The important this is to start easy, so you do not hurt yourself. Select a routine that you enjoy, so you'll stick to it. The main objectives are to built strength, stamina and flexibility. Strength comes from weight training, which will increase your muscular strength. Muscle is denser than fat tissue, so you'll slim down, and you'll get stronger. Stronger muscles will also improve your metabolic rate, so you'll be burning more calories. Stamina comes from aerobics training like running (or walking), swimming, bike riding -- anything that gets your heart rate up and keeps it there. This is good for cardiovascular fitness. It will keep your heart muscle in shape. Aerobic routines that involve some impact, like running or walking, also improve bone mass and prevent or reduce bone loss that occurs with aging. Both weight training and aerobics improve cardiovascular function and maintain optimal blood pressure. Flexibility is important for preventing injuries while exercising. For flexibility, you need to stretch certain muscle groups that are prone to injury during strenuous exercise or sports. But if stretching is not done properly, you can hurt yourself. It's important to "warm up" by doing just a little light exercise for a few minutes before stretching. That could be walking, light jogging, stationary bike riding. Do it at a moderate pace just to warm up your muscles. Then you stretch. You should also stretch again after you've finished your exercise session. Get a good book or some personal guidance on how best to stretch. That's important so you do it right and don't hurt yourself. As you get into a regular routine, you'll know you are getting where you want to go if you find that you look forward to a good workout and feel cheated if something happens and you can't go.

When you let sweaty items made of sandwiched material (bras) sit in the hamper, mildew and bacteria grow in the middle layer and might not get totally washed out. Strongly salty water kills the odor making bacteria/mold so that is probably why it works. A giant bag of salt at Sam's Club is pretty cheap, so that might be your source of salt. It's too bad chlorine bleach is a no-no for bras as that would kill off everything living in the middle layer. I use hot water and oxyclean and it has been enough for me. Maybe I will pay more attention to the supermarket shelves and see if there is some sort of disinfecting additive that can be added to the prewash (assuming that your model lets you put a prewash in front of the delicate cycle). If I had your problem, I would prewash by hand using a little bit of detergent and gently knead the wet mix into the bra's problem areas. It's your choice to knead solely in your hands or knead on top of a sponge for softer kneading of the fabric. Then toss in the wash without rinsing out. If that doesn't work, I would escalate by diluting some mouthwash and using that to kill germs and sterilize. I would experiment to find an economical ratio of water to that brand of mouthwash. Those prior two methods are easy, but if they don't, I'd try using an antibacterial soap and then rinse out most of the soap that comes out easily as I depend on the washer getting rid of the rest of the soap residue. If you have no antibacterial soap or its killing power is too weak, then try head & shoulders shampoo as the next alternative but that will take extra rinsing out since shampoo has fragrance in it. As antibacterial handsoaps go, they range from the weak 0.1% triclosan to the robust 0.3% triclosan (the cheap handsoap in the commercial cleaning products section of Sam's Club).

I'm with those who've suggested creating a dual-purpose room. It sounds like you would use the crafting/project space, so why not set up half the room (or at least a corner) with a work space for yourself, and find some (gently used) fitness equipment your husband wants? Then you could see how you end up using the room before devoting more space than necessary to one purpose or the other. When I'm ready for another area to have to clean and maintain (which won't be for at least a couple of years), we'll finish our basement. We have the floor plan roughly worked out, and one room will be a combined fitness and project room. Right now the fitness stuff is set up in a corner of the unfinished basement and only sees use on the coldest mornings of the year, or occasionally when the kids are playing down there and it's too hot to run outside. I'm not sure it will get much more use even when finished as I'd much rather be outside moving around, but it's nice to have during periods of extreme weather. My sewing machine is now in a corner of our bedroom that's not ideal, but better than having it shut up somewhere. Projects end up all over the house, spread out in the living room or dining room. There's a kids craft table spackled and ready to be sanded sitting in the middle of the living room as I type. I know I would use a project space if I had a designated one, but the thought of having to clean (and decorate!) the basement when I'm still working on the main floors is too much for me at the moment.

We had a steam shower put in during a recent remodel. It is AMAZING! Just as good as a gym one. It is one of the best things we did in the remodel. I love being able to put whatever oil that fits my needs when I need it. We did a steamiest, and not a super fancy one. I didn't do the oil pump cartridge things as I felt I could just add the oil in the shower. The best part is that I can sit in it alone without a bunch of strangers sitting in there too, and I don't have to drive anywhere to use it! Best thing for congestion too.