Cleaning your home in the heat...How?!

jenniewb

I've got a massive backlog of cleaning to do- my home has just been too warm to do anything than tidy as I go alone and I really have what can only be described as a mess on my hands at the end of my week now.


I can honestly say the outside is about 5-10 degrees cooler than the inside, (Celsius not Fahrenheit). My home gets warmer as the day goes alone due to the way the sun shines. I don't have black-out curtains so can't adequately keep the heat from shining in even with the curtains closed and the length of my flat (all one room) have windows running along the entire room/s. The greenhouses in Kew Garden have got nothing on my flat!


I get home and I start sweating, it just doesn't seem to cool down. I want to clean but I'm sitting down in my gym clothes (sweat wicking materials) yet still sweating just sitting still! I don't know if it's psychological or not but I am finding it harder than normal to breathe because the air feels so thick/warm. I don't have a temperature dial but for anyone in London; this is on a level with being on the Central Line, crammed full on the hottest day in Central London. And I can't seem to make it any cooler.


Does anyone have any tips on cleaning up your home in the heat without sweating even further?


I've tried leaving my washing to dry to create some sort of coolness.
I've tried hovering at night but woke up and annoyed my neighbours with the noise.
I've tried moving around very slowly but am just getting so hot and frustrated and end up feeling very sick/nauseous.
I don't have a clue how to help myself out with this...


Does anyone have anything they are doing which works, is relatively low cost and means that you can stop overheating and feeling ill and get any cleaning done?

bexster1975

Hi

Sorry the heat is affecting you so badly. No idea whether it's as bad here as where you are but things I do:

Open windows/ balcony door etc. if you do it both sides of flat you will get a through breeze, prop the internal doors open though or neighbours will complain about slamming doors!

Clean earlier in the day rather than later. I have tried to get most chores done before 10 am where possible.

Is your flat arranged so sun is on one side part of day and other side later? For example I won't clean the kitchen or bathroom after lunchtime as sun is that side of the flat so do those first. Otherwise try to relax. Fill a little bottle with a spray on with water, or put a wet flannel on wrists and back of the neck if you are sweating sitting still. Lots of fluids to drink and lots of fresh fruit will keep you hydrated.

as always, the hot weather won't last long

Bexster

suki1964

Oh I so remember those seriously hot muggy London days, I don't miss them at all

Open all windows and prop open all internal doors to get whatever breeze there is through the house

Do have room in the freezer? Fill up large empty bottles with water and freeze them, dot them around the place, will help cool the place down. If you do have a fan, place one in front of it

Turn off at the sockets all unused electrical equipment, you will be surprised how much heat tv's etc produce

Get cover your window panes with newspaper. Won't be pretty but will keep the direct sun off the room

Strip off. It's your home. I used to wear nothing more then a t-shirt and knickers around the house. Kept a dressing gown in the hall to answer the door if needed

Set the alarm for 30 mins earlier and try to do something before the heat of the day starts

Keep cooking to the bare minimum, don't add more heat to the flat

Keep hydrated, lots of fluids. The nausea could be a sign of dehydration.

And remember this is a blip. It will cool down ( we woke to such severe storms the power went). And whilst it's hot don't beat yourself up, do the bare minimum and look after yourself. Housework is always there no matter how much you do

jenniewb

Thanks


Have a window open- the widest it goes to is about 3 inches outwards (it opens on the diagonal). I have neighbours who smoke skunk all day and can't stand the smell so am way of keeping all the windows open, when I did that last week it didn't seem to help much.


I only have a PC, no TV or anything else on (apart from the fridge and washing machine) and don't own a freezer, but will try leaving cold water bottles in front of my fan (only have the one fan).


I hadn't thought about blocking the sun with newspapers and will try that, thanks


Wish it were still cool enough in the morning to move- it isn't. At the moment I'm averaging 2-3 hours sleep a night due to the heat and it gets too hot to sleep pretty early on in the day. I have tried to put up with this but it's getting beyond a joke! I'm wondering if I should just give up trying because I'm winding myself up just trying to move let alone hoover/sweep/iron/tidy but the mess is really getting me down!

jenniewb

ps, being that I have heat rash and in the face of drinking fish-like quantities of water/fluids I think the nausea is likely to be some sort of minor heat-stroke (if that even exists!) am going to give up the ghost and have to go out or I think I will actually melt!

bexster1975

I think getting out and not worrying about housework is a good idea. Sorry about neighbours making keeping windows a nightmare. Mind you, if you left them open long enough you are not likely to care about anything

Go and enjoy the sunshine!

Bexster

PasturesNew

Get an extension lead and get the telly repositioned to the hallway outside the bathroom.

Run a nice cool bath, get in it and lay there watching the telly.

If you're in the bath you're not creating any housework AND you'll be cool

suki1964

Yes its possible you are suffering heat exhaustion, its not just the very young or old who suffer

Best thing to do is to strip the bed to just sheets, darken the room, strip off and lie down and try to sleep or read and just forget all about chores

Add a pinch of salt and sugar to your soft drinks

Or go find a nice cool park, take a small picnic and stay till relaxed enough to think about bed

lessonlearned

I used to live in a flat during the summer of 1976. It got full sun all afternoon and early evening. It was like a furnace.

For those too young to remember the summer of 76 it was weeks on end of scorching summer days.

In the end I gave up and more or less moved to the park. ...., along with all my neighbours.

Take a rug to sit or lie on, nice picnics, a good book....

It will be raining soon enough, you can catch with the cleaning then.

mandragora_2

1. Clean once, in the evening, when it's cool.
2. Next day, go outside, enjoy the summer.
3. Don't go back indoors for anything other than trips to get beer/ice-lollies out of the freezer till September. You CAN go in after dark if you insist on sleeping indoors, just don't switch the lights on or otherwise accidentally look at anything.

suki1964

lessonlearned wrote: »

I used to live in a flat during the summer of 1976. It got full sun all afternoon and early evening. It was like a furnace.

For those too young to remember the summer of 76 it was weeks on end of scorching summer days.

In the end I gave up and more or less moved to the park. ...., along with all my neighbours.

Take a rug to sit or lie on, nice picnics, a good book....

It will be raining soon enough, you can catch with the cleaning then.

I remeber that summer all too well. Living in London inthat heat, water tanker on the street corners, queuing for water every morning and evening. The roads all bubbling where the Tarmac had melted, rivers, ponds and resiviors dry as a bone and John Noakes in his shorts on blue peter showing how to shower in a bucket worth of water

We also survived by staying out the house as much as possible. The library was my place of choice as it was the only public building that had air conditioning. I'd sit there morning till tea time just curled up in a seat reading away

I was in there when the rain broke. All off a sudden you could smell the change in the air and down it came. Everyone was out in the streets in there summer clothes all soaked to the skin and laughing

Within a week everyone was back whinging about the terrible British weather lol