We were probably too old to buy a house with stairs but I wouldn’t have stayed long in this area without a basement. I know we could have added a safe room or an underground shelter but I love the basement. It stays cool. It’s quiet. So, with a basement comes stairs, though yesterday I told Vince we need an elevator. You can guess that he didn’t agree.
I’ve probably posted this before but when we met the couple behind us, they’re in their late 30’s/early 40’s. The guy told Vince “We thought younger people would buy the house!” Nope . . old folks bought it! : )
Seriously, I told him yesterday that the stairs are probably the best thing for us . . til I break my neck. Yesterday at noon, I had been up and down the stairs 24 times. That’s 24 times up and 24 times down. Before noon!
The canned food is all downstairs. The Dr. Peppers are downstairs. We’ve been sleeping downstairs so I had to bring the sheets up to wash. Everything I needed was in the downstairs fridge but I’m not complaining because when I’m down there, my Dr. Peppers are near.
This morning, it’s been the same thing. I’m fixing our meal today. I’ve surpassed two meals for this week so I hope I get some brownie points for that! 🙂
The ground beef I had taken out of the freezer yesterday was in the downstairs fridge.
The celery in the upstairs garage fridge was frozen so I ran down to see if there was more in the downstairs fridge. No.
I needed a Dr. Pepper with my breafast.
I had left my phone downstairs.
I had to take a 12 pack of pint jars down that I had canned.
I needed bread crumbs for the meatballs and the bread was in the downstairs fridge.
I filled the freeze dryer trays with okra and took them down one at a time – 4 trips.
I went out the dowstairs door to grab bell peppers out of the garden.
I went downstairs to cross stitch and realized I didn’t have on shoes. Boot loves to nibble on my feet so I came back up and got my shoes.
I’m definitely not losing weight but running up and down the stairs all day has to be better than sitting and stitching without every getting up.
Kathleen R Robin says
When the stairs get to be too much for you to manage . Well get a stair lift installed. They are great. Would hate to be with out it now.
Elle says
Lose weight or not, it’s healthy, improving cardio and muscle mass 🙂 Sometimes I wish for stairs but I know it’s a problem at some point so we won’t move. Been here for 30 years (had to buy 1 level so my handicap Dad could be here. (2 story homes here don’t generally seem to have “all required living” on ground level.)
Judy Laquidara says
We are lucky that the basement has a bathroom, has a bedroom, has two living rooms (one is the sewing room) and we can set up a way to cook or heat food if we were forced to stay down there but then the upstairs, which is the main level if you look at the front of the house, has everything a full house would have so I think we’re good for a while. Some day the stairs will be a problem but I hope we have a few years before that happens.
Sara Fridley says
My sister-in-law had a stair lift installed. Her sewing room is in the basement. But she also uses it to set things on for taking up or down so she doesn’t have to carry it. It flips up out of the way when not needed. Very handy.
Rebecca says
You probably have good leg muscles! 🙂
I was thinking about a new kind of stair lift I saw yesterday, but I’m not sure any kind could help you with all that carrying. The 12 pack of full jars had to change your balance, in a way that might be okay going up but troublesome going down. And the trays must block your vision. It’s a good thing you don’t have pets that follow you around.
Judy Laquidara says
I only going down with full loads because I bring the jars up individually when I need them. I kinda go down with the box of jars to my side so I can see my feet and the stairs. I usually do it when Vince is home in case I do fall but this morning I was going down with nothing in my hands and I always try to carry something down and something up because there’s so much to get to the other floor. So . . I did it and made it.
I can always walk around the side of the house on the outside. One side is completely flat and you end up on the patio with no stairs. The other side is a fairly steep hill. Also, if we ever had to, we can drive around the house or make a driveway that goes to the back of the house, go into the garage with the car or through the walk thru door. A lot of times when Vince is bringing stuff in that goes downstairs, he drives around to the back and goes in through there and doesn’t have to use the stairs.
montanaclarks says
Same here–I go up and down the basement stairs a million times a day–or so it feels on some days! I love our AZ home–all one level!
Claudia Duke says
We put in a chair lift for my mom several years ago while she was in the hospital. Unfortunately, she never got to use it. We did not have it taken out as we figured we will need it at some point . We can live on the main floor, but my sewing room and Longarm is upstairs. I use it to haul heavy stuff upstairs, but we usually forget to use it.