Try these expert tips to lighten your household workload and lessen its effects on psoriatic arthritis pain.

  1. Declutter. The less you have lying around, the less you’ll have to move when it’s time to dust or vacuum. “As we get older, we accumulate more stuff,” Dodge says, “But you don’t need three or four of the same item in your house.” And if you have knickknacks on your shelves or mantle, don’t leave them all out at the same time. “Rotate them throughout the year so you have less to dust, but you still get to see and use your things,” she says.
  2. Use tools that are easy to grip. Build up handles on brooms, dusters, and mops with cloth and duct tape so you don’t have to squeeze so hard to hold onto them. “Or put a terry cloth bath mitt over your hand to dust so you can use a shoulder motion rather than putting pressure on your hands,” Dodge says. And lightweight tools are always preferable to heavy ones.
  3. Alternate between sitting and standing tasks. Whatever chore you’re tackling, if you stick with it too long, it’s more likely to cause discomfort. If you take a load of laundry out of the dryer, sit down to fold it, or if you stood up for a while to clean the bathroom, sit on the couch to dust the coffee table. “Alternate your activities every 20 to 30 minutes,” Dodge says. “Joints do better with movement, but you’ll get stiff if you overdo it.”
  4. Keep plenty of cleaning supplies on hand. If you keep a stash of supplies on each floor of your home, you won’t have to carry a heavy and bulky load up or down the stairs, according to the Arthritis Foundation. Keep a vacuum on both floors of your home so you don’t have to haul it around.
  5. Utilize collapsible wheeled carts. Carts are great for emptying the dishwasher, setting a table, or moving cleaning supplies from room to room, according to the Arthritis Foundation. You may not have a room where you want to leave a cart out all the time, so opt for a collapsible one that can be stashed out of sight when you aren’t using it.
  6. Use reachers with extendable handles. It’s easier and safer to dust high shelves and clean windows with a tool with a long pole than it is to climb up and down a stepstool. “If you use these tools to grab items you want to clean, you have to be realistic about how much weight the reacher can hold,” Dodge says. “They’re much better for grabbing lightweight items.” If you do have to lift something heavy, hold the object close to your body to help support some of the weight.
  7. Walk instead of pushing and pulling. Let physics work in your favor. When vacuuming, mopping, or dusting, use your body for momentum instead of relying too much on your hands and arms. “Using your body weight to propel the mop or broom is more efficient,” Dodge says.
  8. Kneel smarter. It’s hard to clean the bathtub without getting on your knees, but using a foam kneeling pad (found in gardening stores) can help make the task more comfortable. “Knee issues don’t affect everyone with psoriatic arthritis, but it’s generally a good idea to stay on both knees when you kneel so you don’t overstress any one knee,” Dodge says. “If you have only one knee that bothers you, kneel on the one that doesn’t trouble you and keep the other one up.”
  9. Set realistic expectations. Cleaning really doesn’t need to be done all at once. “Write down a list of tasks you want to get done in a given week and spread them out over the course of all seven days,” Dodge says. Your house may not be completely spotless, but everything will be well maintained — preventing you from enduring an overly stressing all-day deep clean. “Pace your activities and in the long run you’ll get more done and feel better doing it.”