Dear Marci,
Not a dumb question at all. *hugg* You see I have two beautiful little bumblebees to care for. It can be quite a task to balance a busy household while dealing with pain. I have some suggestions that can make life easier...
First on the list. What is your home environment like? I am serious. Look around the room you are in. Are daily items close to the floor? What is stored on the floor? Shoes in the closet? Are you using your bottom drawers in a dresser maybe? What does it look like under the sink? Bottles? Toilet paper and bathroom cleaners? Look, lets face it. We are not going to be pain free. Not now, not in the future. The most any of us can expect is to make our pain somewhat tolerable on the best of days. You have got to change your environment.
You have cats? Do you get your cat littler in bulk, in the buckets? When you empty a bucket, wash it out and begin to label them and use them organize as well. We cannot keep going back and forth to get the cleaners we need. We cannot keep bending down to get individual items in lower cabinets.
For empty buckets try this..
Label one "Bathroom"
Toilet brush, bleach, glass cleaner, toilet clips...
Label "Household"
Furniture polish, general cleaner, spot remover, oven cleaner, old rags (old socks are easiest to use. Slip sock over your hand), febreeze...
"Cat Products"
brushes, clippers, scissors, shampoo, flea meds....
...just make sure that when you need these products all you have to do is pick up one bucket and get on the task. Going back and forth with arm loads of products is only going to wear you down quicker.
How does your closet look? Why not get those shoes in a shoe organizer and up off the floor. Got dressers? Why not switch your dressers over to shelves with handled containers. Just place it right inside your closet so you don't get kitty hair on the items. No reason to keep bending down to the lower drawers (even just small 3 shelf book shelves work good too). Besides hanging all your clothes and keeping your socks in a container on a high shelf will make life easier. While we are talking about clothing, why not get a collapsible laundry "basket" with handles? Light weight canvas ones go for around 5 dollars. That way you can just drag it to the laundry room. Speaking of laundry room... Get three tall containers. Sort your clothing as soon as it gets into the laundry room. Whites, colors, deep cleaning (pet items in your case). That way you are not staying bent down trying to sort through a big pile to separate your laundry. Put a small table in the laundry room too if you have space. You can put your sorted laundry baskets on it. Use "Clever Kitty" cat litter boxes for the cats restroom. That way there wont be kitty litter on the floor.
Lets talk about those floors. You have pets and I have cats too. Our floors just cant go that long with out getting vacuumed.... On the other hand your shoulders will be screaming if you try to vacuum every day. Try using a "Swiffer". Just a simple floor Swiffer for in-between times when you cannot vacuum. Speaking of vacuums, did you know that eureka has a "Pet Lover" series? It is cheap, VERY light weight, and the features for pet hair will blow your mind. Trust me, it’s a life saver.
How does your living room look? Do you have shelves? Bring those items you use the most, up to the top shelves. On the bottom shelves use large containers with handles so you just pull out the container (kitty toys maybe?). When you have more of those handled cat littler containers, buy "Tall kitchen trash bags" use those as liners for the kitty litter containers. Just pull the bag down over the sides of the bucket and use them for small trash cans through out your house. That way you are only picking up small loads of trash. Plus, by pulling the bag over the sides no one will guess they are old cat littler containers.
How does your kitchen look? Got pots and pans on the bottom shelves? Go out and get a shelving system (8 shelf ones around 20 -30 dollars), then take your pots and pans and put them up on the shelves. Lower shelves can be items you dont use as often. No reason to bend down that often. If you want, buy one or two items at a garage sale that remind you of a "country kitchen". You make it look fashionable and no one will know you did it out of necessity. You can do the same thing you did in the living room for the bottom cabinets. Containers with handles.... cat food maybe? Kitty treats and cat nip? In your pantry put the "heavy" items like canned goods on the top shelves. Break down your basic items like flour and sugar and rice into smaller sizes with large gallon freezer bags. Keep those items on the middle shelves. On the bottom put the light weight stuff. Same concept for your refrigerator and freezer. Heavy on top, light on bottom.
The idea is to make your days easier. Less times you need to spend bending down to get items. Instead just put like items together in containers so you bend down once and get the container with everything you need in it. Linen closets you can do same "idea". Your linens on the top shelves, small container for old rags and large container for cat towels on the bottom. Bathrooms, again, same concept. "Body container" lotions, spray, makeup. "Washroom container" Razor, wash, salts, shampoo, conditioners..... Keep a large stock of linens in bathroom. Stack of wash rags and towels (put in a basket if you want). Can even get colored ones to match your bathroom and it will look stylish. Again, a cat container with handles (cover with bag so no one will notice) for dirty rags and towels under the sink.
I have hundreds of other things I do to keep my home as easy to manage as possible. Those are just some basics. In my kitchen for example, I even have a large kitchen island that my husband put on heavy duty wheels. I have kitchen stools cut to "hip height" so I can sit while washing, cooking, peeling.... you get the idea. I am busy mom with active and busy household. I had to change my life from the ground up.
*warm hugg*
dani