Living alone and being a woman presents challenges to maintaining a level of comfort if you are unwilling to pay for maid service. There are things that a man is expected to do and for which his compensation is living in a healthy environment.
A healthy environment bespeaks of a well maintained space known as our home. When we approach our home from the outside we are so accustomed to it that we do not take time to look at it. Pretend that you are looking at your home. What does that picture need? I bet it needs the leaves raked and bagged. Even if you have to pay someone, those leaves should not be allowed to decompose on your grounds. The health issue is obvious. Those leaves have been exposed to our atmosphere and have acted as min factories in cleaning our air. That is their purpose. To allow them to decompose is to reintroduce all those accumulated wastes into our land. Those wastes build up and in the spring exude their presence into our central nervous system in the form of oxidants. They accumulate in our body's system and are used by our own factory, to fuel our bodies.
What they are fueling are poisons that can and do alter our brain chemistry and therefore by extension our nervous system. Rake your leaves and bag them. Hopefully they will be incinerated and not thrown in some city's dump. Gutters are also a collector of contaminants. One year I couldn't find the boy that cleaned my gutters. Feeling healthy, I decided to clean them myself. The collection of the foulest smelling mud was a composition of rotted leaves and dirt. I bagged that and showered in hot water for an hour. Pay someone to clean your gutters and to bag the contents. Now, let's move to the inside of the house.
You are planning for winter. What is essential? Heat, of course. Have your furnace checked by a professional. Insist on new filters and have your duct work vacuumed. The spores collected in the dust particles will help you to come down with more flu like symptoms than the virus itself, if that's possible. It never fails to amaze me how women who can spend days spring cleaning fail to winter clean. Think of the absurdity!. In winter, you are going to be confined to close quarters. The air exchange will be minimal. You are condemning yourself to breathe your own carbon. The air you breathe will definitely be your own and your dog's and your bird's and your plants. There is the key.
Buy or take cuttings of plants that you won't mind sharing your space since nature provided them to clean your space's air. Plants, live plants please, are not only attractive, psychologically the equivalent of a non-interfering pet but essential for your health. Health is important if we want to keep living or to keep living at a level of comfort and enjoyment. I know some people live in filthy conditions and seems healthy, but are they? Take a look at hospital waiting rooms and doctor's offices and you will see a conglomeration of people who are not health conscious and those who because of school or work have to mingle with them. Your next step in winterizing your home is to vacuum or have your carpets vacuumed. Furniture should be moved and dust from the corners picked up. Cupboards should be next on your list. Once years, in the fall, take out all china and glassware, use a soft cloth and glass cleaner and clean the inside of your cupboards. Wash every single last piece of pottery that means your dishes too. Now put them back and let's think.
Your yard is clean, house is cleaned, air is relieved, plants are your biggest chore in watering and feeding, follow this guideline. If the soil is dry, they need water. Your dishes are contaminant safe. Your rugs are safe enough to lay on or sit. What didn't we do? Yup, the light fixtures. Every single hanging light fixture should be sprayed with a glass cleaner and wiped. Now, I guess, you think that you are done. No. Now, comes the hard part, your windows. Believe me if you don't clean your windows and the lintels you are condemning yourself to poor health. Maybe it's superstitious but clean windows mean a clean house and we all know that. Therefore, clean your windows. Now, you can relax! Oh, by the way, don't forget to give your coffee pot a quick two teaspoon run through with just water and baking soda. Bye!
