Feeling my years

Stepladder. I got one in Lidl's at a very reasonable price a couple of years ago. It has a little tray on the top so that I don't need to climb up clutching a new light bulb and climb back down with the old one.

That would still have meant (me) carrying aforementioned ladder up from garage where it would have to live. Am I just being pathetic? (Don't answer )

I often wonder how we're going to manage hefting our wheely-bin up the steps to the main road in future years - it takes me all my energy now, and DH has lung problems so can't help. I do put the last bin-bag in after I've got the thing onto the pavement, but as we have fortnightly collections it's always heavy...

I worry about this sort of household task but so far I can do step ladders. to lights etc. I also have a small lightweight Aluminium one from Aldi.

I tend to take being able to do these tasks for granted. I pop in and out of our loft with the loft ladder without thinking. I should keep the loft de-cluttered before I get too old.

These are all things to bear in mind if we are thinking of down sizing as we get older but I for one don't like to ever consider the possibility of losing independence in these small things. worrying thoughts.

I have problems going up step ladders these days, also getting them upstairs on the stairlift is difficult, so to my shame, my upstairs windows are in a terrible state, hate to think what the window cleaner thinks!

Ana, Cheshire East will take the bins out for you if you tell them that you're old and doddery . They did it for my dad, why don't you give your local council a ring.

I'll try that when and if I ever get 'old and doddery' Ella. Thanks for that! (Not that I live in Cheshire East...)

Ana you don't actually have to BE old and doddery, just tell them you are and look the part on bin days!
My daughter had help from the local council with her bins because she is physically too small to manage them. (She has a husband to do it now.)

Perhaps I'll just get a bin-day second husband!

No No Ana, that's just asking for trouble

My stepladder lives behind the kitchen door, where it leans invisibly against the wall. It is very light and has a tray for light bulbs and screwdrivers like anno's, also a handrail that curves up and over at the right height to hang onto while you change the bulb.

DD2 and SIL bought it for me one Christmas when I told them how MIL used to regularly fall down the wrong side of her stepladder when she was spring-cleaning. She would climb up the steps, turn round on the flat top (no handrail) to clean behind her, then try to go down the side with no steps.

grannyactivist I agree with you, I travel regularly for work and although I have a small suitcase on wheels and pack as light as possible, often by the end of 2 days on trains and up and down station staircases and getting on and off trains I just can't face it and I do the 'grey haired lady bending down to gather herself for the ascent' impression and invariably a strapping young (sometimes not so young) man will scoop the suitcase and whizz up the stairs with it .

I have a very light stepladder as described by Elegran, which lives behind my spare bedroom door. If I had a suitable space I would have another downstairs. It doesn't have to be a tall one, but tray and hand rail are essential. Gracesmum, I worry about you or DH using a chair, please don't, I know of several people who have fallen in similar circumstances.

It's getting the tops off child-proof containers, such as bleach, the first time you use them that brings home to me I'm getting on a bit. And I can't reach that spot between my shoulder blades my more if I have an itch

Having been divorced for nearly 30 years and bringing up 2 children on my own I became very capable and quite good at DIY - painting, general fixing up etc. Now I dread a light bulb going, I've become very wobbly on ladders - this also goes for changing the kitchen clock, painting ceilings etc. I can't undo jars, bottles, ring pull cans - thank goodness for those bits of equipment that help us with that, But it makes me feel pathetic. I now have to wait for my daughter or a nice neighbour to help.

The important thing, I think, is to keep the DH fit and healthy by doing lots of walking. Don't give in to being weak and wobbly.

I trust a solid chair more than a step ladder. Have learned over time exactly how to distribute weight to keep it stable. Coffee tables and the like not so good. #seesaweffect

Bleach bottles have the hardest caps to get off. Somewhere I have a wrench which works for that but also have a nutcracker which can be used for bottle tops. Lakeland's Jarkey is invaluable for breaking the vacuum in jam jars.

We just have truly wonderful neighbours! Two of them have just been round to lift our new combi oven and move the ancient one into the garage. Neither of us able to do it.

We are truly blessed with all these lovely people.

Thanks Anno for making me feel better!

I agree about not giving in and being 'weak and wobbly', though I know some people can't help it. But I was out shopping the other day and I noticed how I was holding myself - like an old lady. So I pulled back my shoulders, tucked my bottom derrière in, pointed my feet into the forward position (rather that at a 45o angle), fixed a smile on my face (rather than the old grump I'd spotted in the window) and sashayed down the street. I feel years younger, or do I kid myself?

j08 I agree - I send DBH to the gym. I used to be the one shinning up ladders, he hates heights, but he has had to learn to do it and now I wait for him to come home to change bulbs, as my hips won't let me. It's frustrating. Even getting into the eaves where the fusebox is kept is a problem. Loft - forget it. I think we may get one of those loft ladders that are retractable staircases with a handle on one side, we have had them before and they are excellent.

After years of children handing bottles to me to unscrew, I find it galling to have to hand them to my teenage son. It was even worse if neither of us could open them and had to wait for DBH to come home!

Have decided that if I ever find myself living on my own, I shall advertise a room to rent, and only DIYers and people who love edging and mowing lawns need apply.

I think that the sense of balance is not so acute as we get older and it is sensible to take that into account. There are some simple exercises that help with balance - I do a few of these at Pilates, but I'm sure other GNetters know of others. I find I can still do most things I did when younger, but it takes me longer and the recovery period is longer, but as I now have plenty of time that doesn't matter. I am however totally defeated by reading the gas meter, which is sub floor in the pantry, at floor level. By the time I have kneeled down, I am looking through the wrong bit of my bifocals and all I see is a blur! I now ask my teenage neighbour to do it for me, and for which I 'pay' her in homemade biscuits.

I still do all my own decorating, but as I live alone, I now take the precaution of telling one of my neighbours if I'm using ladders, as in 'I'm painting the hall ceiling today. If you don't see me around in a couple of hours, can you please check. The back door is open'. I understand that fear of getting old and not being able to deal with everyday things, so I have started to plan ahead a bit. I have completely cleared the loft and will now keep it that way. I have contacted my gas supplier and asked them to move the meter higher so that I can read it myself. I have a big garden which I enjoy looking after myself, but I am gradually shifting it over to a more low maintenance plot. I'm the sort of person that is less scared of the future if I can plan for it.

Re changing light bulbs, that is now beyond me so what I am doing is as each bulb dies I exchange it with a long life 10 year one.
Opening jars- I start with running the top under hot water and then I use a towel to open it and it usually works.
I have considered renting my spare bedroom but where do I put the clutter?

I wasn't joking - I do know of several ladies who have rented out their spare rooms and are very happy to have done so, although upheaval has been caused to houses in the process. I think you just have to keep what you love best. One of my friends is getting her allotment dug over, has a new garden fence erected and a greenhouse built and is over the moon with her arrangement, but was very resistant when I first suggested it, over a year ago. Another of my friends who was left with a very large house has had it completely refurbished over the past twenty years, and the garden beautifully maintained, and has only had to pay for the materials, in exchange for doing her lodgers' laundry and cooking them meals from time to time. It works very well, not all men who are alone want to live completely by themselves.

Brilliant idea about the lightbulbs Charleygirl!