The more you clean ... (house cleaning for dummies, an exercise workout).

Over the course of my long and productive life, I have observed that the more one cleans a house, the more one needs to!  All those little nooks and crannies present themselves for weekly, even daily attention.  Not surprising, here is Mexico, the cleaning required is arduous.  It is probably the dustiest place I have ever lived though before we plugged all its old-age-induced holes and air vents, Snake Valley in Australia was a nightmare.  Once we had sealed that place, it was a delight.  But every day in Mexico in the dry season, housewives long for the dust-free wet season and then deal with mould prevention and cure.  So there is always something.  I think that I am an expert now!  Add to this the fact that cleaning is my favourite way to procrastinate from writing when I have a blockage or plot point that needs mental exercise and chewing over, I excel at cleaning.  When I am on a writing roll, though, I don't get as much done as  could.  It all balances out.  Packing up the house for the move, I found it impossible to move the boxes around and so the floors were not totally cleaned for weeks. After the removalists left, I attacked the house with a broom and there was a BUCKET of fine, black dust, a shovel full coming just from the stairs.  It is exactly 100 steps up and down my stairs (a return trip, that is) and I relish the chance to sprint up and down, doing this 'stair-master' route at LEAST 10 times a day but usually around 20.  That goes a long way towards fulfilling the 10,000 steps we are supposed to walk for our personal fitness.  When I am sweeping the stairs with body bent and a dustpan and brush to avoid clouds of dust going elsewhere, it is an added isometric workout and it gives my shoulders a real challenge.  House-cleaning is amazing exercise if done well.  Stretch to dust the plantations shutters.  Wash the windows with a stretch.  Sweeping exercises the biceps. Squats are always necessary to pick up rubbish.  Washing basket workouts are good too.  Forget the drier.  Put up a clothesline and pick up that basket of wet washing.  Bend the knees.  You are also saving energy and money.  Riot against the HOA anti-washing line rules!  My mother always developed a craving for chocolate on washing and ironing days.  She used plenty of calories in her house that had two flights of stairs.  Cleaning the refrigerator is a good workout too as it needs to be done fast in order to preserve the cold goods. Get down on the floor (stretching cat position) and check for dust  beneath it.  Move it out and brush down the coils at the back (essential for efficiency). Check behind the stove and stretch so that you can clean behind it.  Carry your shopping in recycled bags. They can hold more so are a good weights workout.  Bend the knees though, when you pick them up.

Of course there is more!   See what you can do to save energy, reduce obesity, get fitter and save money at the same time.  And the bonus - it gives you a productive way of procrastinating from your writing.