Cleaning & Chronic Health
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Cleaning can be incredibly annoying in the sense that there is never a way for it to be.. well.. done. Finding ways to keep up with cleaning is healthy for you in so many ways: mental, emotional, physical and even spiritual. I know you are thinking, really willow? How is cleaning the toilet spiritual? Well, let me get there.
Cleaning is obviously essential but boy is it exhausting.
When Mike and I first started talking about what our lives would look like as a married couple I was in a different place in life. I was working on my degree and sure that I was going to fight to go to medical school no matter how hard it was. As the years went on, I have become more incapacitated than what I think either of us had anticipated. So we talked about it. That is one very important thing I want to emphasize in this post.
COMMUNICATION. This is the reason, Mike and I are able to handle so much rather impressively well and you can fact check me on that by asking anyone who knows us. You cant be afraid to talk about things. Don’t let feelings fester. Say what you are thinking.
As I became more of a stay at home wife, I asked Mike what things he appreciated most when it came to cleaning. I asked him what things would be the most important to get done on days where I cant do much. All of this allowed me to create a priority list. This is incredibly helpful for me to know on days, more like weeks, when I am unable to do anything.
The first step when managing a house is to create a priority list. Talk with your spouse or whoever lives in the house with you and come up with a list of things that you would like done and who is going to do what. This makes it easier on the relationship because something that was important to us was that mike wasn’t asking or directing when it came to the cleaning. He doesn’t say anything about what or when I clean unless something is wrong or I am trying to clean while sick which he hates. The point of this is that I have taken this on as a job and when you have a job your spouse isn’t usually the boss of you. If Mike was the boss of me for cleaning that would not go over well. It wouldn’t be healthy for me or for him. Which is why it is important to communicate and know what is priority for the family.
Next, one of the best “life hacks” I have come up with has been to keep the cleaning products I need and whatever towels or tools I need in each designated room. This way I don’t have a single day when I do the house cleaning. If I were to do a whole day of cleaning my body wouldn’t have it. I would be sore and honestly, I don’t feel like it would make me the best I could be the rest of the week. This is why I would encourage you to space things out. I usually plan to do all the things that require Windex on Thursdays’. Then I plan to do all the laundry on Mondays', all the vacuuming of the main living areas on Tuesdays and then the mopping on Wednesdays. Friday’s I make sure the bedroom is all cleaned via vacuum & mopping. I make sure to clean all the toilets on Sundays’. I like to break things down by task because you use the same products.
HERE IS THE TRICK
Have cleaning supplies in each room and all that you would need to clean that room. Don’t add any extra steps or exhaustion by having to go get the needed things from a different room. Don’t have to lug around a bunch of bottles or supplies. Have it right in the room, easy to reach and available at any moment.
When you feel like you have BOTH an extra moment and an extra spoon (i.e. manageable pain) do one task. I do NOT mean one whole room, ONE TASK.
Break all the cleaning projects down by individual tasks. When I clean the bathroom I have multiple tasks for example..
Clean the toilet
Clean off the sinks
Clean the mirrors
Clean the floors
Clean the shower
Clean the tub
Over the week, I pick a task from each room to do as I move about the house. I try to keep everything in reach so that there is very little effort to put forth.
Lets talk about maintaining the living areas.
Run the vacuum one day and on the next, use a Swiffer wet jet or a bona mop to clean them. Remove the need to have to be on your hands and knees. It is not needed to add this extra suffering
Every time you walk by the sink, if there is a dish stop and put it in the dishwasher. If you don’t have a dishwasher, wash it. Leave a towel to the right of the sink for things that are handwashed to dry on. This makes it easier to do it right away.
Wipe the counters off as you walk by.
Take things to the place they belong the moment you are done using them otherwise you are going to have to carry way more back and forth. It is way easier if you keep up with it.
Here is a breakdown of some of my favorite and most effective cleaning tools. I have linked my favorite items through my Amazon affiliate links. Thank you for your support as I am given commission at no extra cost to you when you go through my link.
Bona mop
Swiffer products
Appliance cleaners
Gadgets
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