Does anyone else struggle to clean and tidy their house?

[cardiG]

I have two children, work FT and also am anaemic, which I know is a factor here. But I’m really struggling to get anything done. I sit down and can’t get back up. I the procrastinate out of exhaustion and then try and get some stuff done before going to bed, which means I am up later than I should be, and the cycle repeats itself. I feel completely overwhelmed by the thought of cleaning the whole house. DH does lots, but is often away, and I hate feeling like I’m not pulling my weight.

I am currently on iron tablets, so working on the anaemia side of things, but I don’t tolerate them well, so it’s not been so easy.

Can anyone resonate and have any advice?

They took me from a ferritin of 23 to 140. You need to factor in two things - compare the amount of elemental iron, not the mg and also iron bisglycinate is much more bioavailable to your body to use versus ferrous sulphate etc. these are actually very high strength supplement and I would get your levels checked often while taking them.

Yes they’re actually 210mg with 42mg of elemental iron.

So comparable to the NHS 200mg but easier on the stomach.

I use Hemaplex linked above which is similar. I never bother with NHS iron now.

Please dont take medical advice re your iron tablets from random strangers on the Internet, however well intentioned, they are not medical practitioners, they have no idea of the doseage you are on !

Yep, always space your iron away from things like tea and coffee (she says, sat here with her iron tabs and a cup of tea!), calcium and PPIs, they all interfere with absorption of each other.

Hmm, my dad ended up in hospital due to the type of iron supplement he was given, affected his stomach so badly it caused bleeding. The GP just gives out whatever, there isnt really a tailored approach. Most of us who have to take iron have found out the hard way what suits us and what levels. You have very great faith in the intricacies that the GP would have.

No one is telling OP not to use her GP, just highlighting the pros and cons of different types of supplemention and contraindications.

Just wanted to empathise. I've been anaemic since I was a child, and even when on tablets, EVERYTHING is an effort. I'm always tired and everything feels like a huge slog. Sick of people thinking it's laziness. They should try living with anaemia for a day. They'd soon see how debilitating it is. "Oh just eat more greens!" Yes if only it were so simple!

I'm finally at a stage where I do clean a lot. I find it helps having "pretty" products. Flowery toilet cleaners, nice disinfectant scents, etc. I buy pretty pink cleaning sponges, etc.

I get it, I really do. Anaemia is horrific. I hope you get it sorted!

Since you don’t tolerate the iron tablets well, can’t you ask for regular IV iron infusions instead?

If I sot, it's game over for me. So I don't sit until it's all done!

This. And then every six months or so do skirting boards etc.

Do you get the children involved? Everyone in our family does a big clean and tidy up for an hour on a Sunday with the kids' choice of music blaring. And they are also expected to do their own rooms over the weekend (youngest gets a bit of help). That takes a huge part of the load off and then it's not so overwhelming. You have to keep high expectations with the kids though but it will help them in later life!

There's some great tips here. Thanks.

I like the concept popularised by K.C. Davis of morally neutral cleaning. We shame, judge and pressurise ourselves so much based on strangers perceptions of what we should be doing and when.

yes this 100%.I bought her book (I can't see if its linked here so will link here).

She changed how I think about it all as I regularly suffer from depression.

www.google.com/search?q=how+to+keep+house+while+drowning+goodreads&rlz=1C1AWFC_enGB907GB922&oq=how+to+keep+house+while+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgEEAAYgAQyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQABiABDIHCAIQABiABDIHCAMQABiABDIHCAQQABiABDIHCAUQABiABDIHCAYQABiABDIHCAcQABiABDIHCAgQABiABDIHCAkQABiABNIBCTEwOTE2ajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

You are my kind of person 🤣

Hey OP,

Mum of 3 with health issues here. It is a struggle, especially when the little ones are wee. The organised mum app helps but my best advice is 'don't put it down put it away' so if you're done with something it goes back into its home, including washing and drying dishes or loading dishwasher as I go instead of waiting for a pile up.

Op I used to feel the same but then I became a lone parent and there was just no choice but to be on top of things because survival!

For me I realised a lot of it is about your systems rather than having the motivation or energy because I'm constantly knackered.

For me I try to 'habit stack' so if I'm leaving a room i look to see what I can take with me first. Every day I'll do a general tidy of the house downstairs before I go to bed. Not a deep clean, just a decent tidy, counters wiped, dishes done and surfaces cleared. Every morning I do a quick sweep of bedrooms before we leave - nappies/ cups/ beds made clothes in dirty basket.

I do washing most nights just to keep on top of it and use colour catchers in a bag if I don't have enough for two light/ dark loads.

I then only take on an 'extra' a couple of evenings a week eg hoovering and mopping one night, bathrooms another night. Upstairs I hoover at the weekend when nobody is asleep.

I also batch cook at the weekend in the slow cooker so I don't need to faff about during the week with cooking and lots of dishes.

When you're on top of things really all that you need to do is maintain it so it never becomes overwhelming. If I'm really unmotivated I think - I'll just do this for 5 minutes which gets me started and then usually I can keep going.

Designate clear chores between you and dh and a routine with them that works for your family so rather than looking at everything, you know exactly what you're responsible for.

And one night mid week I plan a self care night where I'll do a shower and a takeaway and watch a movie so I'm getting down time. If you're never getting down time you'll burn out and everything will feel more overwhelming and you will want to stay up late and procrastinate.