Long story short, lady on the third floor of an apartment building has a cat urgently in need of kitty litter. The lady is a little thing with tiny wrists, elevator has been broken for months and for the foreseeable future. I want to help, but I can’t haul up a 20 lb. jug of kitty litter (heart problems and arthritis) , nor can she. She can do it, but not easily. (she has tried the cedar-shaving litter and her cat hates it! he does use it.) . Just wondering, any way to get a good supply up those 3-4 flights of stairs by a couple of ailing weak women, other than taking turns and alternating every other flight?
Ask for help?
Got $10 and a local teenager with time on his and/or her hands?
Oh, thank you that is one brilliant solution!! Amazing solution - but from who? We don’t have any brawny men milling around, willing to pitch in. We have no helpful husbands or S/O’s. The maintenance man is unavailable and super-busy anyway, without any elevator. Should I cast about on craigslist and find someone to haul it all up there? I mean, I would pay. just wondering if there was some practical solution other than ‘asking for help’.
thank you, that’s an idea.
I would suspect that you could get it delivered right to her door.
Doordash and Uber will pickup and deliver, and some Petsmarts and grocery stores will, too. Just make it clear to them that you need them to walk up to her apartment. If they balk, offer $10.
Maybe call the scouts? Boy or girl.
Try Task Rabbit–heavy lifting is one of the standard categories of task people need done.
Or hang a block and tackle out the window.
Just pour out (into a bucket) some of the twenty-pound jug so you’re only moving five or ten pounds at once.
And get a funnel. a cheap plastic one from the kitchenware dept at Walmart
So you can pour the litter back into the jug. (or into smaller jugs, like the kind orange juice and laundry detergent are sold in.)
Amazon (via Prime) sells cat litter, delivered, for about $0.70/lb. I feel bad for the delivery guy hauling it up my stairs… but better him than me.
Does the Amazon guy actually do inside delivery? My only experience is they leave it by the front door or in the lobby.
Then deal with this problem.
How does the city continue allowing a ‘permit of occupancy’ for a multi-story building with a non-functioning elevator?
And why do tenants continue paying their full rent in such a building?
If you are going to pay someone, she should buy two bags at the same time. A man can usually manage 40lb without much trouble and that would save money.
If it was me, and I didn’t know anyone suitable; rather than some random teenager, I would ask the supplier and promise to tip the delivery guy.
No idea, but my front door is up a flight of outdoor stairs, and almost all stuff is left upstairs. One exception: a wine fridge. That was pretty unpleasant to haul up, so I can’t blame the guy too much.
The OP is unclear whether the stairs are inside or outside. That would make a difference.
Is buying smaller containers of it out of the question? It also comes in 7 pound bags. If you both carry up one bag at least you’d have 14 pounds of the stuff.
You know our cats never appreciate what we all do from them, right? 
Mittens… Furry hat… Warm slippers… ?
Retain an empty jug of litter.
Take the new, full jug of litter and pour half of it into the empty jug.
You now have an object half as heavy to haul up the stairs. Actually, you have two so you can each do this simultaneously.
If necessary, reduce the weight again with more empty jugs so you have only 5 pound objects to lug up the stairs. By putting only 5 pounds in each hand you may find it easier to manage this weight. Otherwise, two trips with two people instead of one trip with two people.
Amazingly enough, some multistory buildings don’t have an elevator at all. Mine certainly doesn’t (I’m up a flight and a half of stairs). In Chicago I lived in buildings with three floors and no elevators.
If there are stairs the building is entirely legal to occupy. It is not ADA compatible, but but if there are no people requiring stairs (rather than them being a convenience) it’s not an emergency.
Personally, when I moved into this new place I hired a truck and three young strong guys to do my heavy lifting, worth every penny. But that’s different than regularly needing help with 40 pound loads.