We have about 40 bins full of Christmas decorations that need to make their way from the storage area in the basement the first floor. It's about 14 steps in a line... no landing or turns. We used to have the kids help us bring them up. Now that they've moved out, it's on me mostly. Many are heavy and that's a lot of trips up and down stairs for a senior citizen.
So hit me with your best ideas for RNEing a solution. Don't even suggest putting up less decorations, I've lost that argument too many times to count. Also, would be good if the solution helped get the bins downstairs after the holidays.
Note: getting the bins from storage to the bottom of the stairs is not a problem. I have a dolly for that.
I just realized that what my parents do is a good long term suggestion.
We installed a stairlift for my father. My mother does not yet need one, but has learned to place a box or two on the seat, and use the remote control to drive it up and down the stairs.
And then, you have a stairlift as you get older. Two birds, one stone.
Hire someone to do it?
If you have he next door app or Facebook you can post a request for someone to help.
Something to try. Thanks.
Seriously, if you know anyone with a teen or couple of teens, I bet they'd do it for a pie or a cake or something similar.
My elderly neighbor is the queen of pie bartering. She even bakes them for the sheriff's office once a year. I'm sure if she ever calls 911, the entire sheriff's department will show up immediately!
Calling all units! The Pie Lady needs help!
We laugh, but that's EXACTLY what's going to happen! 😂🥧
Operator: Ma'am... ma'am... what pie flavors do you currently have available? We have paramedics and officers on standby, if you have what they're craving.
This is your answer - find a high schooler who wants to make $50 for half an hour of work in November and $50 in January. It's much cheaper than the medical bills if something doesn't go right. In between, you carry the empty tubs back down and up again.
Redneck ofc😀
Any redneck I know would happily help an elderly neighbour with this.
It’s not quite redneck engineering but it’s still definitely in their wheelhouse.
Redneck social engineering?
Sled and 120V winch.
Close. Thick cardboard on the stairs , ropes and bungee cords around the bins, and the 110v winch. Drag them up , maybe several at a time.
I think harbor freight has something like. What would you attach the winch to? Top of the stairs is the kitchen.
4x4 post across the doorway, or another in line doorway? I don't know how heavy heavy is in this case, maybe the heaviest have to ride single, but if you can move your recliner in front and have a seat and use both your bodyweight and the recliner as an anchor?
This guy reclines.
This is it. 4x4 post across the doorway, attached winch, loop a strap around your bin, pull it carefully up the stairs.
Your waist.
The next days headline would be: "old guy gets dragged down the stairs and squeezed to death." Police and coroner will figure out if foul play was involved after they stop laughing.
You just need an item heavier than the box you're winching? Can you push the armchair to the kitchen and sit on it? Or put pots filled with water, that's more redneck anything in the kitchen that can contain water, fill it up and attach them as one heavy item. Or use the fridge, dishwasher or laundry machine if it's in the kitchen, just not the cabinets I'd guess. At worse you make anchor points in the kitchen wall
Can't he put an Eye bolt in the floor? Then build a box out of 2x6, with a shelf for the winch. You could drop a couple of lag bolts into the stairway. Easy easy, lemon squeezy!
There are worse ways to go
Depending on the weight you could put a couple of furniture screw wood inserts into the wall studs past the top of the stairs. Then screw two eye bolts into those and attach the winch. When you're done take the eye bolts out and you have two threaded nuts in the wall, but those are pretty unobtrusive.
Uhaul’s website has local movers who work for cheap. I called some to help shuffle boxes around. Paid $40 and gave them a cold drink, 2 movers for 1 hour. For 2 hours they wanted $60. Prices vary by location, but most of these people are pretty nice.
Interesting idea. I'll look into that one. Not really redneck. But creative.
The redneck part is that I have called them back and paid by barter instead of cash. I swapped coolant hoses, drain and filled the system in exchange for them moving some large potted plants I have. Its a good connection to have fwiw
I say you go with a year round Christmas theme with the house, leave it up year round’
probably the ultimate red neck solution!
Yea you can change the theme of the decorations to fit the season. Santa with a heart, Santa with a 4 leaf clover. Santa with an American flag, Santa with a witch outfit. Santa is pretty universal.
There's a house on my block that has led lanterns built into their fence posts. They just change the color scheme. Alternating orange & purple for Halloween. Alternating green & red for Christmas. All green for St Pat's. Regular white light when no holiday.
Not a solution but an observation… we used to store our massive holiday decorations in a garage attic. I rigged up a manual hoist to life them up and put them away. Then one of the adult kids fell through the attic ceiling. And I got too creaky to wrangle them.
So I got offsite storage unit where they live now. I look at is an investment to avoid medical expenses.
As online shopping is killing in person retail, shopping malls are struggling and many have closed their doors. Buy an escalator from a defunct shopping mall and install in place of your stairs.
You will require specialized power to run them, typically three phase 208 V. The escalator can be run in both directions, both up and down, depending upon your seasonal needs.
Need to get a semi and a cdl to get it to the house
Runner carpet or plywood on the stairs and rope them up
Carpet might be too flimsy.
Cardboard to make a ramp, rope, and a carabiner for quick attach/detach.
Electric stair climbing dolly?
Sounds expensive. I'll look that up.
I mean, they aren’t cheap but neither is 40 boxes of Xmas decorations. And cmon who doesn’t need an excuse to buy another power tool..
Cut hole in floor. Mount block n tackle pulley. Get rope. Worry about the rest later
I like your style.
Sled dogs
Gotta feed em. And how will 5hey get the bins upstairs?
Santa's sled dogs
Smaller boxes or manageable weight is a great starting point.
This old house has a video "how to build a tote storage rack" shows bins on rails.
If the bins are a consistent size on the sides of the stairs attach 2x4 rails just above the railing height for the lip of the boxes to slide on, then push them up as you go up the stairs.
You could mount them on hinges and swing them up when not needed.
You can add a slippery plastic to it (I use what we have for the grain bin) but I find it makes stuff harder to control.
If you have a dolly, you could make a rail ramp with some 2×4s, and bring them up that way. Plywood would be easier maybe, but less stable for you to walk on.
Smaller totes would help too, more trips but less risk of being taken out like a Home Alone villian.
You mean use the 2x4s as rails and the dolly as sort of a rail car?
Right.
A full plywood ramp might be too steep to walk on safely, even moreso with a dolly. And if it's resting on the stairs or supported, it can crack in the middle as you're walking on it.
But if you get four 2x4s, nail them into L's and put them on the stairs like this
_I stairs I_
Then put the wheels so the rails are resting on the inside.
Then you can load the dolly, and walk up the stairs with the dolly on the rails, held from slipping off by the middle upright pieces.
I would also measure the dolly, so you can cut and hammer a piece on the bottom to keep the rails from spreading out, not on the top because trip hazard.
Hire someone like neighbor kids, nieces, nephews?
I know you're looking for funny advice but mine is, nobody needs 40 bins of Christmas. Get rid of 3/4 of it.
Not necessarily looking for funny. Practical and rigged-up yes. And seriously, I do agree we need less. Convincing SO of that has not been a hill I'm willing to die on.
Wise man. My husband concurs.
Maybe split the heavier bins into smaller ones?
Maybe she will give up one box a year? We moved and downsized and I got rid of a lot of it. Christmas will still come whether you redecorate the entire house or just put up the tree and that's all.
No bins by the time I'm 110. Sounds like a good compromise.
Have the spouse bring the decorations Up and install outside, to see the work involved, and look up what a hospital visit for heart attack/pulled muscles/physio costs on your area.Â
You literally could die. Falling off a ladder is permanently disabling, the older you getÂ
Note too to check all the outlets and extension cords for looseness (plugs come out easily) and corrosion on the plug endsÂ
Um... hire someone or post on Nextdoor for assistance. Not trying to be a buzz-kill, I've thought about a track and pulley system for my own basement, but if you're that worried about mobility and safety, any redneck rig wouldn't be likely to do you any favors. How much less work would it be to rig than just carrying the boxes and how reliable would whatever contraption really be? I mean, just say'n.
I feel personally assaulted on the reliability aspect. I recently set up a n extension ladder on a small slant, across saw horses of two different heights. I was moving some firewood that was round- 95% of it rolled off sideways so I got to double handle it instead of just walking g a little farther.
Rig up a jin pole in your attic with a pulley and rope em up. Works for 160lbs radio antennae being installed 125 feet in the air, should be able to rig a basket net to wrap tubs in.
Get 5 or 6 free tread mills and make a conveyor belt. Alternatively get 1, flip it over so it’s like a tank tread, and use an extension cord to control it.
Hire the neighbor kid. Sit back relax. Easy, safe, generous. Send the bill to your wife.
Only 40 bins? Amateur. When I was married we had 90 bins.
I ordered pizza and got about 6 kids from around the neighborhood, with my 2 kids, only a couple hrs.
But remember, you have to store those empty bins, then reload them and store them away again.
Keep the kids #s on speed dial.
Honestly, not a bad idea. Hire a bunch of the local kids for soda, chocolate bars, and Pizza afterwards.
It will not be free, but it's done in a jiffy, and wont break the bank after all.
Potato cannon. Start shooting them baubles
Conveyor belt
Have you tried your regional/city sub reddit? Someone should be willing to help. I'd come over and help, but basements aren't popular in my region so I'm pretty sure you aren't in my stateÂ
Have you taken this problem shopping at your local harbor freight? Pick a time where it's not too busy and see if they can't come up with some good ideas for you.
Farm it out!
Got a place to anchor a come-along type hand crank winch? Then put some 2x4 or 2x6 planks on the stairs to make a sliding surface, and a rope around each box for the winch to grab onto and pull them up.
The same setup can be used to raise or lower appliances. The old ones are a lot heavier than the replacements being brought in.
Anybody mention a game hoist yet?
Works for a kayak, should work for a tote.
Also, OP, I feel your pain. Wife’s got as many big bins, and I’m the poor sap pulling them out of the basement and putting them back. 🙄
Last I knew you could purchase what's called a hand truck and that'll help you get him up the stairs
Get smaller bins that you will be able to lift and have a garage sale for 90% of your Christmas stuff.
My husband once cut a piece of plywood, added a lip on the back end to hold the box/bin on, carpeted the bottom rolling the carpet around & onto the top leading edge of unlipped end. Then added a rope on the lead edge. We pulled up & let back down many boxes & even some small furniture. Later, we downsized to a one story, problem solved.
Interesting thanks.
Find someone selling a small forklift and buy it. Open your front door and drive it in. When it crashes through your floor, leave it there and use that to lift your boxes up. You can toss a piece of plywood over the hole in the floor to keep people from falling in. If you want to add some "class," you can find a nice area run to put over it.
Whoever argues with you about not putting up as many decorations? Make them do it, or at most help you.
RC helium blimp?
Logistics question - Do they really ALL need to come up?
My family used to bring down like 20+ boxes for Christmas decorations, and then one year we marked which ones were actually used. It was about 10. So what was originally an all-day effort to move these boxes that would take up the entire guest bedroom, became a 2-hour effort that takes up one wall of the guest bedroom.
Have you tried using fewer Christmas decorations?
I have tried suggesting that. After almost 50 years, that's a non-starter. Also, I think it's bad form to start off the season with an argument.
Give away or sell 30 of those crates. No one needs that much Christmas stuff.