Sometimes, when we can’t let something go, we just gotta embrace it.
Today I’m hosting my first-ever guest blogger. Woo Hoo! My dear friend and blogging mentor, Kristen Lamb. Without, whom, Threadbare Gypsy Soul, may not ever have seen the light of day.
In the spirit of Spring Cleaning, Kristen talks to us about her Febreze addiction and reminds us that our quirks are what make us who we are. And so long as we’re not hiding bodies under our house or causing harm to anyone including ourselves, it’s okay to hang on to certain habits. Hey, we all have a vice right? We’re only human. 😉
So without further ado, here’s Kristen —
Thanks, Ingrid for having me! Since Ingrid was talking about Spring Cleaning, I wanted to contribute one of my most popular blogs to date. I wrote about my strange addiction, and since it fits perfectly with Ingrid’s theme, I am going to relay my tale again. Last spring I fell ill with a cold, and, once I got to feeling better, I stripped all the bedding and went to Febreze the room and…I could not find my cans of Febreze. This might not seem all that eventful, except I have a habit; a weird, strange whacky habit that I have been trying to break. We’re gonna play armchair psychiatrist today. It’ll be fun 
.
I am addicted to Febreze. Stop laughing.
I use “addicted” in a very loose sense. I am not spending my son’s college fund on Febreze, but I do seem to buy a lot of it. More than seems normal. In fact, I find myself going straight for the aisle of house cleaning supplies, eager to see if they have any new fragrances available, even though I still have at least a half a dozen cans at home yet to be used.
I know this sounds insane, but over the years it seems like I always have one strange addiction that, when I get rid of it…a new one takes it’s place. And none of my addictions are anything that will land me in jail or rehab, but they still makes me scratch my head and wonder, “WTH?”
Years ago, I was addicted to office supplies. It seemed I could not make a trip to the store that I didn’t at least purchase pens, notecards, highlighters or rubber bands. I still cannot go to a Staples without a list and a will of iron. I think this addiction stemmed from childhood. My mother was the one who always made me bring extra school supplies for the kids who came from underprivileged families so they wouldn’t be embarrassed. My mother would stock my bag with extra boxes of Crayons and notebook paper that I could slip to the kids who didn’t have any. I was the “Go To Gal” for glue, rubber cement, colored pipe cleaners and googly-eyes of all sizes. Scissors? I could totally hook you up.
I am from a military family, and we believe that, “Three is two. Two is one, and one is none.” Translation? Be prepared….for everything.
One day, I realized that the office supply thing was getting out of hand, thus forbade myself to buy any office supplies until I was really, truly, genuinely OUT. My calculations put that date at November 13, 2024.
…so I started buying “Thank You” notes. “Thank You” notes of all varieties and sizes and shapes, which wouldn’t have been so bad if I ever remembered to send them. When I forbade myself to buy anymore “Thank You” notes? Cleaning supplies took over. When we moved into our new house almost two years ago, I swear I must have had enough cleaning supplies to shine the entire neighborhood. It took me a year to use up all the cleaning supplies I had stockpiled. I guess if the Zombie Apocalypse struck I wanted to have plenty of Swiffer refills just in case. *slaps forehead*
So you guys can guess what took the place of the cleaning supplies. You got it.
Febreze.
At one time I had at least two cans of it in every room. Febreze in every scent. Febreze in the new holiday scents. Limited time only fragrance? I am so there. New Zealand Springs? They had me at “New Zealand.” Ooooh…had to have it. Oh, and at Wal-Mart I can get the two pack for $5.00. At Target, I have to pay $2.53 each.
Yes, I am only saving .06 but that adds up when you have a habit like mine .
Oh, but this brings me to a weird habit. My husband makes fun of me because I have a compulsive need to add numbers in my head and then take it down to its root (if that root is a whole number). For instance, if I see the date April 28, 2011, I instinctively add 4 + 2 + 8 + 2 +0 +1 + 1=18…. 1+8 =9 and taken to its root is 3. I do this with addresses, dates, you name it. I actually am freakishly accurate tallying the grocery bill in line (tax included).
I have no idea why I do this or where it came from. Just like I really do not understand why I feel the need to have Febreze in every room of the house. Well, I DID have Febreze in every room of the house until I started noticing my Febreze addiction was getting a wee out of hand. Now I am down to one can…which I had taped behind the toilet tank .
But this makes me think how unique all of us are. We all have these strange habits, addictions, compulsions and tics. Some of them make sense and some just never will. These odd behaviors are what make us unique, whether it is collecting smarta$$ t-shirts or a compulsive need to touch the doorframe before we unlock the front door. Some of these habits have a story behind them, and others? Well, they just seemed to spring to life all on their own.
What are some weird habits and addictions you guys have?
I collect bodies under my house.
Kidding! *laughs awkwardly*
Let’s keep it light or Ingrid won’t let me come back :D. Do any of you guys have odd hobbies or collections? Maybe you collect shot glasses or bobble-head dolls? Cabbage Patch paraphenalia? Do you have any odd rituals? Do you think all habits and rituals have a root source? Or are some habits just spontaneous, with no psychological root? Come on! Let’s play armchair psychiatrist! What is your wackiest habit? Feel free to tattle on spouses or family members. We won’t tell!
Ingrid Schaffenburg's Blog 
LOL A Febreeze addiction! This is honestly the first I’ve heard of one of those. 😀 I have some strange addictions myself. Office supplies–YES! I can so totally relate. I LOVE those. I also have to rearrange any shoes I see in my house so they are all facing the right way, and are in size order, from largest to smallest. Quite annoying because I have toddlers who delight in messing up my neat, orderly lines. XD
Can you come visit my closet? 😀
LOL What’s sad is, that actually appeals to me! Organizing shooooes …
Love that! I always need things to be symmetrical in my environment. That’s my weirdest quirk, I think 😉
I collect socks. Cute socks, not those ugly white or black ones. There’s a huge pile by my bed from where I kick them off at night, and I have so many, I can’t fit them all in my sock drawer. Actually, I think they’d fill a laundry basket if I gathered them all. And they’re so cheap. Most are under $5, so how can you go wrong?
I have a pile by my bed too! Only mine are the boring white or black kind 😉
Be careful, Ingrid. Be very careful around Kristen. You never know when she might decide to make you smell like a lemon, or lavender or some such thing. I would only pick a certified lunatic for my BFF.
I keep at least 3 feet from her at all times 😉
Not office supplies in general but pens. I have more pens than a normal person will use in a year, and I’m very particular about them. At one point I had a gathering of mugs. I don’t actually know why. I’d see one with a funny saying or a pretty picture on it, and I’d have to take it home with me.
My parents had the mug quirk. We must’ve had 50 at one point. Something ridiculous!
Hi Ingrid/Kristen
At one time I used to collect hard disk drives. That was before you could just buy one and plug it in. It was complicated, there were BIOS settings to play with, jumpers to attach, OS limits to tinker with. I used to have clunky mounting trays to swap from one to another. But that was before digital video and one day it suddenly struck me – what the bloody hell am I doing? I weaned myself off them, pried their shiny forms from my sweating hands and generally told myself “no” every time I walked past Best Buy et al. It’s mostly worked, but I do get sweat palms when someone mentions the word terrabyte in polite conversation.
Cheers!
Hehe! That is too funny 😉 Not a bad quirk to have. At least it’s useful.
The office supplies comment sent me over to See Jane Work…you know…just in case I needed something from the New Arrivals. I love blank books. I use them, but not as quickly as I buy them. You’d think from the several inches of shelf space they occupy that I have multiple writing projects going. Nope. Still blank. I use use two at a time, so probably 2024 for me, also.
See Jane Work? I’ll have to check that out. I love blank books. They’re so pretty. I could see the draw to that quirk 😉
LOL! I just about fell out of my swivel chair when you mentioned the New Zealand Springs scent. When I saved and brought the bunnies into my home, I also bought out our local Walmart in the scent. My office is now over flowing with fluffy cuteness but I’m keeping any unwanted smells away.
Great post!
Natalie
You have bunnies!?!?! That is too cute!!
I collect socks for all seasons, holidays…and for cats. I even had to buy a small 6-drawer chest for my socks–to keep them organized by seasons and BIG holidays (Christmas, Valentines’s Day). My husband just laughs at me, but he contributes to the collection. He knows how happy it makes me feel to wear silly socks. Ah, the small pleasures in life. Couldn’t wear silly socks when I was working as an elementary principal. Well, I did manage to wear silly socks (and worse) on a few occasions, but that’s another blog post.
Too cute. I say, whatever floats your boat. Like with Kristen, if it’s not breaking the bank or breaking the law, embrace it… so long as it makes you happy 😉
I like The New Zealand Scent too. My daughter is allergic to some scents that contain cinnamon or spices so we can’t have those in the house. Oh, and lavendar bothers her too. As for socks, I have a small box full of mismatched ones. Lol.
Not a big fan of the Febreze myself but the cinnamon is probably my fav!
Oh Staples is like my grown up Toys R Us! And I am very quirky about lists–In my kitchen area I have a bulletin board, a chalkboard painted on a wall and a whole stack of notepads. Plus lists next to the chair I write in, my bed, my car . . .and I just love crossing a line thru something when I’m done. 🙂
Oh My God, you two are cracking me up.
I have a Febreeze issue as well. Spays for fabric, sprays for the air, plug into the wall thingamajigs that Dave swears are going to burn the house down. All Febreeze. This stems from my grandmother (in MD) who used to buy Lysol by the case load before places like Costco & Sams ever opened. She has been gone now for over 10 years and you still leave the house with faint traces of that smell in your clothes.
I think it also comes from the fact that B&B Works was kind of our “generation,” so all things smelly in a good way is where it’s at. My newest have to have now is the Mrs. Meyer line of cleaning supplies. Just picked up 4 bottles of hand soap for the bathroom. Rhubarb, Parsley, Honeysuckle, and Rosemary. Did I mention I only have 1 bathroom sink?
Probably best not to bring up my bag/ purse problem…..moving on.
Staples now has that f’n Martha Stewart blue I love so much. So I have been hoarding stupid things like labels and not labeling a damn thing. Now, if only that “Easy” button thingy would actually work like in the commercials I would love Staples even more. But I keep pressing the damn thing waiting for something to happen, and all it does is just make the baby laugh at me.
See Jane work is evil don’t go there. I warned you. It is like Nordstrom for office supplies. So is Russell + Hazel.
That’s about it for now. I am sure I could come up with about 50 or so more items from places like Sephora and Target. We best save that can of worms for another morning.
XOXO-Me
PS. BTW, I limited myself to only 3 chickens special ordered this Spring, but I will probably leave the feed store with 3-5 additional before the final bill is tallied.
Ah! I love it! I want chickens! You are too funny. And yeah… we won’t even go into the bag/purse issue. That’s just beyond help at this point 😉 XOXO
This is kinda weird – but I don’t really have anything. Life has forced me to be way to too frugal and practical to get attached to or collect anything. I have a collection of salt and pepper shakers – but it’s mostly been grown by other people. One quirk I have is that I like to move – a lot. I spend more than a couple of years in one place (apartment/house) and I get twitchy. My mother says I have itchy feet. I should have been an army wife or something. If I’ve lived in one place for more than a year or so, I start rearranging the cupboards and the furniture looking for optimal use of space. Forcing people to switch bedrooms. Drives my family insane – but it’s cheaper than moving or buying new stuff 😛 Problem is, once I find that sweet spot for everything, I start searching the for sale listings – then my husband gets twitchy. lol
I LOVE how Kristen celebrates every aspect of herself. It is completely inspiring.
Thanks for the amazing guest post and for having her on your blog, Ingrid!
Funny post! I have a habit of counting out the syllables of a sentence on my hands and am strangely thrilled when it ends up on either pinky. 😉