How To More Efficiently Clean The House When Dealing With Chronic Fatigue

This commodity on "20 helpful tips for cleaning and organizing when you lot're chronically ill" first appeared on Prohealth.com.

Disclaimer: I of the most of import things I've learned almost fibromyalgia and ME/CFS is there is a broad spectrum of disability amid our patient groups. Some of us atomic number 82 pretty normal lives in spite of the pain, fatigue and other symptoms, and some of us take symptoms so severe that we can't get out of the bed, much less clean a toilet. Given that spectrum, it'south impossible to come up with tips that apply to anybody. So, in reading these, I enquire that you use the tips you tin can use based on your abilities and ignore the rest.

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I really believe my obsession with having a clean house is one of the reasons I adult fibromyalgia. You lot come across, like so many of you, I had a self-diagnosed case of perfectionism long earlier I developed fibromyalgia.

I love a clean house.I honey it well-nigh as much as I dear cats and the sea shore. A clean firm makes me feelmore focused, more accomplished. (Aye, I know that makes me audio like a total control freak, and my hubby would agree!)

I've struggled with how to maintain a home that I tin be proud of while having fibromyalgia. It's taken me a while to figure out a cleaning routine that works for me, and even then, there are days when I can't follow information technology due to symptoms.

During those times, I do what I can exercise, and I leave the residuum for another day. I'1000 learning to be ok with that. It's probably one of the hardest lessons fibro is teaching me.

So, let'southward get started with the tips…

Cutting the clutter

• Go rid of stuff – When you have fewer things, there are fewer things to care for and make clean. Look around your home. Do you need all of those knickknacks on your side tables collecting grit? Exercise you need the fancy dishes that you no longer use for entertaining? And then many times we become prisoners of our stuff. Yes, stuff is dainty. Yep, we paid good money for it. But stuff also needs care, and that takes time and effort that those of us who are chronically sick might not accept. Try to keep tabletops, cabinets, drawers and closets as bare as possible.Less stuff equals less to clean and maintain.
• Assign everything a home – When items take a designated surface area, you're more than inclined to put them abroad. For years, I battled a stack of papers that would collect on my dining tabular array. I finally realized everything in the pile pretty much fell into the same categories. I made folders for each category, and filed them away in a file-folder holder mounted on a kitchen wall. Poof! No more stack of random papers because now they have a home. Look at the areas of your home where clutter tends of collect, and if there are items that don't have a home, find one or create i.
• Sort post immediately – When I become the mail from our mailbox, I become through it correct away. I toss all junk mail into the recycling bin. I put my bills in my bill folder. I put magazines on my coffee table. (More on that later.) I put my husband's mail in a special binder designated for him. Anything else that requires action is put into my "to exercise" pile on my desk-bound in my abode office. Mail is insidious. Information technology never stops, so information technology is best to slay the fauna right away instead of letting information technology breed.
• Reduce/abolish subscriptions – Magazines are full of daydreams – places we want to visit, nutrient nosotros desire to swallow, things nosotros want to buy – only the reality is they are dead trees cluttering upward our homes. The same can be said for catalogs and newspapers. Do y'all really read all of the periodicals that creep into your abode every calendar month? Probably not. I hardly e'er pick upwards a magazine or catalog anymore. Why do I demand to? I've got the Net! Everything that I could always possibly want to know is online. If I want to look at pretty pictures and dream, there's always Pinterest. I've reduced my subscriptions to my two favorites – Land Living and Southern Living – and my coffee table is much neater considering of information technology.
• Implement a no-shoes rule – Having everyone take their shoes off upon entering your dwelling housedrastically cuts downwardly on the amount of debris that dirties your floors. I've struggled to become my married man to follow this dominion, but when everyone in the household does information technology, it's neat for extending the cleanliness of your floors.
• Baskets are your friend – I have a basket in my living room for my throw blankets. I accept baskets on each set of stairs to toss in things that need to go to a different floor. I accept a basket on my coffee table for my TV remotes. Baskets (and other organizers) are peachy because theycorral ataxia and give information technology a home. And while cleaning, you can just pick up the basket, wipe nether it, put information technology back into place and you lot're done.
• Make your dwelling equally convenient as possible – If you're planning future dwelling house purchases, look for products that crave less cleaning, maintenance and attempt. Hardwood floors are easier to clean than carpeting. Shades are easier to maintain than cloth window-coverings. Rolling laundry carts are easier to manage than stationary ones. A lighter vacuum is easier to navigate than a heavy one. You lot get the idea.
• Do a piffling every day – I have a bad habit of trying to make clean my entire house every Sunday. I did this for years when I was healthy, but I tin't exercise it anymore. Over the past year, I've started dividing my cleaning tasks up by day. I rotate from room-to-room, and then that my house generally stays adequately clean.
• Exercise some things every day – A few years ago, I committed to doing certain things every unmarried twenty-four hours if at all possible: I empty/load the dishwasher, wipe down the master bath sink/counters, practice a quick pick-upwards throughout the beginning floor and do 1 load of laundry (if in that location'due south one to do). I acknowledge these don't e'er get done, but I try my best to do them even if I'grand having a bad twenty-four hour period symptom-wise. (Sometimes my married man helps.) Forcing myself to do the dishes and laundry prevents them from piling up. Doing a quick pick-up every day keeps the beginning flooring relatively tidy. Wiping down the bathroom sink/counters reduces the frequency of having to clean the bathroom. Doing all four of these tasks generally takes me around xx-30 minutes each day.
• Find your best time – I tend to have more energy in the morning and early on afternoon, so that's the best time for me to clean. Figure out your most functional time, and schedule cleaning for and so.
• Prioritize – When you're chronically ill, y'all commonly accept a express amount of energy/effort earlier you're spent and done for the mean solar day. Earlier you kickoff cleaning, make a list, prioritize the nearly important things that accept to get washed and then practice those get-go. Chances are, you won't finish your to-practice list, merely hopefully you'll at least get the nearly pressing tasks washed.
• Sit down downwardly – Do as many things as yous can sitting down to conserve energy. Sit down to fold laundry. Sit down to peel potatoes. Sit downwards to make clean off your desk-bound. If you lot tin do something in a sitting position, do it because it saves energy for other activities.
• Pace yourself – I know it's tempting to keep cleaning if you're having a skillful day, simply forcefulness yourself to accept regular breaks or you volition pay for it later. Use a timer if y'all need a reminder. It'due south important to find the balance of activity and rest that works for y'all. Also, look at the big picture show. If you lot're going to clean in the morning, and then continue your afternoon free so you can residuum and recover. Avoid overscheduling yourself.
• Keep supplies where yous need them – A few months ago, I got tired of lugging cleaning supplies up and downwards my stairs, so I put together a caddy with cleaners, microfiber cloths, dusters, etc. that I keep on my second floor. I also tucked a few essential cleaning supplies under the sinks in my kitchen and other bathrooms. Now I haveeverything I need where I need it. It saves me actress steps and the effort of lugging supplies from room-to-room and flooring-to-floor.
• Cleaning the shower – For me, cleaning the shower is ane of my about dreaded tasks. It takes a lot of energy, and it's yucky and wet. Thanks to a tip that I plant on Pinterest, I now continue a refillable dish scrubber containing dish soap and white vinegar in my shower caddy. Every couple of weeks, I utilise it to scrub down my tub and shower while I'k taking a shower. When I get dirty and sweaty, I'm already in the shower, so I can make clean upward immediately!

Delegate

• Typhoon your kids (and other household members) – If you have kids, then assigning them chores is a great way to teach them responsibility and skills they'll use later on in life. I grew up with a mom who had fibromyalgia. I swear she didn't make clean a bath after I turned 10 years old. You know why? Because I was cleaning it! I also did my ain laundry, packed my lunches, vacuumed, dusted and cut the grass. Doing chores every bit a kid prepared me for taking care of my own business firm later in life. Even piffling kids tin can do their part by putting their toys away. Your kids won't appreciate doing housework now, but they'll encounter the value of it when they are older, and you lot'll capeesh having less to practice around the house. (If you have a significant other or other household members, they should exercise their part around the firm every bit well.)
• Hire help – I know this isn't possible for everyone due to fiscal constraints, but if you have dispensable income, consider hiring a cleaning service to come in one time or twice a month to do the heavy cleaning, like bathrooms and floors. It may non be as expensive as you think.
• Consider getting a robot vacuum – Our home has dark hardwood floors, which show every speck of clay and pet pilus. Shortly after moving into our domicile, I gave up the one-woman boxing of trying to proceed the floors clean and invested in a Roomba. Yes, they're pricey, simply that niggling robot is worth every single penny that I paid for him. If he died tomorrow, I would take his replacement ordered by the end of the mean solar day. Seriously. I run my Roomba probably two-iii times per week. I only have to pull out my regular vacuum cleaner about every vi weeks to vacuum backside the dog's crate and under the sofa cushions. Vacuuming is ane of the near strenuous household chores for me, and then I'm happy to delegate it to Mr. Roomba.

Remove the mental clutter

• • Lower your expectations – If you're a perfectionist like me, then your married man probably isn't going to load the dishwasher the fashion you would. Your child'due south definition of clean is going to be different than yours. Even if you're yet able to clean, you're probably not going to be able to do as thorough of a task equally yous did before you lot became sick. You're going to need to set new expectations for what'southward acceptable, or y'all will drive yourself crazy with unrealistic expectations.
  • Don't be hard on yourself – Yous'll never go it all washed. Even when you were healthy, you notwithstanding didn't get information technology all washed. I know I've already said this in one case, but it's probably the about important takeaway: Just practice what y'all tin, and leave the rest for another day.  Trust me, Martha Stewart isn't going to knock on your door and ask to inspect.

Practise y'all take a favorite cleaning or organizing tip? I'd beloved to hear information technology! Share in the comments below.

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Source: https://fedupwithfatigue.com/cleaning-with-fibromyalgia/

Posted by: hatfieldplancionsing.blogspot.com

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