This article is not about saving energy with household chores, cooking, or shopping ... it's aimed at those small tasks that those with severe ME/CFS are still sometimes able to do. Things like banking, paying bills, buying supplements, shopping online, and so forth - they're hard to delegate and for many people they're impossibly difficult to do yourself.
If you are interested in saving energy with bigger jobs like house-cleaning, cooking, or showering, then you may like to check out the 'Tips' articles instead.
Paying Bills
If I am having trouble finding energy to pay bills, I will wait until the red copies start coming in to put it off as long as I can, but I always make a big effort to pay them before any "late fees" kick in.
As far as possible, I set up my bills to automatically be paid on the day after my pension comes in. This minimizes the risk they will bounce and I'll get late fees and bank charges. With automatic payment, it's extra work while you're setting it up, but in the long run I don't have to do any work after that unless things change. In many cases you can pay automatically even if the option isn't advertised - just phone up and ask to be put through to the accounts department and ask if there is an auto-pay facility. Some companies only let you pay automatically if you pay further in advance, or pay a little and often instead of all at once when the bill comes in (electricity companies do this a lot). You'll have to weigh up for yourself if this is worth it for you. For me, it definitely is!
Buying Medication And Supplements
I always order as much as possible my prescription medications, supplements (vitamins, minerals, herbs), and other pharmacy-basede stuff from the same companies each time. For supplements, I choose a company which uses online ordering so I can order when I choose even if its 2am Sunday, and because I'm broke and it saves the phone call and/or stamp money - this may seem insignificant but it adds up!
With prescription medications, if you order over the phone or online you will need to snail-mail your scripts to the pharmacy before they'll send out your order. I'm never organized enough to do this, so I use the local pharmacy instead. If you have the energy, phone around (or get a friend to) to find a local pharmacy which will pick up scripts, deliver medications, fill your dosette each week, and give you an account which you pay at the end of the month. This saves endless hassle, I find, because if I need something I just get them to pick up the script and next day the meds appear for me, and all I have to do is phone up once a month to put the account on my credit card!
With non-prescription meds ordered online, I try to order enough for exact multiples of 100 days of supplements at a time - that way the bottles (which usually have 100, 200 or 500 pills in them) all run out at the same time and I don't have to order very often, or waste postage for the packages. If I have extra money, depending if they're on sale and how much I can afford, I will order 200 or 300 days of a certain tablet.
For example, just say I am taking B Complex 1 tablet per day and Acidophilus 2 tablets per day (small part of my regime, but example only!) and they both come in bottles with 100 tablets in them. I will buy 1 bottle of B complex and 2 bottles of Acidophilus at the same time and they'll both run out at the same time. Doing it this way means that I order lots at once, but only very infrequently. I usually do a big order online every 3 months, depending on when the sales happen with the company. It can be hard on the credit card, but I'd rather pay an extra dollar in interest and use up less energy! Another bonus about doing big orders at once is that if you have the energy for it, you have more power to negotiate to get extra free gifts or a discount on postage or whatever - although to do this you must order over the phone rather than online.
AUSSIE TIP: There are several companies in Australia which are useful for online ordering of pharmacy, OTC and supplement produts. These are some of those that I have used, or friends have personally recommended to me:
- thexton.com.au
- Supplements, low-allergy foods, low-chemical household products, and much, much more. Very low prices, compared with my local health food shop. They even offer free postage if you are a member of the RACV in Victoria!
- Golden Glow - Supplements and low-chemical cleaning products, etc. This is my personal choice for buying supplements online. Good quality, fairly low prices, have frequent sales and it's only $3 postage within Australia no matter how much you order! They also have naturopaths on stuff who can be email or phone-consulted for free via telephone or email if you need advice.
- E Pharmacy - A general pharmaceutical and OTC products shop. Their prices are fairly cheap compared with other pharmacies, and they offer free delivery if you have a healthcare card (this includes everybody on sickness benefits or a disability pension)
Food Shopping
Food shopping is really not something most severe ME/CFS sufferers will be forced to do, but if you have not enough support from carers (paid or family or otherwise) to have somebody do it for you, it is possible. It's difficult, yes, but it's definitely possible because I did it for months. There are two options that I know of for shopping for major food items without leaving home - phone orders which are delivered, and shopping online.
Phone orders/home delivery is something mostly done by smaller neigbourhood shops who need the business. My healthfood shop does this, for example, and offers free delivery for any order over $25. To get the free delivery, I try to put off ordering until I have a whole bunch of stuff to get ... and let's face it, putting off hard work is something all severe sufferers have had to become experts at!
You may even find that your local supermarket offers the phone order/home delivery service for people with disabilities who have a pension card! My local Coles does, but the Safeway next door doesn't, strangely enough. They charge $6.50 for picking and delivery, plus the regular cost of the food. Because the online supermarkets mark up each item about 10-20% (and no, they'll never admit this, but it's true), this actually ends up a lot cheaper than the online supermarkets whose delivery charge is only around $5.
If you're interested in having your food delivered, then try phoning around to all the local stores. At each one, explain that you are housebound by a serious neurological illness (avoid those awful words "chronic fatigue syndrome" unless pressed!) and cannot go shopping and that there's nobody to shop for you. Tell them you are on the disability pension, too, as you may qualify for a reduced or waived delivery fee which is handy on the wallet. If the shops don't offer anything, ask them if they are aware of other shops that do - this sounds odd but it often works. If you aren't having any luck, you might also ask to speak to the manager and ask him to make an exception, or suggest he begin a scheme for home delivering phone orders ... you never know your luck!
Once you have your "yes" list, put it somewhere so the phone numbers are all together and easy to find!
However, if you can't get home delivery or can't get enough shops to home deliver, you might want to look at ordering food online. This is more expensive because as well as the delivery fee, every item wil cost between 5% and 25% more than in the phyiscal store! Also, I am not aware of any online food places which waive or lower their fees for disability pensioners, although its always worth asking.
AUSSIE TIP: Here's a list of online food shops I have collected through recommendations from friends and from what I use personally:
- thexton.com.au
- Coles Online - Just the same as the regular Coles supermarket, except for deerer prices and different sale items. Their delivery fees are fairly reasonable and they deliver next-day usually.
- Homeshop - This is basically 'Woolworths/Safeway Online', and it's available in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra.
- GreenGrocer.com.au - An online organic and gourmet greengrocer, also run by Woolworths/Safeway and available in Syndey and Melbourne only.
Buying Things Online
I order as much stuff as I can on the net. I try to save things up and wait as long as possible so I can bigger orders which saves on postage, but if I can't do this then I still probably order stuff online because it's so much easier than using phone or mail order. Also I often email companies with queries if I have trouble figuring stuff out, and I email companies with questions like where to send something that's broken down under warrantee, etc etc. Saves on lots and lots of tiring phone calls and can be done when I have energy even if (like now) it's at 5am.
AUSSIE TIP: These are some of the Australian companies which I use to do online ordering. I have found that they are all good value, provide good and prompt service, and generally treat me well:
- Tandy - for small electronics and big, as well as stuff like rechargeable batteries and those other little bits and pieces.
- Dick Smith Electronics - For computers and technology such as printers, digital cameras, etc.
- Officeworks Business Direct - This new company was a merge between Officeworks and Viking Paper Products and they offer all the stationary you can imagine, plus computers and printers and mobile phones and software and all the accessories for those ... they even offer bits of furniture and other "small business"-related stuff. Huge huge range and good prices overall, especially on the stationary side of stuff.
- Bodywise - Lingerie, including plus-sizes. Most of their inventory is fairly practical (and extra-comfy) stuff rather than the "sexy lingerie" type of shop. Lots of stuff that's great for in bed including what they call a "sleep bra"! They refer amusingly to their sizes as: 'small', 'medium', 'gorgeous', 'extra-gorgeous', and 'goddess'!
- ABC Shop - Books, DVDs and Videos, CDs including classical and current music, and talking books. Also a range of kids' toys. Mostly sell things that have been shown on the ABC network or published by ABC publishing, but still a wide range. Excellent for finding gifts.
These are some other Australian companies that others have recommended, which they have used for online ordering and believe are good value and have given them good and prompt service. If you'd like to add to this list, just email me with the name and web address of the shop, and a broad list of what they sell. Here's the list:
- EziBuy - Clothing and home wear. (Thanks Raven)
- Wishlist - What they call "giftware" - as far as I can tell this means a bit of everything and fairly high quality stuff only. (Thanks Raven)
- Chaos Music - DVDs, CDs, computer games, plus some merchandise (I think this means music-related T-shirts), and "giftware". (Thanks Raven)
- Chaos Books - Books on all topics, with a focus on music- and movie-related books. (Thanks Raven)
- D Store - An online department store much like 'Target'. (Thanks Ravene)
- Minotaur - Science fiction and fantasy books, and lots of stuff linked to movies and TV shows like posters, tie-in books, etc. (Thanks Lisa)
- Streetwise - All things Apple Macintosh including iPods, iMac computers, and Mac software and peripherals. (Thanks Lisa, and I use this one too - I'd forgotten!)
- Lisa's Lacies - Plus-sized lingerie.
- Milsims - Computer games, board games, RPG games, etc. Always have specials available (Thanks Leadgend).
Some of the companies have "frequent buyer" clubs or reward points. I research these online as much as I can before deciding to join, as some of them are useful and get you cool stuff and discounts and others are just crap to get you to use the company.
Buying Larger Items
If I am going to buy a big item like a radio, electric blanket, etc., I will do research for best prices and brands online also. But for big items I usually will order by phone when possible because then I can get companies to do price-matching to get a better price, and dicker/bargain for extra free gifts or discounts or free delivery. I always play the "pity card" and explain I'm handicapped and bedridden and can't even use a wheelchair (all perfectly true - I don't mention ME/CFS because it's so misunderstood) - I don't find it demeaning to ask for free delivery because I can't get to the shop, for example.
I also point out if it is even mildly relevant that I have a pension card and ask if this entitles me to any discounts or free stuff.
ONLINE RESEARCH TIP: When researching online, if you cant' find the info you want online, use an email address or "comments box" for the company off their web pages and ask them to send you brochures and any other information they have about whatever you are researching (a product, their "frequent buyer" club, etc.) and give them your mailing address and also your phone number if you are OK at phone calls and they don't tire you out more than you can stand. If you give them your phone number, feel free to suggest your best time to receive phone calls too - I always write "only afternoon calls" because I sleep in the morning.
Got Any More Suggestions?
If you have suggestions which you think could usefully be added to the list, or a company to add to the 'good online ordering companies' list, please email me or leave a comment at the bottom of this page. I may take a while to add your entries to the list (I have severe ME/CFS too, remember!) but I will do it eventually, promise!
