The practical side of living alone

Please be careful going up into the loft. My friend is in a wheelchair after missing her step on the ladder.
If you’re on your own make sure you always have your phone with you.

Oh yes, the dreaded loft ladder, getting it down ok but because of short stature shoving the thing back up again, near impossible, again upper body strength required.

That sounds like a better idea than the pull switch Elegran . Might get DS on the job when he’s not too busy.

Another problem with my loft hatch is that my bum always seems too big to fit through on the way back down.DH says it’s because I stick it out and don’t come down straight . Probably because I’m clinging on for grim death .

We got a light switch on the side of the trapdoor, when you forget to turn it off on the way down the ladder, you can hit it with the hooking pole.

Sounds like mine, Gilly Plus it is very heavy, and the three bits slide down over each other like a guillotine when you undo the hook that holds them together. I have to stand right under it on a chair to reach the hook.

I've not been up there for years. It could be full of squatters for all I know.

“Attic” sounds a little to nice to describe the space in my roof “Callistemon” as in “A cosy attic bedroom” Mine is most definitely a loft. Full of junk, old toys, cushions, Christmas decorations etc.

The loft hatch is directly over the top of the stairs and it terrifies me. The loft ladder is one of those things in 3 parts that you have to yank down with a pole and shove back up again which is usually when I realise I forgot to pull the sting suspended on a beam, to switch the light off . Grrrrrr

We don’t allow either of us to do anything like going into loft unless someone else is in the house and-if course!-we have mobile on our person all the time, switched on, charged up and not on mute!
We had a drive to clear loft (not attic!) last year so now only has mostly Christmas decs (and local DD’s too) and luggage (and DD’s too).
One less job for DDs when we go!

I remember once in my younger days needing to get into the loft. There was no fitted ladder as we'd just moved in.
I carried the coffee table up into the landing.put a dining chair in it. Then out a stool into the dining chair.
I used the ranch fencing on the landing to help me climb up into the top. This let me get into the loft.
Mind you....it was much harder getting down out of the loft as I was in the house on my own and no one to hold it steady. I was afraid of kicking the top stool to the floor as I lowered myself into it.

How foolish was i ??

My local council has a handyman service - but I won't get help until I really can't do things. (I'm just not ready to be old and doddery yet.) They will change light bulbs and locks but I can do those things myself. Digging over the garden is probably beyond their remit.

My unturned mattress is calling me

I climb up the loft ladder into the attic.
Confused?
Well, not if I can help it because it's just a ladder, not a proper loft ladder.

Loft.
That sounds like an apartment now, and by apartment, of course I mean 'flat'.

I'm with you arthursfam....I haven't turned my mattress, since I bought it 10 years ago.

But I say loft ladder
So you must be right, gillybob

I say attic, you say loft!

Is there a difference?
What do others call it?

I can get into the attic (just an ordinary ladder) but get so nervous about coming down I daren't go up there any more.

It needs sorting though.

I don’t live alone but my once very fit DH is very poorly and I am learning how to do things that he would have once done .

These last few months I am now able to get in the loft (I was terrified of the loft ladder suspended over the staircase), lift and move ( in a fashion) a huge plant/tree in a broken pot , fit a set of mixer taps in my kitchen and numerous other things that I would have once relied on my DH to do.

I was a single parent for quite a while when I was younger and I will not be beat .

I don't turn mine, but that is because it is Dunlopillo and is meant only to be used one way up.

Well, it's supposed to extend their life, but whether that is still true now, with most using memory foam, I'm guessing?

Mine is memory foam, and it remembers I like to sleep on the very edge of the bed, on the same side, every night.

After a while it was like spending a night climbing a never ending hill.

Am I the only one on this site that has never turned a mattress ?
I was never told that this is what you do

If I were younger I would think of becoming a handywoman, surely many would prefer that, they might even turn up when they say they will and answer phone calls! I found a local guy to repair gutters, he was efficient and polite so one job out of the way. Still waiting for someone to fix a fence panel. If I can do a job myself I am happy to, keeps me independent which is extremely important to me.

Our council runs a service called the handyman service for those over I think 65 or maybe its 70. Anyway you get so many hours a year and a chap will come around and do any odd jobs you can't or don't want to do for a small hourly fee. We recently had our dripping kitchen tap, 3 years its been dripping, replaced at a very small cost and even brought a suitable tap with him.

I think the answer is not to be afraid of asking for help if you need it. I often go out on my own cycling and have to put the bike on the bike rack, Mr B will put it on and I can take it off but I can't lift it it back on again. So I just ask any male nearby if the can help and everyone is so kind.

Finding a nice, cheapish handyman is the answer to a single woman's woes. Forget expensive clothes and shoes. Invest in a good reliable handyman. He will be worth his weight in gold. I was lucky enough to have one for the past 20 years, since my divorce. Unfortunately, he has heart problems now. I wont find anyone to replace him. I shall have to settle for second best .....Spring is nigh........

craftyone Apparently, memoryfoam mattresses do not require turning. I once had a student with erious back trouble and he bought one for this reason.

Even our council doesn't have a handyman service now.
It only had one when I was lithe and sprightly and a liar and didn't need one.