FINDING YOUR WAY IN THE DARK TAKE TWO BY FIONA CUMMINGS

Thank you all so much for your response to some what I hoped would be helpful tips if you are losing your sight or have gone blind. This subject got a lot of response so I thought I would share some more ideas today.

 

For those who didn’t see the first blog, in brief, Firstly, and this takes some getting used to. When you need to bend over, do it slowly. And if you can remember before you bend, to put your hand out to see what is in front of you and to the side, and judge how much space you have.

Remember to stand up slowly too as sometimes we forget when we bend, as we have just missed that other shelf a little higher so we whack our head on the way up. When we drop something though our natural response is to just bend down quickly to pick up. So, as I said it will take some getting used to, but when we do our lives are a lot happier.

 

Never leave your doors half open. Always fully open or fully closed. Try to avoid fitting light switches that are duel switches. Keep the lights so you know when they are on, or off.

 

Ski, when walking in the house, so you don’t stand on a sharp object or a toy. Don’t lift your feet up as you normally do. rather than stand on it. And for outside, the opposite. Heal first, then you won’t trip up a step as we naturally fall forward, so if we do start to trip, we have our toes to support us.

 

Never leave your dishwasher fully open.

Use a worktop saver in your kitchen when cooking to put all your utensils on so you are not looking for them and keep all food in one place too. So before cooking, get everything in two places.

Fridge, items that have a short shelf date, keep to the front so you have to touch them to get something out. If you have short dates at the back, you will forget they are there.

And a great tip from Agatha, keep baskets in your fridge, different sizes so you learn what basket has whatever in. And cheeses in a Tupperware box. Different sections. Just like what I said about frozen food. Different drawers for different foods. Fish in one draw, meat in another veg in another bread in another and so on. Keep to the same boxes/drawers then you will know which draw you are pulling out

 

Thanks, Donna, for telling us this great tip. If you have ever had a guest come to stay and you want to make their bed nice, you open your cupboard and everything falls out on you, haha or is that just our Blogget Ruth and myself? Suddenly you realise all your duvet covers are mixed up with pillowcases and no longer you can match them up.

Well, no need to worry about matching bedding any longer. Fold your sheet/duvet cover up and place into your pillowcase. Then put in your cupboard. Such a great tip. Now obviously with all of these idea’s you will need a sighted person at the start to make life easier. For example, for dates for your fridge, but with bedding, if you open a new pack then follow the pillowcase tip from then on, you will be able to do that on your own. And in time, you will learn what foods are what. I have told you before my Husband is great at knowing what is in jars. He can tell mayonnaise by tapping the bottom of the jar, it makes a different sound. When he first told me this, I thought he was winding me up. But no, I listened and it does make a very different sound if it’s a glass jar. He also can tell what is in most cans by the weight and sound when shook.

 

Use a chopping board to cut your veg. place your onion for example make a bridge with your hand. So, fingers on one side of your onion, thumb on the other and slip the knife under your palm. Never chop into your hand.

 

When buttering your bread, butter one way, from the bottom of the bread to the top, then from left to right. This way you won’t miss any, or have lumps of butter.

 

Remember you can buy a water boiler rather than a kettle. You place your cup under the tap and you can even walk away, no need to pour boiling water any longer.

Tuck all wires near your walls. Use a small plastic tie to keep them tidy. If you have a huge sitting room for example, don’t have a table in the middle of your floor with a beautiful vase on, it will go at some point… tables wobble, as do we…

Place plug in air fresheners near doors so you learn where the smell is coming from you know that is the direction of your door. For me no need my house isn’t big. But I stayed with friends in America, oh, boy, they had a stunning house the  sitting room, was the size of a ballroom.

Place windchimes near your door so when you are in the garden, you know how to get back to your door. Place a water feature also near your door never put a feature in the middle of anywhere. Always at the side so you don’t fall over it. You can also buy those annoying little stone etc creatures that require batteries like croaking frogs or birds, as you pass them, they croak or tweet. Just to give you signs to know where you are going. If you have a garden seat, it’s nice to have something to tell you where it is.

 

I love this tip from May. When cleaning your house, there is nothing worse than wondering what bottle is what. your cleaning solutions can be your nightmare. Once a week I use my iPhone to detect different cleaning items to do my house, but at least twice a day, I use wipes. Why? Well you know you can get glass wipes, then you can get bathroom ones, chrome ones and even wood polishing ones. So, keep your chrome ones under your kitchen sink. Your bathroom ones in your bathroom. Your dusting ones in a cupboard and glass ones next to them. Normally the glass ones are in a smaller pack, but you can put an elastic band on one pack to tell the difference and you can do this too with shampoo for example. If you have shampoo and conditioner that look the same, a band around your shampoo will always let you know what bottle to grab. You could do this too with cleaning bottles. Put the band on floor cleaner for example. Best tip is trying to buy max three bottles to clean your whole house. Remember when we were children, those of you over forty, our parents didn’t have seven different bottles of cleaning solution, or, if you are like what I was like last year, seventeen different bottles, though when we had a clean out, my Husband will report it was more like forty seven different bottles… I have learned which bottles clean all and I try to stick to 3 of those.

 

 When dusting, do it slowly. Try to remember where you put your ornaments. Gently lift, dust that spot then place ornament down. If you only have say three items on a shelf, then remove them all, remembering to count to know how many you need to put back. Place ornaments on a arm chair. Dust then place back. Cleaning a mirror or any kind of glass, finish off with kitchen paper towelling then you shouldn’t have marks left. And if you do leave your windows with a bit of fog, then tell your guests when they comment, they must have cataracts. Haha.

 

If you want to use a spray to clean with, spray the solution on a cloth that way you will only use what you need and you won’t leave any smear marks on your furniture/windows.

    

I said in my last blog about ironing. Always keep the iron in the same place when you are not using it. For example, when you are putting away an item of clothing. Returning to find your iron, go slightly under your board feel for the wire as the wire will lead you to the back of your iron. I get asked how do you know how to iron? I use my fingers to feel the creases pull tight on the board and iron. Weight a few seconds until it cools then check if it is wrinkle free.

(I haven’t managed to find a way to do that for skin)

That may be in another blog. hehehehee

 

When ironing a shirt for example, feel where the shoulder is and make your crease then iron it in.

You can buy different shaped buttons and buttons that interact with your iPhone which talks to you so you sew them into your clothing. Then you know what colour clothes you are wearing if your work trousers all feel the same.

 

When buying clothes, for example shirts, thanks to Jake for this, try to buy your shirts in different either fabrics or different buttons, o you can learn to differentiate your colours. Same goes for most clothes. I made a mistake one year I bought four jumpers that were in the sale all the same, but they were in different colours. One was black, one cream, a red one and dark blue. So, when wearing a black skirt, I didn’t want to wear my dark blue jumper. When wearing navy trousers, I didn’t want to wear my black jumper. If I had sewn a different shaped button inside, then I would have taught myself which was which.

 

Keep items around your house, in a regular consistent place.

Always leave your keys and white cane harness for your dog etc near the front door.

 

I hope this helps keep your great ideas coming and I shall share with our Bloggets. X