62 msfocusmagazine.org One of the best thingsyou can do to copewith MS fatigue and muscleweakness is to minimize the effort expended on boring activities so your limited energy can be spent on more fun activities. For me, housework falls into the boring category. The first thing to do is figure out what you can skip or do less often without it making much difference to you. The second thing is to think about what others in your household could/ should be doing themselves. In our house, for instance, my husband cleans the bathroom he uses most often. A third thing to consider is whether you can afford to hire someone to come periodically to do the nondaily stuff – vacuuming, dusting, etc. For some, it may be worth cutting back somewhere else in the budget to be able to do this. In the end, you probably will still need to do housework, so here are some things that may help. • Never waste a trip. If you are walking from one part of the house to another, take anything that belongs there with you. In a two-story house, set things that need to go up or down by the stairs and when you are going up anyway, take them. • Rather than cleaning the shower all at once, leave what you need in the shower and clean one wall or part of a wall when you step in to take a shower. It makes the job a whole lot less of an effort when it is broken down into pieces and you are there anyway. • Look into using a Roomba or other robotic vacuum. You press a button and it vacuums the room by itself. If you do a room or two a day, it will keep your whole house vacuumed. Also, many of these devices work wonders on noncarpeted flooring – less effort than sweeping, and a lot faster. • If you have balance or coordination problems, get some museum putty and use it to stick breakables to surfaces – less breakage and less need to move things or be careful when dusting. • Use a big mat inside the front door in addition to the one outside the door. A heavy rubber-backed one with a low carpet-type surface will help with tracking stuff in and provide a nonslip, nontrip surface. Life with MS MS HACKS Cleaning Chores Made Easier By Marcy Canavan, MS Focus Ambassador