Cleaning and Stain Removal - Bad eysignt, need help cleaning
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hopelessmess
08-29-05, 11:35 AM
I don't know if this is the right forum to post this but here goes. I am legally blind and have always had trouble with house cleaning. I can't see dirt and think something is clean when it really isn't. I guess I am just looking for suggestions and strategies to make my cleaning life easier.
Please save me from my own squalor :)
Please save me from my own squalor :)
GregH
08-29-05, 01:04 PM
hopelessmess,
How much you can actually see will guide people making suggestions.
Some that are legally blind have limited vision, as in you possibly reading this message.
For instance do you use accessibility options within windows to read this, screen reading software or is someone else doing this for you.
One suggestion if you have some vision is to use a hand held spotlight to illuminate an area you wish to view.
It must be a spotlight and not a floodlight. A spotlight has a narrowly focused beam that will give you better contrast without the glare of a floodlight.
How much you can actually see will guide people making suggestions.
Some that are legally blind have limited vision, as in you possibly reading this message.
For instance do you use accessibility options within windows to read this, screen reading software or is someone else doing this for you.
One suggestion if you have some vision is to use a hand held spotlight to illuminate an area you wish to view.
It must be a spotlight and not a floodlight. A spotlight has a narrowly focused beam that will give you better contrast without the glare of a floodlight.
Kobuchi
08-30-05, 01:56 AM
Not sure you're so bad off.
I have full vision but wash dishes largely by touch - the smooth & squeaky texture tells me a surface is genuinely clean. Then I pick up apparently clean dishes others have washed and feel them greasy.
And nearly every home on earth has plenty of "blind areas" where for whatever reasons the occupants just don't notice grime their visitors spot in an instant.
So don't get hung up over it.
***
Textures and patterns help obscure a lot. From others, and from yourself of course.
Smooth, non-porous surfaces, you can run your hand across and feel if they're dusty, greasy, whatever, and the only case I can think of where this full-blind test would fail is a colour stain or scorch that probably can't be cleaned out anyway. I just tried my window, and sure could feel the variations in dirtiness across it's surface better than I could see them with 20/20.
Some kinds of lighting really show up grime. Florescent seems to make anything it touches look sick and smeary, while candlelight obscures the... uh, brings out the beauty... of people's complexions, among other things. Use the right tool for the job.
There are a lot of products and decorating choices that, while they look great fresh out of the factory or in magazines, lose their lustre real quick. Super white stuff mostly, basking in bright showroom lighting. Snow coloured grout, white plastic goods, unfinished wood. It looks good because it looks so clean and fresh. And it looks so clean and fresh because in real use it never is. Better go with materials that age gracefully. From IKEA you can buy two or three such items.
I have full vision but wash dishes largely by touch - the smooth & squeaky texture tells me a surface is genuinely clean. Then I pick up apparently clean dishes others have washed and feel them greasy.
And nearly every home on earth has plenty of "blind areas" where for whatever reasons the occupants just don't notice grime their visitors spot in an instant.
So don't get hung up over it.
***
Textures and patterns help obscure a lot. From others, and from yourself of course.
Smooth, non-porous surfaces, you can run your hand across and feel if they're dusty, greasy, whatever, and the only case I can think of where this full-blind test would fail is a colour stain or scorch that probably can't be cleaned out anyway. I just tried my window, and sure could feel the variations in dirtiness across it's surface better than I could see them with 20/20.
Some kinds of lighting really show up grime. Florescent seems to make anything it touches look sick and smeary, while candlelight obscures the... uh, brings out the beauty... of people's complexions, among other things. Use the right tool for the job.
There are a lot of products and decorating choices that, while they look great fresh out of the factory or in magazines, lose their lustre real quick. Super white stuff mostly, basking in bright showroom lighting. Snow coloured grout, white plastic goods, unfinished wood. It looks good because it looks so clean and fresh. And it looks so clean and fresh because in real use it never is. Better go with materials that age gracefully. From IKEA you can buy two or three such items.