Tips from Jenn V, used with permission.
- Get a stool to help with tasks like washing dishes. Sitting while you wash dishes, chop veg, or watch a preprepared meal cook takes less energy than standing to do the same tasks. Make sure the stool you get is high enough to let you do these tasks without bending, and if you need it, get one with arms and a back.
- Use preprepared meals if you can afford it. If you can't afford it (or would prefer to spend the money on treatments!) investigate Meals on Wheels or similar projects. Meals on Wheels and the like also give you some human contact with someone who cares and who will understand if you shuffle out in your nightie to let them in.
- If you're one of the lucky ones (like me) who has recovered enough health to walk about without needing a stick just for balance and support - try using one anyway. It has several benefits - I find that it extends the length of time I can be out and about, it reduces the amount of stress and energy it takes me to do things... and it ensures that people DO give you a seat on a tram, or just make things just that little bit easier that makes SO MUCH difference! And if you're unexpectedly taken ill while you're out, you've got it with you. (I went to get a blood test done before work, and went to work, and almost literally fell over suddenly after a meeting... needed the stick to hobble from my desk to a couch in our office.)
- Use conveniences where you can. A clothes dryer takes less effort than hanging clothes on a line and taking them down. If that's too expensive, a cheap drying rack from Kmart in the laundry room takes less effort than a clothesline in the back yard. Leaving washed dishes in the rack to air dry is easier than towelling everything off. Soaking dishes in soapy water in the sink is good enough to get them clean - you don't need to scrub every plate.
- Use timed cooking stuff. A microwave. A toasting oven which turns itself off after a set time. A crockpot. An electric kettle which turns itself off. Whenever buying kitchen appliances, buy the one with a timer. You can get up after you have the energy to do so.. and the savings on scrubbing-burned-pots is immense.
- If you can manage it, no carpets. Swirling a mop around, or shoving a broom around, is much lighter and easier (to me, anyway) than hauling a vacuum cleaner out and plugging it in and running it over stuff. And noncarpetted floors look and feel cleaner even when they're dirty.
