙁
So getting numbers down lower first you see... then baby steps maybe go for a short walk and not have the house in danger.

It also helped me with the decluttering to give to charities. I like helping others so for me putting the item into the salvos bin was me helping someone else not me parting with something so much. Mind games that help. You need to find what works for you.
A big help for me with my extra stuff was an animal rescue charity came to my garage sale and made an offer to take everything. My mind was panicking but because I knew they could sell it all and make a difference for a lot of animals I agreed really fast before I could think about it. Otherwise maybe things might have started creeping back in my home if the things had hung around.

Oh wow, they took everything at your garage sale? That's awesome! And well done for letting it happen! @Escaped_Goat

I have the same problem with items somehow coming back inside lol. If I've put them in a box outside for the Opp Shop and don't take them that same day, then by the next day some items have crawled back inside all by themselves! 😄

I am sorry though that you have that checking thing. I know someone with that and it's awful. I see what you mean about leaving the house and your numbers getting lower. It must make it a huge deal to leave the house?