I was given a Stair Basket as a present by my Mum, who shops a lot in Lakeland. It wasn't the most exciting present I've ever received, I have to say. Still, she meant well.

The idea is that the basket sits on the bottom two steps of your stairs, and you fill it with all the bits and pieces that you find downstairs but which belong upstairs. Then you can carry it up, empty it, and sit it on the top two steps, ready to fill with all the bits and pieces that you find upstairs.

A great idea I thought. I have 3 small children (and a husband) who abandon their belongings about the place and think that "put something away" means "dump it on the stairs". Also my stairs come straight into my living room so there isn't really room for a normal basket at the foot of the stairs.

So I started to use it, and discovered several flaws.

Firstly, when I am emptying the basket, I carry it around the upstairs rooms putting the contents away where they belong - but you can't put the basket down anywhere! It falls over, because it doesn't have a flat base, obviously. Very annoying, because I never remember that it doesn't have a flat base, and keep putting the wretched thing down, and then it falls over, and all the stuff spills out ... Clearly my fault, not the poor basket's!

Secondly, I need two. One for "going up" and one for "going down". I very quickly ended up with a full basket at the bottom of the stairs, and the usual pile of stuff at the top. Although I suspect that if I had two baskets, I would soon have two full baskets at the bottom of the stairs. I think this basket only works if you are a tidy person.

Thirdly, my family decided that now I had my cute basket, they didn't need to carry stuff up and down stairs anymore. So the basket makes more work for me, somehow.

Consequently, the basket is now in the loft. I couldn't quite bring myself to freecycle it, as part of my brain still thinks it is such a good idea!

It is a lovely basket, nicely made from quality material (hand-woven willow, according to the blurb), and strong enough to cope when full of quite heavy things.

It costs £19.57 from www.lakeland.co.uk.