Cleaning on top of a chronic illness can feel impossible at times. With fatigue, pain, weakness, and flare-ups weighing you down it can be difficult to keep up with household responsibilities. After coming out of a flare-up to my house being a complete and total wreck. Laundry piled up neck high. I decided I would look into a cleaner just to help me get the mess under control. I was still at 50% pushing through just because I knew I had to and getting help to get my space clean sounded like just what I needed…until I realized the cost. During these times of inflation getting all the groceries you want is a luxury. So I had no choice but to find ways to make cleaning work with my chronic illness instead of against it.
Even on days where I’m close to 100% doing a load of laundry, sweeping, mopping, or doing dishes can be difficult. I’ve focused on finding ways to make cleaning realistic to avoid build-up and most importantly avoid pushing myself into a flare-up.
I always start by sitting down and setting a 15-minute timer to get EVERYTHING off my mental plate. This is how I start successfully conquering any task. Once you get it out of your mental plate you’re able to think clearly and work more effectively. What I like to do is take my brain dump and split that into bite-size chunks. I start by making three categories; what I can do today, what I need help with, and what can wait for another day. By doing this I set myself up to get a realistic amount done. For so long I expected myself to get EVERYTHING I needed to be done at once just because I felt like it was my fault I hadn’t been able to. But that mindset just set me up for failure and a good round of mentally beating myself due to unrealistic expectations.
I focus on being kind to myself and what I expect of myself because of a saying I heard one time. “Talk to yourself like you would talk to your best friend”. Taking a step back and thinking of what I would say to someone else made me realize how unkind and terrible I would treat myself. And nothing good or productive comes from negativity.
Taking a second to think about what would I say to someone else helped me retrain my brain and way of thinking. And breaking down cleaning this way helps me not get so overwhelmed I end up just sitting there. Mentally overwhelming yourself will lead to burnout or in my experience it will.
To be the most productive I can I am realistic and kind to myself. That’s made me work with my chronic illness instead of against it. By not overexerting myself I’m able to show up the next day getting more done than doing too much the first day and having to take a couple of days to recuperate.
On top of taking a second to plan so you can use your energy efficiently. The products you use do make a big difference. The products below make cleaning take hours less time and save me energy, fatigue, and pain. And honestly, I never have loved cleaning so finding these products help make cleaning a little less terrible.
Before we jump into my favorite products that make cleaning easier. There are a few “hacks” I like to use day to day or whenever I’m cleaning to make it easier.
Baskets
To avoid extra trips up and down the stairs I keep a basket at the bottom of the stairs for anything I need to take up. This is probably one of my favorite hacks I’ve learned just as long as I don’t lose the basket… that happens a lot. I end up taking the basket into one of the rooms of one of the items from the basket and then it’s just a pile at the bottom of the stairs for a couple of days until I find it.
Shower cleaning
Instead of putting cleaning the shower on the to-do list I just knock it out all in one. I don’t do anything fancy, I just do a quick wipe down. I’ve heard of using a mop to make cleaning the shower easier but I would know. My shower is so small I barely fit it in. This makes me a little less mad at my tiny shower because there’s barely anything to clean. So once a month while I’m leaving a hair treatment in for 5-10 minutes I will do a quick clean. I wouldn’t be able to do this if it wasn’t for my shower chair though because showers themselves can tire me out.
Dishes hacks
After realizing I could sit down while doing the dishes it felt like it was illegal. Which sounds ridiculous but I genuinely had never thought about sitting to do the dishes. It helps reduce overall fatigue and makes doing the dishes a little less terrible.
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1. Rubbermaid reveal
Giving something a good scrubbing leaves my hands hurting for days. I will never flare up my rheumatoid arthritis again for cleaning when products like the Rubbermaid reveal are a thing. It’s under $20 bucks, saves me pain, time, and cleans better than I can. My life changed once I realized cleaning could be pain-free. I use this to clean my shower, sinks, and even my shoes!
2. Mop shoes
These look so goofy but I don’t care anymore they work. I wear a pair of these about every other day. Even if I’m not mopping. They pick up so much hair and debris I can’t go back to not wearing them. I just put them on my shoes and when I’m done doing what I need to I just throw them in the washer. Be careful though sometimes they can be a little slippery to walk in even when the floor is not wet.
3.Ocedar
Another product that does all the grunt work for you is the Ocedar mop. This is like the dawn power wash of mops. It just cleans up messes faster, makes mopping less physically taxing, and is quicker than your average mop. I love the foot pump feature because it removes the bending up and down to get the water out of the mop, and allows me to get more done since I’m physically having to do less! The only con of this mop would be the price. I know $40 for a mop is a lot but how I rationalized it to myself was one you get three washable mop heads you can just pop off and throw them in your washer. And two it saves so much time and energy its just worth it to me!
4. Scrub daddy’s
Along with products that do the work for you, scrub daddies do all the hard lifting. I didn’t understand the hype of a smiley faced sponge that was almost four bucks until I was gifted one. Now you will not catch me doing my dishes or even cleaning with any other brand of sponge. I have every shaped sponge they have come out with organized in their own draw in my kitchen. To understand the hype you need to try one for yourself.
5. Cleaning cart
I have carts in every room of my house. They make life with chronic illness easier in general. I like to have one for cleaning so I can just wheel everything I need around with me. There are other options if you don’t have room for a cart just for cleaning products. But I would recommend finding something that can help you cut out walking back and forth. I like to conserve energy in any way possible. Especially while doing something I know will be very physically taxing.
6. Robotic vacuum
I swore to myself I would never be someone with the robotic vacuum….but once I became sick it didn’t seem too bad. It can be hard keeping up with pet hair while battling a chronic illness so I let my Robovac do the job for me. I just don’t have the energy to sweep everyday and it entertains my dogs every day also!
These are just the products that have made cleaning easier for me! I think it’s also about how you use your energy. Having chronic illness means you need to learn to work with it instead of against it. One way I do that is by planning my cleaning so I can use my energy most effectively. Check out “Ways to make life with chronic illness easier” for more chronic illness life-hacks! Let us know what you favorite hacks are that help make life easier in the comments below.
