I feel this right now. I live alone so obviously it all falls to me, especially since I'm really uncomfortable with people coming in my house when I'm not here. And when I am, actually. Past experience with people going through my stuff has led to some really bad things. I'm also pretty strapped for cash right now and in general would rather put it to another use. So I clean my own house and the past 18 months I'll fully admit to doing the bare minimum. Kitchen, bathrooms, floors etc, and my house is little-900 sq ft. The people who would judge the state of this place are allergic to cats (I have 4) so they avoid coming in. I hate it being this messy but I had severe fatigue after covid, both times, and now work has been so insane my body and mind have already been in overdrive way too long. Not really a great answer to your question, but at least you're not alone in this

When we lived in Michigan I had a housekeeper. My husband worked very long hours at that time. The gal and I became great friends and still keep in touch on Facebook. Now,, my husband does all the housework. I only dust and load the dishwasher. I really have way too much pain to do housework. I did have a couple of months last winter where my fibro let up. But other than that, I’ve been in severe pain, and unable to do housework since 2007.

Oops. I forgot to mention that I clean the bathrooms. My hubby won’t touch those. :0)

Me. I clean. Except Hubbys' bathroom. I'm not that brave anymore.

I do mine alone. I break it down into increments so I'm not doing it all in one day. Basically, one or two rooms at a time. I work my way through the house as the week progresses. I might vacuum the family twice during the week as it gets the most use. The only thing that gets done in one day are the bathrooms (2 1/2). Also, I have a Roomba which I use when I am not up to vacuuming. Roombas are a great tool but they do *not* take the place of a regular vacuum. Contrary to what they say, you do need to use a regular vacuum once in a while to really get all of the stuff out of carpets etc. They are also expensive to operate. It can be a struggle but I am pretty OCD about having a tidy, clean environment even if it kills me.

I do a lot of the house cleaning in our apartment now thats Matt is working 5 days a week but he does things like the tub/shower, he washes and dries the clothes i put them on hangers and fold them and he puts them away since i cant lift the laundry basket with my back and the laundry room you need to go outside and to another section of the building. He also does the floors most of the time and if im hurting too much he empties the dishwasher. I do the rest of everything. Its hard!!!!!!!! And i have a lot more than fibro too

So I'm the only girl here. I'm a boy mom of 2 amazing kiddos with autism. Then there is my hubby.

I have in the past set out days for specific things, I'd actually schedule my cleaning. So I don't feel like I had to do it all in one day. And it eventually got to the point where I'd do things like wiping down the bathroom sinks while I was in there, or I'd sweep right after dishes.

But my fibro progressed, and it all became harder and harder to keep up.

So then I tried to implement a chore chart for our boys. And they were pretty good, but not "my kind of clean". They are still boys after all. Which led me to giving them the chores they could do.

Next up, was automating some things. Getting shower sprays that help keep the showers clean, or investing in a robotic vacuum cleaner. (I ended up getting two Shark Ions, both times when they were on their super sales at Kohl's). They really do a good job at keeping the carpets looking fresh around here.

So little by little I started eliminating my to do list. Yet the deep cleaning stuff still wasn't getting done. And every time I'd go after it, I'd send myself into another flare. We now have by weekly cleaners. I enjoy a clean home. Okay, to be honest, I freak out when my home is cluttered, and stuff everywhere. It overwhelms me because I know the level of pain that comes with cleaning it all. So I am back to doing daily chores to keep things tidy, I run the vacuums e/o day or so and next up on my wish list is a robotic mop system.

I make myself do daily chores so I don't seize up. And I do it for my mental health also. I enjoy feeling productive.

As for Covid, we've had cleaners come in prior to Covid, and we stopped them for over a year and recently started back up again. It's a very personal decision as to whether you feel comfortable there or not. And only you can decide what is best there. We are often down stairs or on opposite levels of the cleaners when they come. As I want to stay out of their way. And we also have air scrubbers running here. So I feel a little more safe with them around.

Thanks for sharing! You are all doing better than me. I can do only PART of the two bathrooms at one time, ie. only the counters, sinks, and toilet. (No floors or tubs or cabinets, etc.) That's it! That's all the energy that I have! How pitiful! The other day, I did one bath tub and the shower curtain which led me to have back spasms the rest of the day and got me all worried that my neck might be in trouble. (I had a neck surgery scare earlier in the year.)

Basically, I can't do chores that require a lot of bending over (ie. floors) or lifting my head (ie. walls).

Vacuuming just kills me! I bought a Roomba robot vacuum cleaner recently and it does a better job than I expected; but yes, it does not clean as well as a regular vacuum cleaner. I can't wait to rip out my carpet since it traps odors, esp. from cooking. I sprinkle baking soda on the carpet every time I vacuum to get out the odors, yet the Roomba is not strong enough to get all the powder out. And I hate that the kitchen is not enclosed which lets all the cooking odors fly all over the house.

I don't know if it has to do with climate change, but there seems to be silt storms bringing in dust as soon as I cleaned! I feel dust trapped in my nose all the time now!

Oh, and I live by myself so it all falls on me. I really need to declutter my house so that even if I hire someone, it has to be clutter-free enough for them to clean! Oh, that is another source of anxiety!

Thanks for sharing! It's good to know how others do it.