Is my new hobby normal? (categorization)

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21 Comments

I like to categorize and list things. I've been doing this for hours the past few days and it's so much fun. I don't want to say what I've been working on because you may think I'm crazy but a couple of other little projects I want to start are categorizing all the food in the kitchen and all the books I own.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do exactly because I've never done this but here's an idea. With all the food I want to write a list out of every item then put them in their food group. Next I will write out all of the ingredients per item. Any similarities I will make a separate sheet and group those items together. Items in similar packaging I will group together. Expiration dates. Nutritional information. Etc. I was thinking of roughly measuring everything as well. You get the idea, basically.

is it normal I find this fun? I like finding similarities or connections in things no one would normally notice. Does anyone else do this or something similar?

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53% Normal
Based on 90 votes (48 yes)
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Comments ( 21 )
  • Angel_in_a_Glass_Dress
    11 years ago

    not for me, but.... when I was walking the dog the other day, I did remember an episode of The Big Bang Theory when Sheldon revealed that he had his cereals organized by fiber content.

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  • howaminotmyself
    11 years ago

    My kitchen is very well organized. I don't label things as much of it is in clear containers. I have a friend who is a rather picky eater and when he saw my kitchen, he told me he would eat anything I made for him. I don't have a lot of processed foods so what you see is what you get. Also, some of my kitchen cupboards don't have doors so everything is exposed. What you see is what you get.

    And it is a pet peeve of mine for books to not be organized by genre. I have too many books to mix them up and hope to find what you are looking for.

    I do enjoy organizing but I do it for function and ease of use. You can go overboard.

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  • Short4Words
    11 years ago

    I totally get it. But organize it properly, and don't reorganize. It doesn't sound like ocd, but more like boredom and a wish to clean up.

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  • Tazwiz
    11 years ago

    It is surprisingly satisfying! I do it a lot when I'm bored!!!!

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  • NeonLighterz
    11 years ago

    Sure? I mean it's whatever you like.

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  • RobynFlyte
    11 years ago

    I've no idea why but i love making lists. I'm the queen of the scatterbrains most of the time so i suppose this gives me a sense of order. You're perfectly normal. :)

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  • valisque
    11 years ago

    Uh right.... This is what I was normally forced to do in detention as a punishment or when i was grounded.

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  • [Old Memory]
    11 years ago

    crows are smart and shiny and their feathers sound like the rustle of paper

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  • dappled
    11 years ago

    It's my kind of thing, yeah. I do plenty of stuff like this that I don't share with IIN. It's not because I have OCD or "too much time" (I wish) or am mentally ill in some way. It's because I care more about some things than other people do. Other people who cared more:

    Aristotle
    Carl Nilsson Linnæus
    Antoine Laurent de Jussieu

    All three made significant contributions just by thinking the way we do. It may not be normal but it is pretty great. You and I should categorise anyone who disagrees just so we can find out what is wrong with them. :)

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      11 years ago

      :) That's exactly why I do it.

      I think I may have worded my post wrong because everyone thinks I meant categorize as in fix and clean and organize rather than categorize as in collecting data and analyzing the similarities. I mean I guess I could kill two birds. XD

      Oh, don't give me any ideas. You just saying that one sentence will end up in me studying Internet personalities and God knows what else. ;)

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      • dappled
        11 years ago

        Ahh, no, I think you worded it very well. I certainly understood straight away what you meant. I like categorising stuff and I like it when I know something is complete; like when I've got a full list and nothing is missing. Then I can start comparing various attributes and getting a proper feel for how things work. :)

        Now you've made me want to study internet personalities too. Bah! At least we're not as bad as Atistotle. He wanted to categorise everything in the world. :D

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        • Anonymous Post Author
          11 years ago

          Categorizing everything in the world sounds like a good time. ;) We can start now and before we die find an apprentice to take over. Better yet, do as Sheldon Cooper would do and transfer our consciousness into a machine to achieve immortality. :P

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  • johnjohnsonisweird
    11 years ago

    no dont be too neat you boring your life

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  • Bmitch32
    11 years ago

    You have wayyy too much time on your hands

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  • NothingSpecial
    11 years ago

    Yeah, that's pretty normal. A lot of people like to think that organizing things equals OCD but not really. You just seem to enjoy cleaning and organizing. I wish I was that way! Of course, if you feel distressed when you don't organize or if you try to make other family members organize the way you do, it's a problem, but you just like sorting things. No big deal. You actually seem smart to me since you enjoy details and discovering patterns. I like to discover patterns too but I prefer spotting the patterns and similarities in people instead. Lots of people like to observe the patterns of things, whether that be with people, ideas, theories, intellectual fields or topics or like you, objects. Have you ever thought about collecting items and then listing the similarities and differences?

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      11 years ago

      Oh I hate cleaning Lol. I'll probably make a mess throwing things around. I actually like observing things in general so I guess it makes sense that I like doing this.

      I haven't but that sounds like fun to me

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      • NothingSpecial
        11 years ago

        Oh okay, that makes more sense. It's nothing to do with organizing for the sake of being clean and orderly at all then? Just to observe the patterns?

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        • Anonymous Post Author
          11 years ago

          No way but I should probably work on that. ;P Not that I'm a messy person; at work I'm organized, in other things I'm not.

          Yes I just like understanding things, seeing if I can find anything of significance (even if it's just for my own knowledge) or just for fun. :)

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  • KeddersPrincess
    11 years ago

    Oh. I thought you were gonna be a seroal killer, like me. Yeah; I guess it's normal.

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  • cantheist
    11 years ago

    You should see a psychiatrist.

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  • [Old Memory]
    11 years ago

    As long as you do it in a Holy way.

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