For those of us unique enough to struggle with chronic conditions, it's a bit more complicated than that.
It's time to discuss normal cleaning chores like vacuuming and moping and other chores, that for you may present challenges.
I used to love vacuuming. Something about the smell of cleaning, mixed with all those pretty straight lines in the carpet, I dunno, it just spoke to me, I guess. Mopping?! Yeah, I was a sucker for shiny, beautiful floors.
On hard days, with my chronic condition, these normal cleaning activities are frequently ignored. Why? Because my walker can still easily navigate floors that don't shine. Floors left untidy are a bit more difficult, so they are a bigger issue for me. Also, these chores require time, often standing/walking. That can be hard to do when I'm weak. It's just not a quick 5 minute job. Finally, the noise of the vacuum can be a trigger for my condition, and we all know that part of respecting chronic conditions is learning how to pro-actively treat them.
What normal chores do you struggle with? They may be these, they may be others.
Today, our focus is on adjusting our life to accept our limitations, and still accomplish these normal chores. I'll walk you through the adjustments I've made, and hope they help you to honor your own situation and still maintain a level of clean.
First, it's important to note what "the issues" are for your situation. I've already talked through this, but here's my listing for both vacuuming, and mopping.
Why Vacuuming is Hard
- Time it takes (about 20 minutes for the main living areas)
- Physical strain of standing/walking/pushing and pulling
- Additional time spent unrolling cord, plugging in, emptying container, re-rolling cord, etc.
Why Mopping is Hard
- Physical strain of pushing mop hard enough to remove dirt/standing/walking
- Set-up time required
- Time it takes to complete
Writing this list, I realize that pre-condition me wouldn't have thought twice about these issues. Remember though, that's why we're here and not reading the latest cleaning best-seller. What is easy for people with bodies that function predictably day in and day out, isn't as easy for us.
That is alright! We're smart enough to work around it.
Once we understand why the tasks we've identified are hard, we can start to find solutions. Keep in mind, calling in help is an acceptable solution, depending on your situation.
I decided that rather than stress over always having perfectly clean floors, I'd accept that these two tasks wouldn't happen as often. Is the inner clean freak panicking? Remember that being limited is part of our lives and choosing in what way to limit yourself is infinitely more satisfying than allowing your condition to make the rules.
Now, I do time cleanings to try to align with when people might come over, as well as when my family and I have strength to do them. Rather than set a weekly time that my body is sure to break with, I instead tackle these tasks whenever I have the strength to do them, and record when they were done so I can monitor how often I'm doing them and adjust as needed.
I've also adjusted the tools I use and how I use them. For example:
- I replaced the regular sponge mop with a light-weight steam mop (steam mops can simply go over a trouble area multiple times to remove, without needing to use elbow grease).
- I use a stable, wheeled chair when mopping instead of standing (be wise with this, obviously).
- For my birthday I asked for a robotic vacuum (this model) when it was on sale.
- Vacuum more efficiently (see this great, how-to)
- Get assistance (I've trained my kids to help with these tasks, and it's seriously paying back big!)
Finally, I try to keep the need for cleaning at a minimum by using wet wash-cloths on sticky spills right away and using house-slippers instead of shoes that may track dirt around. If you can minimize the mess from the start, you're only helping yourself!
A final note, we don't have pets that add to the problem, but I understand that pets can require much more vacuuming and such (not to mention care overall). Keep this in mind if you are a chronic sufferer looking to get a new pet and try to choose something that again, minimizes the need for additional work, if possible.
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