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I just emerged from vacuuming under our wide bed, on my hands and knees struggling to get the extended vacuum handle for the brush to go in the right directions on the wood floor and seriously straining my shoulder, not to mention the fact that I’m not supposed to ever spend time in that position. I cursed every minute of it, rather than "submitting to the moment."
This is one of several household chores that is becoming heinous to me now (the two others being cleaning out the fridge and scrubbing the bathroom floors).
I have the dust ruffle on the bed and that helps a little but it still needs to be vacuumed under there once a week. I’m thinking about getting rid of the bed frame altogether (it's heavy Canadian oak, the last of the heavy pieces here) and finding a platform-type bed with sides that meet the floor. Then I wonder if the dust will still find its way under there and we’ll have to move the entire shebang in order to vacuum the floor.
Before anyone rolls their eyes, I’m aware this isn’t an earthshaking problem and there’s many more serious ones in life, but this does have to do with a mobility problem that’s not going to get any better so….I would appreciate suggestions on this one thing and also invite talk about other household challenges in regard to aging bones, and how you solved them (or didn’t). I know many of you have housekeepers.
Honestly? The only reason 'it still needs to be vacuumed under there once a week' is because of a problem between your ears. The idea that you would even think to move a platform bed in order to vacuum the floor is pretty good evidence of the location of the trouble. The Dust-Under-The-Bed Police will NOT get a search warrant and bust you.
Desensitize yourself. Throw a handful of dirt from the garden under the bed, leave it there for a month, then vacuum monthly or quarterly thereafter.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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If you cannot afford a housekeeper to come in once a week and do those chores that you have trouble with, perhaps a younger relative would do it for you, if one lives close? There are even volunteers with various organizations such as churches that do this. One of those robotic vacuum cleaners could also be a good investment for you. I'm still doing heavier outdoor chores and projects (but only 61) and after a day of crouching/hands and knees work I definitely feel it the next day and a day or two after that.
I'm still doing heavier outdoor chores and projects (but only 61) and after a day of crouching/hands and knees work I definitely feel it the next day and a day or two after that.
Good for you that you continue to do physically challenging chores. The quickest way to no longer be able to do them would be to stop doing them! Our bodies adapt to what they are challenged to do. To acquiesce is to accept death in life - not being able to climb a flight of stairs, not being able to do this, that, and the other.
Wood floor under the bed? Swiffer! I was thinking about their old couple commercial when I read your thread title.
I have carpet so I lay down beside the bed to vacuum underneath. I count getting up and down off the floor as physical therapy.
Not being able to pull out the stove and refrigerator and clean under and behind them periodically bothers me immensely, but I have decided to let that go. I hope one day to not care about the dust under the bed.
I clean the kitchen floor and the bottom cabinet doors in sections. Some parts need doing more often than others. I sit on a low stool and do them by hand.
I work slow. It doesn't matter if it takes me a day or two to finish a project. Housework never gets finished anyway.
I gave away my high-off-the-ground bed frame last November.
Mattress and box springs are now on the floor.
Love it.
I had forgotten how nice it is to not have to jump up to get on the bed.
No vacuuming
I don't know . . . I never think to look, lolololol.
NEG - the swiffer idea is a good one, if you must get under that bed. A Roomba is even better! I can't do such contortions - I have re-injured this shoulder one time too many in the last month and even if I wanted to contort myself to vacuum under any of my various beds, I couldn't.
So I don't.
I used to have a housekeeper every week but I now just have someone come a few times a year to do such things as vacuum under the beds.
.....I work slow. It doesn't matter if it takes me a day or two to finish a project. Housework never gets finished anyway.
^^^^This is the best thing to remember. We can still do most housework but we're slower. Doesn't really matter because we still get it done.
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