Hi Forest, and welcome.

As GardenerGirl told you, whether or not this is a disorder for you does depend partially on the impact that it has on your life. There are the criteria for mental illnesses, but part of it looks at how much this interferes with things. If it doesn't bother you, and doesn't bother other people, then it's not a problem and doesn't need to be treated. Since your friends have noticed your behaviors and suggested that you might have OCD (or there is also Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder, which is similar and may also be a possibility for you), maybe it does affect them in some way. You could ask them if you want to know. Next time they point out that you are cleaning something again, or whatever, just ask "Does it bother you?" Are you cleaning when there is an expectation that you do something else right then, for example? Also, could you stop if you wanted to, or if someone needed you for something else?

Another question to ask yourself is why you need to be perfect. A lot of people who have mental illnesses and disorders are driven by a need to be perfect. We deal with it in different ways. One might try to keep their house perfectly clean. Another might develop an eating disorder and obsess about having the perfect body, or use various coping mechanisms to make up for or punish themselves for not being able to be perfect, or be a workaholic, or fall to despair and depression because they can never be perfect enough, or give up and not even try because it wouldn't be good enough anyway. What I am getting at here is that perfectionism is a common thread for a lot of us, and how far we take it and what we do with it is what makes the difference between having a disorder or not. It's a matter of degrees. Everyone has issues - that is part of being human. Those who have a disorder might just feel it a little bit more, or take it a bit farther. We're more alike than we are different.

Now, you have started to see a possibility in yourself and it bothers you. Obsessive Compulsive disorder has two parts. One is the obsessions (which can be anything, including needing to be perfect, or obsessing that there might be something wrong with you mentally or physically, etc.). Compulsions are what people do about the obsessions (sometimes cleaning a lot, washing hands too much, or it can be repeating certain actions - sometimes I have to read things over and over, for example, because it bothers me that I might miss something, and I also get compulsive about taking quizzes to find out what disorders I might have). Not everyone who has obsessions and/or compulsions has a disorder. Just those who are controlled by it, and can't stop when they need to or want to.

If you had strange blemishes showing up on your skin, and they kept getting worse and you couldn't get them to go away, would you go to a doctor? What if you found out that it was skin cancer? Would that mean that you have failed in some way and are not a good person?

This isn't so different. You have become aware of a symptom, that might indicate that there is a problem. We don't know that for sure, but it is bothering you that you have this symptom. If you talk to a professional about it, you could find out that it's not an illness afterall, and you can stop worrying about it, or they might be able to tell you how to get relief from your symptom. If it's easier for you, you can go to your medical doctor. Medical doctors who are not specialists in this area may not be as competent with this issue though as a mental health professional would be, and also medical doctors are more likely to just write a prescription, and I don't think that medication is what you need. But if you ask them, they will refer you in the right direction. What do you think?