Housework!

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emilyj

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How the heck do y'all get your housework done? Every day is such a struggle just getting the basic stuff done. I know I can get the laundry and dishes done if I got at it a little at a time, but that's about it.

Sweeping and mopping especially kill me! I've been looking at various sweepers, vacuums, and steamers to help me get the floors done (we have almost all hardwood in our house and several cats and dogs), but I can't tell if any of that stuff will work any better than just using my existing vacuum and a rag mop.

Do any of you have any strategies for housework you want to share? I am all ears.
 
I used to put things off a lot, I no longer do it tho. Now I just od whatever I have to do as quick as possible and not thinking too much about it. Like for example cooking, nowadays i don't enjoy cooking that much, but I still do it anyway. I just get up and gather all the things I need and start cooking not thinking much at all. After a bit I actually feel relaxed and then when I less expect it I notice I'm done with the food!

As for sweeping and mopping... I only do that twice a week, lol. I get a lot help, and I make sure the mops aren't too heavy for me to carry them around.
 
Unfortunately EmilyJ, I'm not much help. I haven't accomplished much of anything in months. My house is getting just a little TLC small bits at a time with my husband (who works out of town Monday-Thursday) and a few chores assigned to my daughter. I have done little to nothing myself. I keep talking about seeing if we can hire someone, but with my leave without pay, it's made it tight financially and my husband says he'll take care of it. I look around and there is a layer of dust on the tables and headboard and it's driving me crazy, and adding a lot of stress. Today is the first day in months that I had a smidgen of energy so I'm frantically trying to get all the laundry caught up, bills paid (I always make sure to do those on time) and picking up things around the living room as I come and go.

If you figure out there is a magic piece of cleaning equipment that will help, please let me know..... :) Sorry, not trying to make light of the situation, I get to where sometimes its laugh or cry. I choose to lighten and laugh.... :lol:
 
Same here. I look around and do what needs the worst. I can't remember the last time my upstairs carpet was vaccuumed. I swept and mopped over the weekend. I have hardwood downstairs, too. It kills me as well. By the time I get done with the broom, vacuum, and mopping, forget it. My legs and back and a wreck. I think it gets done once a month and I can't stand dirt on my bare feet. And, we have pets as well. Dusting - hmmm, maybe did it last year. Seriously. I stand there on the weekend and if the laundry is the worst, laundry gets done. If the floor is the worst, the floor gets done. If the bathroom is the grossest, it gets done. Nothing gets done like it used to and we live. But my husband is allergic to dust mites we just found out and has sinus problems, even had sinus surgery, so my lack of housekeeping skills these days are not helping. The only thing I do every day is dishes. Otherwise they pile up and I stand there for 45 minutes doing them and that hurts worse than just getting them done. When the boys try to help me (my husband and son), they don't do them all and they pile up anyway, so I'm better off doing that myself. I have no magic solution. I keep saying I need a roomba.
 
I have been forcing myself to do things today. I just spent two days in bed recovering from exerting too much energy over the weekend and I was desperate to get some things done this week. My husband told me to cage and tie the tomato plants today and when I went to do that I seen he had forgotten a bag of garbage on the patio, luckily the coons or other wildlife did not get to it, so I walked it to the garbage bin at the end of the drive and checked my mail. The walk there and back is 1/4 of a mile, I try to do it daily even when I do not feel like it so I am at least getting a small amount of exercise.

I stripped my bed, I have been sick with a infection in my lungs, and been in the bed a lot so I am determined to wash EVERYTHING on my bed today, not just the sheets. So far I am doing ok with that.

I did unload the dishwasher and load the few dishes we had in the sink in there.

Still on my to-do list....
Clean out fridge (been 2 weeks since it was done last yuck..) and dust.

I hope I can accomplish all this today and tomorrow I plant to do the floors. I know it will take me all day to do those and it will wear me out and be the only thing I get done all day. And Wednesday I hope to clean the bathrooms.

If I can accomplish all these things this week I will be doing really good. And I do hope that I can because this place really needs some TLC in the cleaning department.

I did have a girl who came and cleaned once a week for me. I would keep up the things like the dishes and laundry, when she came she would do all my dusting, floors, bathrooms, fridge and put clean linen on the beds each week, but its just not in our budget to afford that at this time so I am pretty much left to try and get it all done myself.

As far as flooring... I use a HAAN steamer once a week. One week a month instead of using the HAAN I use a machine called a GLOSS BOSS... It puts a shine on the floors for me and does not take effort, it pretty much drives itself.

Cooking... I wish I could do better than I do. Right now were in the garden season so I am just eating a lot of veggies either raw, on sandwiches, or marinated and having cheese sandwiches. The little bit I do cook is normally in the crockpot, one dish meals or premade foods I can just warm up or take out of the fridge and eat. My husband is only home 2 days a week so I am lucky I do not have the pressure of getting a meal on the table every day.
 
Thanks so much for all your input. I feel so much better knowing I'm not alone in this. It feels yucky laying around in an exhausted pile, staring at the dust settling on the stereo and the colonies of dust bunnies gathering in the corners. I try to get up and do just a little here and there, but I have to keep taking a break because I'm hurting and so tired. It's frustrating!

If you figure out there is a magic piece of cleaning equipment that will help, please let me know..... Sorry, not trying to make light of the situation, I get to where sometimes its laugh or cry. I choose to lighten and laugh....

Terbaer, I am right there with you! I think laughter is about the only way I can keep coping with the whole situation! Well, that and my wonderful, understanding husband and daughter, who pick up the slack for me when I just can't do it. :)
 
I absolutely love my dyson stick vacuum..got it for xmas..battery charged, light weight, good suction, use it on wood floors, carpet and tile...it sucks up dog hair and leaves...does not hurt your body to use...some girls like diamonds...me, my dyson stick..ha!
 
Oh housecleaning! I break it up into little chucks of time with rests in between. Just keep plugging away. My standard of cleanliness is not what it used to be, so I pick my battles. A load of laundry ever other day. Dishes have to be done. If I get too far behind, I get overwhelmed.
 
I have a dyson stick and a robot sweeper. Unfortunately I can no longer do the housework without going into a flare. I do the dishes daily, laundry as needed, dust when I can and the robot sweeper once a week. My hubby hired a woman to come in for 2 hours once a week to clean the bathroom,sweep,mop and vacuum. In our house there is just my hubby and I and our dog so not much mess. Hubby loves to cook so he does 95% of it and shopping.
 
Ok dusting...i love swiffer on a stick..they are pricey, but pick up the dust without any chemicals..i do polish for company..but not in between

I also love microfiber cloths...

We do have. Occassional help come in and then everything is done at once..feels good

I do 1 or 2 loads of laundry per day..for two people...

My fibro has been in a flare in my hips ..so my hubby is doing a lot of the shopping while i work on that..while cooking dinner the other night, my hip went into a spasm..it was horrible..i am treating it in many ways ..but it will calm down one day and be a mess the next
 
After days of very bad sleep I got some decent rest last night and ended up sleeping 14 hours which in turn gave me the restart of energy that I needed so terribly bad. How about everyone else? I pushed myself yesterday and got some things done, but today I had tons more that needed to be done. The sad part is outside needs so much work and I cannot stand the heat for more than a few minutes. Almost all of my pretty plants have died. I am hoping that once the sun starts to go down that I can drag the ones in that are still alive and give them some food and water and hopefully the cool air will help revive them. I know I have lost a couple of hundred dollars in plants this year and its just so sad. I have water timers, but the drip hoses dry rotted so I cannot do as I have done in the past and let the watering take care of itself.

LLM1, what swifter on a stick are you talking about? Those dusters that you slip a new clean one on? Or something else? The swifter stuff is really nice. A bit pricey, but if you have a coupon it helps take the price down some. I get the swifter stuff and glade items when I have the coupons.
 
Use paper plates and plastic knives and spoons, hire a maid every other friday and also a weekly lawn mowing service. Go to bed at nine every night and quit drinking. Where your clothes more than once and cut down on the laundry. Take a one hour walk every day. Your life will change.
 
gj872, your suggestions assume that one can afford a maid and lawn service. I can't do either. I don't drink. I go to bed at nine hoping for fours hours of sleep. And I walk everyday. Our lives have changed with fibro. I still hope that I will be able to run 5 miles a day or climb a mountain or swim to the big rock again. Everyday is an effort to find new ways to live as normally as before. If there were a simple answer or cure, I would be the first one in line.
 
I absolutely love my dyson stick vacuum..got it for xmas..battery charged, light weight, good suction, use it on wood floors, carpet and tile...it sucks up dog hair and leaves...does not hurt your body to use...some girls like diamonds...me, my dyson stick..ha!

Awesome! I'll take your word, I might get one of those in the future. I don't plan to get a carpet for my house, but a vacuum cleaner sounds great. Up until now we till use a broom :mrgreen: Btw, what mop do you use? There has to be an easier way to clean the floors :-?:confused::evil:
 
It is so hard to get housework done because of the pain. I've been sick lately, really sick, was admitted to the hospital, and still sick, noone knows why, either, and homework is even harder now with every 15 minutes I'm vomiting. Usually takes 5-6 hours to clean, now is all day and into 2 days. Being sick is aggravating my Fibromyalgia terribly. Having a young son with Autism doesn't help either, having to go back and clean again what I just cleaned because he made a mess. Such is life of a parent and one with Fibromyalgia, I guess.
 
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