Spring Cleaning Week – 10 Chronic Illness Cleaning Hacks
Happy Friday everyone! We have made it through another week! Who has kids that are breaking up for the Easter holiday today? The boys are spending the first week with their Dad and the second with me, I can’t wait! Today as part of my Spring Cleaning Week I am sharing ten hacks to make cleaning easier for those with chronic illnesses. I hope you find my tips useful and if you have any more, please add them in the comments below so everyone reading this can see them as well.
10 Chronic Illness Cleaning Hacks
- LITTLE AND OFTEN – I have found the key is to do housework in short stints, with a rest/snack break in between. By blitzing and going crazy doing the whole house, you will only wear yourself out and possibly even confine yourself to bed for the next couple of days after pushing your body too far. Pick a room a day, write a list of what needs doing in there and then complete those jobs throughout the day.
- LONG HANDLED SWEEPING BRUSH AND DUSTPAN – this has been a lifesaver for us! I actually came to own mine after the people who previously lived in my house left it behind when they moved. Today I was in Home Bargains though and saw one for £3.99! Limiting the amount of bending down is vital – doing that repeatedly really wears me out, as well as putting pressure on my joints. This makes those little sweeping jobs in between hoovering so much easier.
Home Bargains 
£3.99 
Ste using ours 
Ste in action
- ROBOTIC HOOVER (AD – GIFTED ALTHOUGH FOR A PREVIOUS POST, WAS NOT EXPECTED TO MENTION IT IN THIS POST) My robot hoover is one of my best friends! The suction power on it is fantastic for saying its so little and it really does cover the entire room, before taking itself back to it’s ‘home’ charging dock. I did a full review of my hoover which you can check out here
- DECLUTTER – keeping your house as minimalistic as possible will reduce the time it takes you to clean and organise. I regularly go through the cupboards, paperwork, wardrobes and drawers in my house and either bin stuff or take it to the charity shop. I do this as I am cleaning so it is not a huge task in itself, and because I do it regularly, it never takes too long
- AIDS – PERCHING STOOL – my perching stool is another of my best friends. I use this in the bathroom while having a wash and cleaning my teeth, washing pots and cooking in the kitchen and for ironing. The stool is slightly tilted and perfectly supports you while doing your jobs, taking the load off your joints
- HIRE A CLEANER – this is an option if it is financially viable for you. This may be someone you have come to your home every week, or someone that you hire once every few weeks or months to do a deep clean for you. You can also hire people who will come and collect your ironing for you and return it when it is done, which may also be helpful. This won’t be possible for everyone but if you have a few spare pounds a week it nay be something to consider that will really make a difference to your workload
- GET EVERYONE ON BOARD – partner and kids at home? Make sure they are doing their fair share too! Even young children can have some simple chores which can involve things like keeping their own toys tidy, making their bed and cleaning the table after meals.
- AIDS – GRABBER – another great tool for limiting the amount of bending down you do. I got my grabber ten years ago when I had my hip replacement and wasn’t allowed to bend down for so many weeks. I now use it when struggling, to limit the physicality of this task.
- STAIR BASKETS – I have spoken about my stair baskets before. Rather than running up and down the stairs (obviously the running part is a joke as its more of a sideways hop, skip and jump ha ha) I pop things I find that need to be taken up or down in the basket. Then the next time I move to the other floor of my house, I will take it with me and pop everything away.
- BABY AND ANTI-BAC WIPES – I use wipes to clean pretty much everything! They are really handy, a pack can be left in every room for ease and they work so well. I prefer cleaning things like the toilet with wipes as I don’t like the idea of re-using a dirty sponge – just don’t put them down the toilet – use the bin!
I really hope you find these hacks useful and can implement them into your daily and weekly routines. Remember – the biggest battle you will face with housework is the mental one. You need to ensure you set realistic goals and don’t expect too much of yourself. Breaking jobs down into manageable chunks is helpful, as well as using tick lists – doesn’t a tick or a line through a completed job always make you feel better?! Some days you will be able to accomplish more than others, and that is the nature of being chronically ill. Don’t beat yourself up about it – just remember if your body needs to rest one day, you will hopefully feel better for it the following day and will be able to complete more.
As I said at the beginning of this post – please add any other cleaning hacks you have in the comments below, and be sure to check them out for anybody else’s ideas. It will be great to be able to extend this post even further and bring together all our ideas. Happy cleaning everyone,
The Spoonie Mummy 
had to learn the little at a time here and DE cluttering!
after the dust settled and I came out of depression of not being able to be the OCD cleaner I use to be, I reflected back on how much time I wasted on cleaning! gonna write about those feelings hopefully sometime soon
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Definitely be a good read! I still sometimes push it too far now, especially when my anxiety is bad…then I know only myself to blame I suppose! X
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i hear ya, been times i too pushed and then cleaning used up all my spoons for days. takes each of us different amounts of time and ways to cope, i didn’t think id ever not have to have a museum clean home.
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It’s definitely a learning curve for each individual! Especially when things like OCD like to throw a spanner in the works!
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Great ideas! A little and often…That’s definitely the key! I love the idea of having less to clean too! I’ve recently downsized and don’t miss all the stuff! Thanks for sharing!
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It really helps doesn’t it! Thankyou x
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