[adam]

We’ve tried 3 different cleaners. This is in NW England, village near a town. My wife has EDS and is often not well. We have two kids and the level of tidiness varied quite a lot. Sometimes we needed a help with basic tidying, putting stuff away and quick hoover. Deeper cleaning got done when we were more on top of things or on holiday. 2-3hrs a week.

1. Local woman out of work with kids at school. £10 cash an hour, did a good job. She became unreliable whilst separating from her husband and just disappeared one day.

2. Woman running her own private cleaning/home-help/dog walking business. Branded car, proper invoices etc. £25 for 2 hours. Brought her own materials and could get a lot done in the time. After a couple of months the time on the job just drifted shorter and shorter. Ended up effectively paying £25 for an hour and stuff was just getting left. We let her go.

3. Local mum from school looking for a few hours a week. £10 an hour cash. Did a really good job and was really practical at picking up whatever needed doing. She would put washing in the dryer and put the dishwasher on before she left without being asked. A great help and good at cleaning. Faster than us by far. She had to stop when she got a part-time cleaning job at a local school and her total working hours exceeded some limit which would affect some income support/tax credits.

Well worth it if you can find the right person.

[adam]

Our local food bank were on the radio before Christmas saying it was lovely to receive things that were not staple foods as they receive tons of baked beans and pasta but not the “nice to have” stuff – worth trying a different food bank.

[adam]

Try some heel cups (they fit in most shoes) and bear in mind the reason they relieve it is because you are shortening the muscles and tendons so taking the strain off, long term this can affect calf length and cause further issues. Try to find out WHY you have it and fix the source not the result if you can. I def suggest you go see a physio.