your most challenging household chore?

topic posted Wed, April 30, 2008 - 10:06 AM by  Heather
What is the hardest, most frustrating thing for you to do? I know, we all have pain and difficulty with everyday tasks, but I wonder if it's different for each of us.

For me, the pain is mainly in my shoulders and arms, so folding laundry just sucks beyond belief. The sheets and blankets are the worst because I have to stretch my arms to reach and stretch and fold and repeat. The initial stages of sorting and putting in the washer and transferring to the dryer are okay, but the folding, ugh. Sometimes, I leave the stuff in there for days. I just keep fluffing again with all great intentions to fold it later, then I never do. Sometimes, it sits so long that I have to run it in the washer again because the wrinkles get so bad.

So what gives you the most trouble?
posted by:
Heather
Allentown
  • Re: your most challenging household chore?

    Wed, April 30, 2008 - 11:43 AM
    ... depends on which day it is, and how I'm feeling I guess..
    most of the time my hands don't want to cooperate..
    so I guess the most challenging is doing prep work for meals...
    chopping vegies and stuff.. and peeling potatoes is right out.. I just don't...

    ... vacuuming... cleaning floors...
    I just wait for a good day to do laundry..
    I agree.. folding.. reaching.. bending... puting... ouch...

    oh.. by the way... if you use enough dryer sheets...
    the clothes don't wrinkle as much... and they come clean easier on the next wash...
    Ironing is another chore I rarely do... I'm good at it... but my body disagrees...
  • Re: your most challenging household chore?

    Wed, April 30, 2008 - 1:40 PM
    ....anything that involves getting low to the ground. so picking crap up, sweeping, etc. is right out! Also, anything that causes my shoulders and neck to tense up such as washing dishes/putting dishes away (we don't have a dishwasher), or hanging clothes up.

    okay okay.....just physical labor in general.... *sheesh* lol
  • Re: your most challenging household chore?

    Thu, May 1, 2008 - 5:22 AM
    Vacuuming for sure. I have to go very slow and "walk" with the vacuum , not push it. For laundry, I have a table that is fairly high, right next to my dryer for folding clothes. I have to admit, I usually just ball up my sheets. I figure I can live with wrinkled sheets. I also have a bench down by my washer and dryer so I can sit when I load and unload them. It's a lot easier on my back. For washing dishes, I read somewhere that if you have a cupboard under your sink, to open it up and prop your foot up on the ledge. It does take some pressure off of your back at least. I have tons of tricks! =) For unloading the dishwasher, unload all the dishes first to the counter right above the dishwasher, then put them away. That way you're not going from reaching to bending to reaching to bending. You sort of group the movements together. I also just bought a really cool stool for gardening. It sort of swivels and bends with you. I got it at Marc's but I've seen them at CVS too. I used it for the first time in my herb garden and thought it made a world of difference. You're not stooping, bending or squatting, just sitting. It was nice.
    • Re: your most challenging household chore?

      Thu, May 1, 2008 - 6:19 AM
      Thanks for the suggestion! I think I'll have to try that trick of opening the door under the sink to rest one foot there during dishes. I'd like to say I don't have much trouble with cooking, cutting, preparing, but now that I think of it, I have ordered delivery food more than I like to admit.

      Michele, for vacuuming, maybe that robot thing would help? I've thought about it, but my house has a really bizarre layout, so I'm not sure it would work. Plus, I can only imagine how my cats would react. It might be amusing though. Hmmm...

      As for scrubbing the tub and shower, I have a magical idea, although perhaps not the best environmentally. I use Scrubbing Bubbles and let them do the work. I just spray everything down and then rinse with the shower head. Of course, you still need a good scouring on occasion, but that works for most days. Although, I have to admit, I've seen the ads for the thing that attaches to the shower head and sprays all around and I'm thinking about it. Again, since I've been sick, I haven't worried so much about the environmental aspect as I should. I'll have to investigate and see just what is in that stuff.

      Surprisingly, I don't have a problem with the litter box, other than the general stuff whether I have enough energy to do anything at all. I keep one little box right next to the toilet, so I can scoop and flush - just don't use the clumping stuff or it will clog the drain, but I've heard that isn't too healthy for them anyway. I have some extra boxes on the enclosed porch, but I don't clean them out nearly as often.

      But, yeah, when you're in a bad episode or flare-up, everything is a challenge. That's when I wish I had Alice from the Brady Bunch to come cook and clean and make me feel better. Ah, if only life were as easy as those old sit-coms!
  • oh, the irony!

    Thu, May 1, 2008 - 1:18 PM
    After I so candidly admitted my troubles with folding sheets, this is what happens. I was passing through my bedroom today on the way to the bathroom. Guess what. One of my cats threw up on the sheets. The very same sheets that I just changed yesterday. But this time I was lucky. They weren'\t the fancy cotton ones so prone to wrinkling, so I dragged them right out of the dryer and right back on to the bed. Gee, I love my cats.
    • Re: oh, the irony!

      Thu, May 1, 2008 - 1:41 PM
      Thankfully my cats have never thrown up on the bed.

      They've thrown up on the entertainment center.

      And the kitchen table.

      And my bedroom dresser.

      And the bedroom drapes...
      • Re: oh, the irony!

        Thu, May 1, 2008 - 3:21 PM
        I think I have the most amazing one. One night, I had one yack on the stairs - the second from the top at that! I woke up early in the morning, went downstairs for some coffee, slipped and bounced all the way down and ended up with a torn rotator cuff. It was especially funny because I landed at the bottom and was trying not to cry until I realized I was all alone and no one was there to see me anyway, so I just let it go. Can anyone beat that?

        On a side note, my family has a fun name for it... cat splat. It just captures the image so well, don't you think?
  • Re: your most challenging household chore?

    Thu, May 1, 2008 - 8:19 PM
    You guys do housework???????

    For me it depends on the day, the weather, how I slept...

    But if it involves bending/squatting and twisting on the same time well I anit doing it no way no how.

    And there are certain chores that I just hand off to other family members

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