The Floors - Mardyrella Style!

For years I struggled with my health due to chronic fatigue/fibromyalgia 'spectrum' stuff, which creates an 'energy crisis' in your tissues at the cellular level.  As a child I would somehow wrangle bales of hay that weighed as much as I did from the barn to where the horses were and up into the bin where they couldn't get to it, and here I was a full grown woman not able to do the most simple of things -- vacuuming and doing the hard surfaced floors.  

I have written elsewhere in this forum related to doing things differently in terms of your standards or accepting help and thinking of it as being part of a 'team'.   I'll put a link to that below.  I have also written elsewhere about how some people who have family members who have fibromyalgia and other conditions don't understand why it is people can do 'what they WANT to do, not things they don't like to do'.  I'll put the link for that as well. 

So there's a fundamental concept here.  What a person 'needs to do' and a person 'wants to do'.  Some people like to vacuum and do housework.  Others dislike doing it.  Some people think the floors need to be a certain level of cleanliness but is that a 'need' or a 'like' on their part? Hence, an examination of want versus need, ideal versus acceptable.  

In reality, some people simply cannot do the floors.  And then we look at things like hiring someone once a month to JUST do floors.  Is there a neighbor who travels and needs their mail taken in and house watched and who would feel better about 'imposing' on you if they could do something for you?  I found a commercial cleaning person here in Grand Junction who felt she was making so much on commercial jobs and she was a 'good Christian' and so she would charge my patients with fibromyalgia a very reduced rate -- basically it was paying her gas to get to the person's house.  

So do the good ol' brainstorming thing where you just throw out ideas without thinking about how much sense they make first, then go through the list and tease out the problems and go with those which make sense potentially.  This past spring the snow went on and on and someone I knew who was out of money because his job was seasonal and needed good weather agreed to vacuum for me in exchange for a tank of gas: I got the idea because in the past when I was really short on money and my health was 'on the better side' I had a friend really wanting his shop cleaned and I'd already had dinner bought for me by a gal pal so I suggested filling my tank.  

Other people really  "should not" do the floors because they are going to overstress a bone, a joint, a muscle, an organ, or their whole body.  These are people who also are at risk changing bed linen typically; I've had more women break their hips and back bones related to changing the bed than falling on ice!  No kidding! 

Modifying how a person does a task becomes the trick for most people and it takes some encouragement usually -- often times people are private or independent or don't like other people in their house (suspicious or realistic depending upon the place) and they ultimately opt to do their own floors.  Teaching them and then encouraging them/reinforcing  to break things down into smaller tasks.  

I used to leave my vacuum out and just do one room at a time when I felt like it.  Someone came to my house once for the first time and there was my vacuum right in the middle of the living room... that's where I got tired or my back started hurting or whatever. Now that I think about it, that's what happened last time I did my floors and now it's been too long since I've done my floors: it's a combination of the time versus the 'how I'm feeling' thing.  These are the kinds of things that can go on your 'red flag list' so that you keep in mind so you might be aware of a 'downcycle' coming on with your health.  Journaling your symptoms and your activities can often tease out 'triggers' that people are not so much aware of, or often times people were 'aware' but they hadn't really 'gotten it' and then had someone say 'then don't do it'.  

So this is what I've found works the best, once you've lowered your standards related to how your floors are going to be.  Brooms and dustpans are really quite easy for people to use, as opposed to gadgets like vacuums.  They can even be used for some carpet cleanups.  Then you can mix up a solution and put it in a spray bottle and concentrate on any spots you see, maybe do a little overall spray and simply wipe the floor with a damp mop.  Now, regular mops take a lot of hand strength and you have to rinse and ... lots of work.  I like the ones out lately where you buy a few of the pads that go on the surface and you toss them in the laundry.  Naturally, if a person has to take things to the laundromat, that's not quite as 'efficient' in terms of work simplification.  I have really liked the Libman mop but it might be hard for some people with hand joint problems or weakness and there are others out now that are more grippy backed like a huge piece of 'loose' Velcro with a towel on the face.   Those cost $15 or so and extra pads might mean it's a $25 deal which is prohibitive for some or just not how they want to spend money, so that's when I say 'improvise'.  I've taken old towels and gotten a good leg workout doing small sections of the floor with a wet/soapy towel with one foot then drying it with another towel.  BUT people have to think about what their abilities and difficulties are: this might not be what people with some back conditions, balance impairment, etc. find best for them. 

What to clean with?  Well, some people have certain expensive flooring where a particular product is necessary or recommended.  So that's up to you if that's your preference.  Maybe there's a way to adapt what your product application is about with the information I share here. I'm not a fan of "chemicals" that can be toxic to the body -- they add to the burden on our body and the Earth that is contributing to and causing much of the illness we see in people and animals and EVERYTHING.  

I have used Dr Bronner's liquid castille soap for the longest time as EVERYTHING -- toilet bowl cleaner, shower / tub, floors, soap for the body.  Didn't work so well for the hair in terms of it makes it hard to control.  Now I've found another line of products at the health food store, which is where I got the Dr Bronners typically (thought it now is carried in Kroger's pharmacy goods area).  The Colorado-based health food store I am a long-time supporter of, which has an online ordering service that I've been told is very good by Lumigrate users who have been turned on by me about it, can be seen at the products tab on a link that says "Vitamin Cottage" but they now are calling themselves "Natural Grocer" as they expand into the growing markets from their original focus a generation or two ago on 'vitamins' that we have called supplements for years and years now.

VACUUMING: Some feel like BEASTS to me!  I ended up when I was at my 'worst' about the time I turned 40, buying a really nice Kenmore canister vacuum and that way what I have to wrestle with is not very heavy.  I'd grown up with upright vacuums and never understood why anybody would want a canister.  Perhaps ask people that live near you if you can try theirs at their house and just see what works. Again, I sometimes just do one room a day or I'll do one part of the 'great room' that isn't all that big but it has a lot of stuff in it to move and vacuum around (chairs and all that).  

Sometimes just knowing that other people have the same dilemma helps and that taking a patience pill can help! 

Links:

The piece I wrote about standards, teamwork and my history with being neat and organized and becoming chronically ill and learning the 'other side of life' as a result:

www.lumigrate.com/forum/your-house-keeping-you-cleaning-challengessolutions-basics-standards-and-team-building