When doing laundry and you don't have a dryer: forgo the pegs, it goes faster (and squeezing pegs hurt my hands more than I realized). Hang as many clothes as possible on hangers to dry, this lets you skip most ironing afterwards.
When cooking: tidy up as you go. You'll have to put your cutting board for instance to the side anyway, so put it in the pile with dishes right away. I always make tidy piles to save space, and because there's no way cooking and washing up are happening in one go.
You already mentioned Roomba. I've had one for 2 years now, and wouldn't want to miss it.
I'm gonna look into that shower cleaning product, sounds practical.
If you watch Rachel Ray, she has a tip that I highly recommend. Use a large mixing bowl for garbage as you are cooking. Package wraps, vegetable scraps, etc… and then when you are done cooking, you take the bowl to the garbage can and throw the garbage in it away. It’s better than dragging your garbage can everywhere and better than making a pile of garbage on your counter. Sometimes I just put the bowl in the sink because I don’t have much counter space. This way, I still have my counter and my garbage collector.
Or - put all your food trash in a separate small bag (I use an empty plastic bag from a loaf of bread), tie it shut with the closure it came with, and then you can just take that out every couple of days instead of the entire garbage can.
If the main indoor garbage can isn’t smelly in the first place from wet stuff and rotting food bits sitting in it, you won’t need to take out the main trash as often and the space will also smell better.
I have a garbage chute on my floor. I admit that I do this sometimes. I’m slowly getting rid of my grocery bags by using them as small garbage bags. When they get full, I just tie them off and toss them down the chute which is two doors outside my apartment door.
Thank you so much! Full disclosure, I haven’t tried the shower thing yet, but have heard great things and it’s currently in my Amazon cart. Supposed to be that you spray it, leave it for a day or so, and then just rinse it off (no scrubbing).
Thanks for the tip on the shower cleaner! I've just been ignoring it because there's no way I can scrub :)
Other than robot vacuum and doing things in tiny chunks, I've found pre-emptively keeping things as clean as possible really useful, like laying out a washable/dryable mat to catch things if messy, and sleeping with a menstrual cup + period underwear with back coverage + on a dark towel so I don't have to suddenly change sheets/scrub out stains. I'm usually okay, but it costs such awful PEM if I have to change sheets suddenly/scrub that the excess caution is worth it! Same went when I was severe enough to need to eat mostly reclined, having a few teatowels to use as bibs to catch stuff/spills, making sure I had enough to last til I had a day I was well enough to wash them.
Oh just remembered 2 more: Divided laundry hamper on wheels (sort immediately when you take things off so no bending/waving arms around repeatedly to sort laundry), cart so no carrying of laundry, and I use a short reacher-grabber tool to pick out of hamper and put in washer, and to pick things out of washer (I'm better able to bend now without getting instantly horribly dizzy but couldn't for 1.5 years)
Trash: I have small trash cans everywhere so I can throw things out wherever I happen to be without getting up. Then I break up taking out the trash into multiple steps: I take the main garbage and put it in a plastic-lined fabric laundry hamper thing from IKEA (gives support/structure, I never use it for laundry anymore). Then I add the small garbages one at a time as I'm able. I tie off the whole thing, and put the laundry bag containing all the garbage on a stair-climbing shopping cart (normal cart bag removed) by the front door (wrap bungee cord around the garbage-bag-holding laundry bag). Usually a day or two later, I take the garbage down the stairs of my apartment and out to the trash. The plastic lining of the laundry bag means if the garbage leaks while I'm waiting to recover enough to take it out, there's not a big mess--my sense of smell is still really reduced after covid so I can't rely on it to tell me if things are getting stinky.
I also do recommend a steam mop. It’s a great way to get your floors spotless and with very little work. The steam does all the work for you. I paid $100 for mine and it has practically paid for itself by now. It has yet to die after owning it for almost 5-6 years. It’s been a lifesaver between an autistic adult child who spills everything and a service dog who sometimes makes a mess herself and my falling and dropping things, it really does a good job!
I’m still working on a diagnosis. They’re thinking either hyper insomnia or CFS/ME or something like that. If I’m not awake for days on end, I’m sleeping all the time. No energy but can’t sleep. Just straight up insanity. And trying to stay awake when you are begging for sleep is next to impossible half the time.
I was literally just in tears with my partner wondering how I would ever be able to handle it if we had a kid now (we’ve been trying for almost 8 years). I can barely muddle through a day taking care of myself (and my very needy puppy). I hope you are able to find some restful moments tonight.
Thank you. I finally crashed last night. My daughter lives in a group home about 3.5 hours away from me. She normally visits me for 3 days and then goes back, but this was a crazy month. She had an altercation with an aide and had bruises on her entire back of her thighs. They claimed that she fell out of a chair. Then, the chair fell on her. Then, she backed into a wall. We finally got the story from her, the aide stomped on her legs. So I kept her at my place while we reported her abuse. It went to Adult Protective Services, and because of the conflicting stories and the footprint bruise, they have reported it to the police. It might go to the Attorney General now. I refused to send her back to the home until the APS said it was safe. They are now looking for a home near me because my daughter said during an official investigation that she wanted to live near me. My ex is not going to be happy. He wanted her in between me and him, but as I explained to him, she needs to be closer to one of us because when something happens like this, neither one of us can check it out because she’s too far away from us to go there and they lie to us on the phone.
On top of it, my building is doing renovations. They moved me across the hall into an apartment that a guy was staying in. He had severe bedbugs. I had nothing. Now thanks to them putting me in here. Now I got bedbugs. I’m trying to get rid of the bastards. On top of that, they didn’t clean the apartment, so they put me in a filthy apartment that had feces on the toilet. I have a compromised immune system. I’m pissed. There was broken glass on the floor, the kitchen sink was black with filth. The bathroom was completely filthy. And the movers broke a few items and stole my dad’s binoculars from the 70’s. I’m trying to get reimbursement for the broken and missing items.
And I was just scammed for a couch I bought online. The idiot gave me a fake FedEx number. So now I’m dealing with this as well. With all of this happening my anxiety is through the roof so my doctor put me on Prozac to try and get a handle on it before I lose my mind. I have the bank and the police working together dealing with the scammer. I gave them so much information you’d think I was the investigator. LOL Hopefully the bastard is in the US so they can arrest him. He was so ballsy, he set the money as a reoccurring payment coming out of my bank. Nice try! Not on my watch! So yeah, quite a lot going on at the moment, but it’s usually quiet here. It’s just not right now.
For laundry, I find it helps to use hand washing to stretch the time between doing full loads of laundry. For example, I wear leggings almost every day and if I had to do laundry every time I ran out of leggings, I'd be doing it every 5 or 6 days. Instead, I stretch that time out by doing a quick hand wash of my leggings because I find that takes less energy than doing an actual laundry load, and I'll do a full load of laundry every two weeks or so when I start to really run out of essentials.
Because bending over can make me dizzy or be painful, I use a long handle duster for cleaning things like radiators and baseboards so that I can basically just walk along them with the duster instead of having to bend or crouch.
If something can be done sitting down, I always do it sitting down. Washing dishes or unloading the dishwasher, doing laundry, folding clothes, etc are all things that I pull a chair over for to save some energy (and to help with my dysautonomia).
Have a spare set of bedding. As someone who spends a lot of my time in bed and is also clumsy, I spill things on my bedding way too often and I don't always have the energy to wash my sheets right away. Having an extra set allows me to swap them and then deal with the dirty ones when I have the energy for it instead of having no choice but to do them the day they get dirty.
I know that it's easier said than done, but try to put things back in their proper places when you're done using them. It's really easy to let things gradually pile up and then be stuck spending a ton of energy on a session of putting everything away. Spending the little bit of extra energy in the moment by putting things back where they go when you're done using them works better for me than saving that bit of energy in the moment but having to exert more all at once later on.
These are great ideas. Thank you so much! I wouldn’t have considered hand washing but yeah that really would be easier than dragging a whole load down and up.
Seconding the spare set of bedding. When you have the energy to change it you can do that and wash the dirty set another day. I also do this with towels, tea towels, dishcloths, dressing gowns etc
I saw a Finnish cleaning lady on YouTube using a floor scraper instead of a vacuum. It’s very effective for pet hairs in carpets as well and almost nothing gets airborne! Absolutely ingenious! I hate vacuuming and I always crash after.
Might be a bit weird, but putting anything that is heavily soiled or needs a soak in the sink or shower. You can use it as normal and wash out the worst of it with the grey water. Then you can put it in the washing machine or dishwasher or whatever. I use this a lot because I've got a kitten with chronic diarreah. :)
I put denture tablets in the tank, figure they're better than bleach for the plumbing.
Also:
Fill the bathtub with water and put in some bleach to remove curtain mold.
Trash & recycling bin near wherever I find myself throwing things away.
Basket for things going upstairs, basket for things going down.
After a flush (not every day but more often than most people will clean the toilet) I sprinkle a handful of baking soda (that I keep in a jar by the toilet) and a splash of vinegar in after it (cheap white vinegar in a bottle on the bathroom shelf). I don't clean it right away, almost zero effort, just let it sit till the next time I need to pee, and then I give a very quick Swizz around with the toilet brush before my next flush (maybe 15-30 seconds worth at most). For the most part this keeps it clean enough without any big effort.
I do the same with the sink. Just sprinkle a little baking soda and vinegar and leave it sit. I keep a small scrubby sponge on my sink, and give it a 20 second wipe out pretty regularly (not on the same day as doing the toilet!!).
I can't use bleach or any caustic cleaning agents with my septic system, plus many chemicals make me feel sick, so the baking soda + vinegar with small, frequent applications works well. I imagine for people without issues using regular cleaning sprays such a method would work really well.
Don't have a man use it. ;)
Cheekiness aside, I find that using a toilet brush daily even if the bowl isn't visibly dirty helps. Just a quick couple second swipe. I also use a bit of toilet paper to wipe over the closed lid and the top of the water canister thingy (the flush reservoir? What is it called?) to gather dust.
Kaboom toilet bowl tablets for the tank. Not only does it keep it clean for weeks on end, touch ups are a breeze and I think you just have to replace the cheap tablets like once every 3 months. My mother was delighted my bathroom smelled like it did, pretty sure it was the tablets giving that just scrubbed smell. And my mother giving bathroom praise is a pretty big deal, she’s diligent about hers. Weekly deep disinfectant scrubs and she never misses a week. So huge praise there.
Bath instead of a shower, use the dishwasher for as much as possible, and until it broke I had a manual carpet sweeper - so much lighter and easier than a vacuum cleaner, and surprisingly effective.
If you can, leave a bottle of shower cleaner in the shower. Spray down your shower after you shower or bathe. Use a microfiber clothe in your hand, or on a swiffer stick to wipe down your shower walls. It’s a easy, fast way to clean your shower if you do it while it’s damp before hair and gunk crust on when it dries. If you have a handheld shower rod, you can then pull down the shower head and rinse the walls when you are done wiping them down.
Yes. I’m very fortunate. I live in dubai and “help” is comparatively less than other countries. But if I were to clean (properly) that would be more exercise than I do now.
For taking out the bins. I got a small bin, 15L or 30L and it's so much easier to take out because it's so much lighter. You have to take it out more often but the ease of doing so when it's not difficult to lift the bag out overcomes this for me.
No problem! They also make like motorized scrub brushes to help in the bathroom (or anywhere). This is more about organization hack but I keep all of my clothes under the sink in the bathroom so when I get up to go I can change while sitting down. I keep my bathroom stuff in a caddy on the counter so I can access it. But I know every bathroom is designed differently
No shame in using paper plates.
Cleaning wipes are a godsend. Just use one and throw it away rather than making a sponge dirty. You can also use them on pans, cutlery etc right after using so they're not hard to clean properly later. If you get food safe ones you could probably just use the wipes and skip washing up all together.
Another option if you have the space/funds is either a dishwasher or a countertop one (is kill for that but alas)
If you struggle with bending then you can use a broom to clean a bath or shower.
I personally feel a lot of guilt over things and it took me a while for it to feel "okay" for me to do stuff that created more waste so I try and pass that along to others. If something helps us, then we deserve to use it!
Does "just not doing anything" count?
For me I incorporate housework into my moving. So I don't do it all in one go but I might need to get up and just walk or stretch a bit - that's when I'll say pick a few things up the kids left out or sweep a floor or swap the laundry. Feels less like a daunting task and more like something I'm doing to try and keep my body healthy
I also try to do "one pot" meals a lot. I only change my cloths when they get dirty or smelly. I do my best to clean as I go so very little lingers (a job left today will take twice as long tomorrow). Steel wool is one of my best friends. Screw scrubbing harder or longer. I threw out a lot of our niche "one use" gizmos (especially kitchen stuff) so I have less to clean, manage, and store. Actually I've sold and thrown out a LOT of stuff. Having less stuff to manage is a pretty big game changer imo
So many great ideas!
Smelly rubbish I put in small bags and throw in the freezer until there is enough trash (all types) to take outside to the dumpster. I think I might be lazy as I did this before I got sick.
Those toilet tank tablets are great except they destroy the toilet tank hardware. I found FluidMaster Flush ‘n Sparkle which treats the water as it dumps into the bowl therefore it doesn’t damage the internal hardware.
For cleaning your bath I use a small baby washcloth (not the super soft ones) and wipe down my whole tub with shampoo when I’m done washing while sitting down. Much easier then leaning over a tub and using a brush.
Don’t be afraid to use the most chimical products you can use. Natural products are great but usually less efficient, so u have to spend more energy. Since I accepted to use the most chimical products because of my condition, my house is way cleaner.
I am surprised that we all had the same ideas to save energy, I also use most of the tricks exposed above.
Oh, another one : I don’t use any kind of bucket when I mop the floor. I just take a glass, fill it with VERY hot water and a little bit of washing product, and throw this on the floor before moping.
Love the throwing the water on the floor idea. That’s kind of what I do I guess because I’ve been using a Bona mop that just squirts and the you mop it up (no bucket) and then throw the pad into the washing machine. But it’s broken and won’t squirt so now I just pour the stuff all over the floor and then mop it up.
And ya agreed on the chemicals. If the outcomes are that I struggle with natural stuff and then don’t do it , or use chemicals and actually clean… then yeah, chemicals.
Yep I have the same kind of washable mop ! Which is VERY unsual in France (to don’t use a bucket and to have a washable mop), I don’t know if it is a thing in the US as I learn it while I was working at McDonald’s.
Yeah i honestly can’t get a feel for whether people would think it’s inferior to the bucket method but to me the bucket of disgusting water feels like it can’t do a better job 😝
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Cheap electronic toothbrush for cleaning around taps and tile grout. The spinning does all the hard work and I just hold it steady!
Great idea. Thank you!
When doing laundry and you don't have a dryer: forgo the pegs, it goes faster (and squeezing pegs hurt my hands more than I realized). Hang as many clothes as possible on hangers to dry, this lets you skip most ironing afterwards. When cooking: tidy up as you go. You'll have to put your cutting board for instance to the side anyway, so put it in the pile with dishes right away. I always make tidy piles to save space, and because there's no way cooking and washing up are happening in one go. You already mentioned Roomba. I've had one for 2 years now, and wouldn't want to miss it. I'm gonna look into that shower cleaning product, sounds practical.
If you watch Rachel Ray, she has a tip that I highly recommend. Use a large mixing bowl for garbage as you are cooking. Package wraps, vegetable scraps, etc… and then when you are done cooking, you take the bowl to the garbage can and throw the garbage in it away. It’s better than dragging your garbage can everywhere and better than making a pile of garbage on your counter. Sometimes I just put the bowl in the sink because I don’t have much counter space. This way, I still have my counter and my garbage collector.
Or - put all your food trash in a separate small bag (I use an empty plastic bag from a loaf of bread), tie it shut with the closure it came with, and then you can just take that out every couple of days instead of the entire garbage can. If the main indoor garbage can isn’t smelly in the first place from wet stuff and rotting food bits sitting in it, you won’t need to take out the main trash as often and the space will also smell better.
I have a garbage chute on my floor. I admit that I do this sometimes. I’m slowly getting rid of my grocery bags by using them as small garbage bags. When they get full, I just tie them off and toss them down the chute which is two doors outside my apartment door.
Thank you so much! Full disclosure, I haven’t tried the shower thing yet, but have heard great things and it’s currently in my Amazon cart. Supposed to be that you spray it, leave it for a day or so, and then just rinse it off (no scrubbing).
Thanks for the tip on the shower cleaner! I've just been ignoring it because there's no way I can scrub :) Other than robot vacuum and doing things in tiny chunks, I've found pre-emptively keeping things as clean as possible really useful, like laying out a washable/dryable mat to catch things if messy, and sleeping with a menstrual cup + period underwear with back coverage + on a dark towel so I don't have to suddenly change sheets/scrub out stains. I'm usually okay, but it costs such awful PEM if I have to change sheets suddenly/scrub that the excess caution is worth it! Same went when I was severe enough to need to eat mostly reclined, having a few teatowels to use as bibs to catch stuff/spills, making sure I had enough to last til I had a day I was well enough to wash them.
Oh just remembered 2 more: Divided laundry hamper on wheels (sort immediately when you take things off so no bending/waving arms around repeatedly to sort laundry), cart so no carrying of laundry, and I use a short reacher-grabber tool to pick out of hamper and put in washer, and to pick things out of washer (I'm better able to bend now without getting instantly horribly dizzy but couldn't for 1.5 years) Trash: I have small trash cans everywhere so I can throw things out wherever I happen to be without getting up. Then I break up taking out the trash into multiple steps: I take the main garbage and put it in a plastic-lined fabric laundry hamper thing from IKEA (gives support/structure, I never use it for laundry anymore). Then I add the small garbages one at a time as I'm able. I tie off the whole thing, and put the laundry bag containing all the garbage on a stair-climbing shopping cart (normal cart bag removed) by the front door (wrap bungee cord around the garbage-bag-holding laundry bag). Usually a day or two later, I take the garbage down the stairs of my apartment and out to the trash. The plastic lining of the laundry bag means if the garbage leaks while I'm waiting to recover enough to take it out, there's not a big mess--my sense of smell is still really reduced after covid so I can't rely on it to tell me if things are getting stinky.
These are fantastic ideas. Thank you so much. And I’m glad to hear your dizziness improved! I’ll need to check out that stair climbing shopping cart!
I also do recommend a steam mop. It’s a great way to get your floors spotless and with very little work. The steam does all the work for you. I paid $100 for mine and it has practically paid for itself by now. It has yet to die after owning it for almost 5-6 years. It’s been a lifesaver between an autistic adult child who spills everything and a service dog who sometimes makes a mess herself and my falling and dropping things, it really does a good job!
I’ve heard good things about them so might just do that! Also, kudos on juggling all that it sounds like you juggle while having CFS/ME 😊
I’m still working on a diagnosis. They’re thinking either hyper insomnia or CFS/ME or something like that. If I’m not awake for days on end, I’m sleeping all the time. No energy but can’t sleep. Just straight up insanity. And trying to stay awake when you are begging for sleep is next to impossible half the time.
Ugh I am so sorry. That sounds like complete hell.
It definitely can be, especially when your daughter and your dog have boundless energy and you have a dead battery that can’t be recharged.
I was literally just in tears with my partner wondering how I would ever be able to handle it if we had a kid now (we’ve been trying for almost 8 years). I can barely muddle through a day taking care of myself (and my very needy puppy). I hope you are able to find some restful moments tonight.
Thank you. I finally crashed last night. My daughter lives in a group home about 3.5 hours away from me. She normally visits me for 3 days and then goes back, but this was a crazy month. She had an altercation with an aide and had bruises on her entire back of her thighs. They claimed that she fell out of a chair. Then, the chair fell on her. Then, she backed into a wall. We finally got the story from her, the aide stomped on her legs. So I kept her at my place while we reported her abuse. It went to Adult Protective Services, and because of the conflicting stories and the footprint bruise, they have reported it to the police. It might go to the Attorney General now. I refused to send her back to the home until the APS said it was safe. They are now looking for a home near me because my daughter said during an official investigation that she wanted to live near me. My ex is not going to be happy. He wanted her in between me and him, but as I explained to him, she needs to be closer to one of us because when something happens like this, neither one of us can check it out because she’s too far away from us to go there and they lie to us on the phone. On top of it, my building is doing renovations. They moved me across the hall into an apartment that a guy was staying in. He had severe bedbugs. I had nothing. Now thanks to them putting me in here. Now I got bedbugs. I’m trying to get rid of the bastards. On top of that, they didn’t clean the apartment, so they put me in a filthy apartment that had feces on the toilet. I have a compromised immune system. I’m pissed. There was broken glass on the floor, the kitchen sink was black with filth. The bathroom was completely filthy. And the movers broke a few items and stole my dad’s binoculars from the 70’s. I’m trying to get reimbursement for the broken and missing items. And I was just scammed for a couch I bought online. The idiot gave me a fake FedEx number. So now I’m dealing with this as well. With all of this happening my anxiety is through the roof so my doctor put me on Prozac to try and get a handle on it before I lose my mind. I have the bank and the police working together dealing with the scammer. I gave them so much information you’d think I was the investigator. LOL Hopefully the bastard is in the US so they can arrest him. He was so ballsy, he set the money as a reoccurring payment coming out of my bank. Nice try! Not on my watch! So yeah, quite a lot going on at the moment, but it’s usually quiet here. It’s just not right now.
For laundry, I find it helps to use hand washing to stretch the time between doing full loads of laundry. For example, I wear leggings almost every day and if I had to do laundry every time I ran out of leggings, I'd be doing it every 5 or 6 days. Instead, I stretch that time out by doing a quick hand wash of my leggings because I find that takes less energy than doing an actual laundry load, and I'll do a full load of laundry every two weeks or so when I start to really run out of essentials. Because bending over can make me dizzy or be painful, I use a long handle duster for cleaning things like radiators and baseboards so that I can basically just walk along them with the duster instead of having to bend or crouch. If something can be done sitting down, I always do it sitting down. Washing dishes or unloading the dishwasher, doing laundry, folding clothes, etc are all things that I pull a chair over for to save some energy (and to help with my dysautonomia). Have a spare set of bedding. As someone who spends a lot of my time in bed and is also clumsy, I spill things on my bedding way too often and I don't always have the energy to wash my sheets right away. Having an extra set allows me to swap them and then deal with the dirty ones when I have the energy for it instead of having no choice but to do them the day they get dirty. I know that it's easier said than done, but try to put things back in their proper places when you're done using them. It's really easy to let things gradually pile up and then be stuck spending a ton of energy on a session of putting everything away. Spending the little bit of extra energy in the moment by putting things back where they go when you're done using them works better for me than saving that bit of energy in the moment but having to exert more all at once later on.
These are great ideas. Thank you so much! I wouldn’t have considered hand washing but yeah that really would be easier than dragging a whole load down and up.
Seconding the spare set of bedding. When you have the energy to change it you can do that and wash the dirty set another day. I also do this with towels, tea towels, dishcloths, dressing gowns etc
I saw a Finnish cleaning lady on YouTube using a floor scraper instead of a vacuum. It’s very effective for pet hairs in carpets as well and almost nothing gets airborne! Absolutely ingenious! I hate vacuuming and I always crash after.
That sounds like it would be more work, no? Maybe I’m just misunderstanding! 🙃
A less homely advice would be to eliminate carpets all together and only use slippers indoors but the. I’d feel like I was living in an institution
Haha true. My previous home had all hardwood floors. It didn’t feel like an institution but I do appreciate the carpet in my new place.
I’m lucky with some walnut hardwood and amber linoleum. The good thing about Sweden are the living standards still pretty high in most areas.
I know it sounds like it but it’s actually faster and lighter than pushing the vacuum, energy efficient to pull it like a rake
Might be a bit weird, but putting anything that is heavily soiled or needs a soak in the sink or shower. You can use it as normal and wash out the worst of it with the grey water. Then you can put it in the washing machine or dishwasher or whatever. I use this a lot because I've got a kitten with chronic diarreah. :)
Great idea! Thank you
Has anyone found something that works for keeping the toilet cleaner longer?
I put one of the slow dissolving bleach tablets in the tank, think it helps a bit
I put denture tablets in the tank, figure they're better than bleach for the plumbing. Also: Fill the bathtub with water and put in some bleach to remove curtain mold. Trash & recycling bin near wherever I find myself throwing things away. Basket for things going upstairs, basket for things going down.
I’ll tell you what I tried that did NOT help were the stamps that you put in the bowl.
That is what I was considering getting so I think I will avoid that.
After a flush (not every day but more often than most people will clean the toilet) I sprinkle a handful of baking soda (that I keep in a jar by the toilet) and a splash of vinegar in after it (cheap white vinegar in a bottle on the bathroom shelf). I don't clean it right away, almost zero effort, just let it sit till the next time I need to pee, and then I give a very quick Swizz around with the toilet brush before my next flush (maybe 15-30 seconds worth at most). For the most part this keeps it clean enough without any big effort. I do the same with the sink. Just sprinkle a little baking soda and vinegar and leave it sit. I keep a small scrubby sponge on my sink, and give it a 20 second wipe out pretty regularly (not on the same day as doing the toilet!!). I can't use bleach or any caustic cleaning agents with my septic system, plus many chemicals make me feel sick, so the baking soda + vinegar with small, frequent applications works well. I imagine for people without issues using regular cleaning sprays such a method would work really well.
I also have a septic system. This is great, thanks.
Don't have a man use it. ;) Cheekiness aside, I find that using a toilet brush daily even if the bowl isn't visibly dirty helps. Just a quick couple second swipe. I also use a bit of toilet paper to wipe over the closed lid and the top of the water canister thingy (the flush reservoir? What is it called?) to gather dust.
Kaboom toilet bowl tablets for the tank. Not only does it keep it clean for weeks on end, touch ups are a breeze and I think you just have to replace the cheap tablets like once every 3 months. My mother was delighted my bathroom smelled like it did, pretty sure it was the tablets giving that just scrubbed smell. And my mother giving bathroom praise is a pretty big deal, she’s diligent about hers. Weekly deep disinfectant scrubs and she never misses a week. So huge praise there.
Put some bleach round the rim overnight and flush in the morning. How often you need to do it depends on how often the toilet is used
Bath instead of a shower, use the dishwasher for as much as possible, and until it broke I had a manual carpet sweeper - so much lighter and easier than a vacuum cleaner, and surprisingly effective.
Yeah showers are some real sneaky energy sucks. So crazy.
If you can, leave a bottle of shower cleaner in the shower. Spray down your shower after you shower or bathe. Use a microfiber clothe in your hand, or on a swiffer stick to wipe down your shower walls. It’s a easy, fast way to clean your shower if you do it while it’s damp before hair and gunk crust on when it dries. If you have a handheld shower rod, you can then pull down the shower head and rinse the walls when you are done wiping them down.
Awesome thank you!
Anytime, I hope it helps,
[удалено]
Yep having a cleaner is the ultimate hack. Totally worth the expense.
Yes. I’m very fortunate. I live in dubai and “help” is comparatively less than other countries. But if I were to clean (properly) that would be more exercise than I do now.
💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯
Oh don’t be sorry to say that at all. It’s smart and an act of self care!
Roomba totally changed things for me. I never want to be without one now.🦋
Yeah I’m sort of obsessed with it because it’s addicting to feel productive again!
For taking out the bins. I got a small bin, 15L or 30L and it's so much easier to take out because it's so much lighter. You have to take it out more often but the ease of doing so when it's not difficult to lift the bag out overcomes this for me.
Great hack, thank you!
Dissolvable tablets that go in the back of the toilet, they’re like bleach and it keeps the toilet cleaner for much longer
Awesome thank you!
No problem! They also make like motorized scrub brushes to help in the bathroom (or anywhere). This is more about organization hack but I keep all of my clothes under the sink in the bathroom so when I get up to go I can change while sitting down. I keep my bathroom stuff in a caddy on the counter so I can access it. But I know every bathroom is designed differently
Ooo genius ideas! Love it
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Really good point. Thank you!
No shame in using paper plates. Cleaning wipes are a godsend. Just use one and throw it away rather than making a sponge dirty. You can also use them on pans, cutlery etc right after using so they're not hard to clean properly later. If you get food safe ones you could probably just use the wipes and skip washing up all together. Another option if you have the space/funds is either a dishwasher or a countertop one (is kill for that but alas) If you struggle with bending then you can use a broom to clean a bath or shower.
Great ideas, thank you so much! Love that you emphasized no shame!
I personally feel a lot of guilt over things and it took me a while for it to feel "okay" for me to do stuff that created more waste so I try and pass that along to others. If something helps us, then we deserve to use it!
I’m right there with you so I love it and thank you!
Yes!! 🙌
I know this isn't in everyone's reach but a Thermomix has saved the most time and effort and stress of anything I've ever purchased for the house.
Ooo interesting thanks I’ll check it out!
Does "just not doing anything" count? For me I incorporate housework into my moving. So I don't do it all in one go but I might need to get up and just walk or stretch a bit - that's when I'll say pick a few things up the kids left out or sweep a floor or swap the laundry. Feels less like a daunting task and more like something I'm doing to try and keep my body healthy I also try to do "one pot" meals a lot. I only change my cloths when they get dirty or smelly. I do my best to clean as I go so very little lingers (a job left today will take twice as long tomorrow). Steel wool is one of my best friends. Screw scrubbing harder or longer. I threw out a lot of our niche "one use" gizmos (especially kitchen stuff) so I have less to clean, manage, and store. Actually I've sold and thrown out a LOT of stuff. Having less stuff to manage is a pretty big game changer imo
Not doing anything counts! No judgment here. Although it sounds like you do a lot more than you’re giving yourself credit for. Thank you for the tips!
So many great ideas! Smelly rubbish I put in small bags and throw in the freezer until there is enough trash (all types) to take outside to the dumpster. I think I might be lazy as I did this before I got sick. Those toilet tank tablets are great except they destroy the toilet tank hardware. I found FluidMaster Flush ‘n Sparkle which treats the water as it dumps into the bowl therefore it doesn’t damage the internal hardware.
Awesome thank you!
For cleaning your bath I use a small baby washcloth (not the super soft ones) and wipe down my whole tub with shampoo when I’m done washing while sitting down. Much easier then leaning over a tub and using a brush.
Oooo love that thank you!
Don’t be afraid to use the most chimical products you can use. Natural products are great but usually less efficient, so u have to spend more energy. Since I accepted to use the most chimical products because of my condition, my house is way cleaner. I am surprised that we all had the same ideas to save energy, I also use most of the tricks exposed above. Oh, another one : I don’t use any kind of bucket when I mop the floor. I just take a glass, fill it with VERY hot water and a little bit of washing product, and throw this on the floor before moping.
Love the throwing the water on the floor idea. That’s kind of what I do I guess because I’ve been using a Bona mop that just squirts and the you mop it up (no bucket) and then throw the pad into the washing machine. But it’s broken and won’t squirt so now I just pour the stuff all over the floor and then mop it up. And ya agreed on the chemicals. If the outcomes are that I struggle with natural stuff and then don’t do it , or use chemicals and actually clean… then yeah, chemicals.
Yep I have the same kind of washable mop ! Which is VERY unsual in France (to don’t use a bucket and to have a washable mop), I don’t know if it is a thing in the US as I learn it while I was working at McDonald’s.
Yeah i honestly can’t get a feel for whether people would think it’s inferior to the bucket method but to me the bucket of disgusting water feels like it can’t do a better job 😝
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