Autistic routines or not?

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I have several routines. I brush my teeth before I put on my makeup, it feels unclean and icky to do it in reverse, I can cope but I hate hate hate it...

Same thing with having and odd number of tabs open on my browser and having music playing a lyric video or still image, never a video, with the lights off in my room and the hallway and the door closed unless I'm in the living room, in which the lights are off in that and the adjacent kitchen.

I hate it when my routine is disturbed, I don't think anything bad will happen but I just feel icky. I often flick my finger to cope but I can. I also fill my hot water bottle up once, pour a little out, and refill it, idk it's something to that feels better than just letting it fill.

Is this ASD? OCD? NT? Help please.

It is hard to say for certain because no two autistics are alike, but it has been my experience that if you have an OCD routine, say checking the stove, removing the stove will result in that routine being replaced by another OCD routine.

Autistics can often be distracted--say you get a new toy in the mail--alerted by package tracking. So, you rush home and play with it, and forget all your normal routines. But, an OCD who has a fixation with the odometer will still get stuck on their odometer issue.

I have OCD... it's pretty well under control these days, but it wasn't always. One of my major tells when I was trying to figure out if was an autism thing or an OCD thing was how doing the action made me think/feel. With OCD things I am stuck doing x y or z until I have completed that action the correct way and it causes me distress while I am completing that action. I know the OCD things are crazy and I hate it that I get stuck on this brain loop where I have to complete something the right way, whatever it might be. With the autism based things, those actions soothe me while I am doing them. They do not cause me distress unless someone or something throws a wrench in my routine.

Side note, I think it would be really weird for someone to put on makeup and then brush their teeth. Especially if they wear lipstick of something. It seems really backwards and like it could potentially mess up and undo the work put into putting on makeup. I would be compelled to tell someone I saw doing that to knock it off and learn the right order to do those things. It seems as sensible to do makeup first and teeth second, as it does to put on pants and then put underwear on beneath them. Just... no.

The tooth brushing thing is probably normal as it makes no sense to do it the other way around.

Not liking your routine disturb and the thing with odd numbers could be an ASD trait.

Not all people with ASD are routine based but it is a very common characteristic.

I personally don't have routines (other than a loose bedtime routine) but I can be very resistant when it comes to do something I don't want to and am not always very good at giving up control.

I have very, very strict routines. I have certain times where I have to get ready, shower, eat, drink, and even use the restroom. I have two routines; my weekday routine (school centered) and my weekend routine (where I see my friends every other Saturday to watch movies and we go get dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings and going to Walmart and the grocery store with my sister on Sunday). I even have certain meals that I eat specific days, like mac and cheese on Tuesdays and Fridays, and pancakes on Sunday. I have trouble when things upset my routine and it can cause me to have meltdowns.

I've been told by therapist that this can be a normal part of Autism and I think it probably has something to do with OCD too. I have been diagnosed with both. I'm not an expert, however.

I have a daily routine myself, and if it's disrupted, I get upset and irritable. I want things to run smoothly without any inconveniences. However, I should keep in mind that there are some things I just can't control and should just accept. I'm planning on moving into my own place in a few months, which means I'll have to come up with a whole new routine. That's okay, I'm used to moving around a lot, but I've been living in this nursing home for a year now, and I'm stuck in my routine. This next move is going to be a big change, but a good change. It'll be okay.

I had many ticks, and quirks,and rituals, when I was teen. Similar to yours. Outgrew them somewhere in my 20's.

Most I dont remember very well. But one I do recall was that for a long time in my teens when I would walk through the house to the far end where my bedroom was I had to slap each corner where walls met that I happened to walk past. If my hand missed a corner and slapped empty air I would stop and slap that corner before continuing down the hall. Mom had to use extra shots of 409 to clean the skin oil off of those particular spots on the walls. Dont know why I had to do it. Eventually I out grew it.

I guess it was related to aspergers in some way. OCD as I understand it has to be linked to a specific fear (if I dont clean the door knob I will get germs. If I dont go home from work right now to check if I turned off the stove burners the house will burn down). It was more like a nervous tick. Just couldnt relax with out slapping each corner of the wall.

As said, that cosmetic thing just makes sense. Wouldn't brushing your teeth afterwards muck up your cosmetics? I put cream on my hands after I wash the dishes, or it would clean the cream off. That's not a disorder - just sensible.
As for routines, the most routine-oriented people I know are solid neurotypicals. Their routines drive me crazy. Just the same thing, over and over. Most "normal" people have an amazing amount of routines, from ritualistic patterns of behaviour to just preferences. Which is what makes many people so easy to predict.
I suppose it just seems to me sometimes that everything is "pathologized." Everything is a disorder, instead of just a normal part of behaviour.
I don't have routines, but I have an excessive amount of repetition. Just repeat repeat repeat (no pun intended) and it drives me crazy. That's the difference it seems - many autistic people have repetitious behaviour and routines, but they like them. I hate both.