Aches After House Cleaning? These 3 Things Keep Me Pain-Free (From Someone Who’s Done It All)

When I was younger, a day of cleaning each week was no big deal. I felt a little tired, but basically back to normal within a few hours. These days, my bursitis (inflammation of fluid-filled pads in my joints) makes it painful to kneel on a wooden floor for long periods. And my joints are stiffer and noisier, making a day of scrubbing, bending, kneeling, and so on a huge pain — literally! And yet, the house won’t clean itself. So how do we tidy up without the aches and pains? Here are three simple tricks I’ve found useful.

Reduce clutter with stackable storage bins.

Some call it clutter. I call it memories. Whatever you call it, it piles up. But keeping your sentimental keepsakes and keeping your house safe and clean is easy. House cleaning tip #1: Get some stackable storage bins like these from Citylife (Buy from Amazon, $32.67). They’re perfect for storing things you don’t use every day but want to keep anyway, and because they’re stackable, they don’t take up nearly as much space in your garage or basement as, say, a bunch of cardboard boxes. They’re stronger, too.

Save energy with spray products.

It’s just not true that things only get clean by scrubbing. And that’s a good thing, because disinfecting and wiping down every nooks and cranny in an old house isn’t as easy as it was in my twenties. Luckily, there are a number of products that don’t require acrobatics to get them to work. Clorox’s Multi-Surface Disinfecting Mist is a prime example (Buy from Amazon, $17.75). A couple spritzes kills 99.9 percent of bacteria and viruses. Sounds good to me!

Adjust your expectations.

This is probably the hardest house cleaning tip to put into practice, but it’s a pretty powerful one. As we age, our bodies naturally change. Staying happy and healthy requires an adjustment of expectations. After all, none of us are immune to getting older. The most important thing is to take good care of ourselves, and sometimes that means doing less. Ask for help from a good friend, younger sibling, or child — or, if you’re able, consider hiring a cleaning service once in a while so that you can skip a week of cleaning and give your body a break. Just because you live independently doesn’t mean you’re on your own.

Your body has brought you this far — it deserves the most TLC you can provide it! And This is probably the hardest house cleaning tip to put into practice, but it’s a pretty powerful one. As we age, our bodies naturally change. Staying happy and healthy requires an adjustment of expectations. After all, none of us are immune to getting older. The most important thing is to take good care of ourselves, and sometimes that means doing less. Ask for help from a good friend, younger sibling, or child — or, if you’re able, consider hiring a cleaning service once in a while so that you can skip a week of cleaning and give your body a break.

Your body has brought you this far — it deserves some TLC. And just because you live independently doesn’t mean you’re on your own.