There's more than one way!

When it comes to doing household chores, there is often more than one way to do it. The creative sacrificial home keeper will improvise or modify in order to do a job with the least amount of energy and pain.

I have modified scrubbing my kitchen floor and cleaning my bath and shower. I cannot extend much energy because of bringing on an angina attack or causing my muscles to cramp on me, and because of spinal problems, kneeling is impossible. So I have come up with a rather unorthodox method of doing them.

For my kitchen floor, I get a bucket of hot water with floor cleaning agent in it. I dip my kitchen broom into the water, shake the excess water off and use that to scrub. If something is stubborn, I splash some extra water onto it and move on to another area. After a minute or so, I return to that spot and it usually lifts off easily. When I am satisfied that an area is clean, I grab an old towel, throw it on the floor and walk on it, soaking up the water as I walk. Unorthodox, yes, but very effective!

For my bath, I fill it with about 3 inches of water to which I add some washing detergent. I swish around the edges with my (washed) kitchen broom and allow it to soak for a few minutes. The broom then becomes a long-handled scrubbing brush as I scrub the bath and edges, dipping it in the soapy water as I go. It is then an easy matter to rinse it down with a jug of water. The bath gleams and I am not even puffing with the effort!

If you have enough energy and feel like it, you can wet your shower stall and use the broom to scrub the glass doors etc, taking care not to slip! Then you can just spray them down. Also, another easy way to maintain a glass shower stall is to give it a quick wash down with shampoo whist you are in the shower: shampoo acts on the soap scum and is a pleasant way to clean. At least it doesn't effect your breathing: breathing in harsh cleaners is never fun!

If you make it a habit to swish your toilet bowl each morning or more frequently if required, it never really needs deep- down, heavy -duty, heart-stopping, back-breaking scrubbing. And a quick swish to get tooth paste out of hand basins and from around tap fittings doesn't take much energy or time: and it saves heaps on both further down the track.

I follow Sylvia's Lists: just by clicking on each relevant day's list, I can see at a glance what needs to be done. I use these methods I have shared with you, to do it. Most times my home is company ready and basically clean where it counts the most.

By using the Lists, I find it saves me from having to think and plan too much- the planning has already been done. I find this most helpful when I have a fibromyalgia brain fog day or when my tablets are causing me to feel like I am thinking with a brain made of cotton wool.

We sacrificial home keepers have to try to keep the home fires burning: if we use unorthodox methods, what does it matter? As long as we can manage and the job gets done, I don't see a problem! I pray some of these things may be of help to you and I hope that if you have any tips (no matter how unorthodox) that you will please share them with us. Blessings as you sacrificially serve God in your home!

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

"Where no counsel [is], the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors [there is] safety". Proverbs 11:14