The need for preparation

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When I'm going to the store to buy something, I carry the money in my hand 10 minutes before paying.

When getting into the car with some sort of bag, I have to put it on my lap the whole trip, regardless of how big it is, regardless of how long the trip will take and regardless of how uncomfortable it will make me. Because when I get off the car, I want to be able to get off the car without having to look back.

When I sleep, I sleep in my clothes with everything ready in pocket, so that when I wake up, I don't have to get dressed, and put my things into my pocket.

Is this a common thing?

Would you feel better if it was common?
Would you feel better if it wasn't common?

When I was a kid, I slept in a t-shirt and shorts so I didn't have to get dressed in the morning.
When I was older, I slept with my stuff in my pockets at one point, but that was to keep people from stealing it while I was asleep. (No I'm not paranoid, I was living in chaos. These things happened.)
The rest.... no, not me.

I'm not sure if the manifestation is common, but I think the need for preparation is very common.

My version of this is to have a very specific list of what I need to do in the morning--like get dressed, brush teeth, comb hair, and so forth. I used to do it when I was a kid, along with the exact time to do each thing (6:01 am, 6:03 am, etc.) and never understood why. I just thought it was weird and shamed myself into not doing it for many years. Since the AS dx, I've understood why I did it and still need it. I'm so easily distracted and overloaded that I need something very tactile and recognizable, and I always feel most at home with print, so that's what I use.

It sounds like you are creating routines so that you can create some kind of order amongst the sensory overload and buzzing mind that many of us have. I have days when it's so difficult to think straight that if I didn't have my lists, I'd be totally lost.

I used to sleep in my clothes, too. It seemed efficient. Once I started working, I didn't anymore.

My goodness. I thought for a moment that I had posted this!

I always carry my money in my hand long before buying whatever it is I am buying. It makes my parents nervous...they say "Be careful, we don't want you to lose the money."

I keep the bag right in the seat with me, not on my lap. So, I am sitting next to the bag in the same seat.

I used to always sleep in my clothes...not so much anymore. I still do occasionally.

When I was younger I used to wear two layers of clothing to bed, so that in the morning I could remove one layer and be dressed for school.

Oh yeah and I still do carry around money before I even have found something to buy. Otherwise I'm just not quick enough to get it out of my wallet and the cashier is usually left waiting for a few awkward minutes.

I have to prepare my money before I even get close to the checkout counter.

At school, we also need our ID badge to buy lunch (it has a barcode to track all of our purchases... weird), and I get that out 5 minutes before I am even in the lunch line. Other people don't.

I don't sleep with my clothes on. But I do try to wake up extra early "just incase" I need the extra time in the morning.
Also I'm extra early whenever I go anywhere.
I'm not as bad as you. (Or at least so it sounds.) But I'm needing to be more prepared than other people.

That's the strangest thing I've read in a long time, and i frequent this board often. Any idea why they do that?

When I have to meet someone or have to do something outside my normal routine I keep imagining all the possible scenarios that can happen. I then keep playing these scenarios in my head deciding what I should do if a situation happens and what I should and, mostly, shouldn't say.

I feel that it's awfully useful, I can avoid saying inappropriate most of the time and make new situations more bearable. The only problem is that imagining all that stuff takes time and normally keeps me up at night for longer than I'd like. The funny part is that I can "guess" what will happen a great part of the time, and that just makes me feel smart in spite of the rest...

=D

^Yep, I'm like that too. I imagine what will happen before it happens. For example I'm meeting up with a friend on the weekend and my mind is playing out that something bad will happen. A few days earlier it was making me feel fine about meeting up with this person.

OK, I can answer that! My husband developed software that does that in a school district out here. There are county, state, and federal rules that require accountability from the schools for make-up of meals (eg, did the kid get milk or fruit) and whether the meal was free, regular, or reduced-price. They have to print a huge report to send to each of these entities every day. Based on the report, they get their child nutrition subsidies. The data from each transaction shows their compliance (or not) with dozens of regulations across multiple agencies which would be impossible to do manually.