Tips for Dealing with Arthritis at Home

Living with arthritis is something I do, as do millions of other suffers around the nation, on any given day. Through the years of doing housework, I have come up with some ways to make everyday household tasks easier for me to accomplish. Perhaps these tips can help you as well.

Kitchen help with arthritis

If you have arthritis in your hands as I do, then you know how much the hot water soothes your hands. Take your time doing dishes, the longer your hands are in the warm water the better.

Scrubbing dishes, does more harm pain wise so put those dishes to soak in good hot water and come back later and finish them. Even letting those baked on food dishes over night is a good thing, as the hot water first thing in the morning will take away the pain and stiffness associated with waking up.

Opening cans can be a struggle so either invest in an electric can opener or get a manual one with large handles. Large handled can openers will help to ease the pain associated with opening cans around the home.

Opening jars can be a horrible pain filled activity for those of us with any form of arthritis, so take a butter knife, and hit it around the rim of the lid in quick little smacks to loosen the seal. Make the little knife hits around the perimeter of the jar, and opening the jar will be much easier. You could simple pass off the task to someone else.

Actually having all your serving and cooking utensils with bigger handles allows you to have an easier grip. With not having to squeeze your hands too tight on utensils, you can be more pain free from arthritis.

Use plastic dishes, as they are lightweight and easier to hold then glass for those of us afflicted with any form of arthritis. The more weight we pick up with our hands the more they will hurt, so the trick is to make what we pick up as light as possible.

Grocery shopping with arthritis

Grocery shopping can be a major problem for those of us with any form of arthritis but there are ways we can minimize the pain here as well. Take someone with you to help pick up the heavier things, let them bend and reach for items.

Let the person shopping with you get items or out the coolers or freezers for you, no need to let that dampness sink its teeth into you causing the pain of arthritis.

This person can also help lift heavy bags as needed. Enlist the help of anyone at home to help carry in groceries, teens will help take care of groceries, just to see what you brought.

Laundry with arthritis

Lifting heavy wet clothes can make you hurt when you have arthritis, so ask someone to help you out. My washing machine is in the cellar, so I enlist the help of my children to carry the baskets up the stairs and I hang them.

Most of the time my hips, are to stiff and painful to go up and down the stairs so the laundry has become a joint effort. The children wash the clothes and bring the laundry upstairs to me.

Cleaning with arthritis

Scrubbing is out of the question so make sure you get good strong cleaners to clean grease and other items from the floor. This will make mopping a breeze, and will forgo some of the pain associated with arthritis.

Lay a clean dishcloth on your broom's bristles and secure it with a rubber band. Use this 'duster' to all those hard to reach spots near the ceiling, where dust accumulates. This also works behind bookshelves as well as on them to remove dust.

Some knick knacks can be place in water and washed with warm soapy water, rather then dusted. This will help ease painful hands from arthritis, or will help prevent it.

For fake plants, you can clean dust off them with a cup of sand or course salt in a bag. Just put the sand or salt in the bag, add the fake plants, and shake the bag. This tip works for anyone even if a person does not have arthritis.

Vacuuming can be hard for those of use with arthritis, but it needs to be done nonetheless if you have carpets. Go ahead, vacuum, and have someone else empty the bag or container if it's a bag less vacuum.

Living with arthritis can be hard no doubt but if we do what we can and do not over do it can be relatively painless. The pain from arthritis will be there on a daily basis but there is no need to allow it to run our lives.