What's in your loft?

[JustlikeElllie]

When we moved house several years ago the loft was awful. I mean behind a joke. Empty boxes, old kitchen appliances, bags and bags of clothes. I blame dh but that's a long story.

Then we got into a similar mess in our new house plus a new garage to fill up too.

We've been slowly decluttering now but the 'stuff' is the gift that keeps on giving.

I didn't realise how bad it was.

Would anyone share their loft/clutter horror stories, or how they keep their home minimalist and clutter free?

Turn it into a bedroom. Have to clear it out then.

We've got some defunct CDs in case digital recordings somehow disappear, an old mixer that has sentimental value, some books and Xmas decs. Nothing I can't reach from the loft ladder. But the rest of the house is a nightmare. We converted the garage so every room is bad instead.

Nothing - I've never been in it.
After separating and subsequently divorcing after eighteen years in the same house, I was left with piles of crap in the loft in my old house.
After emptying it out (I was almost on first name terms with the men at the tip by the end), before I moved to where I lived now, I swore I'd never use a loft again.
There may be stuff I need to get rid of in my garage, but at least I can see it and get to it easily.

Kids Keepsake box each
Xmas decs
Easter decs
Halloween decs
2 boxes of paperwork.

Every box is labelled
' red xmas' ' gold xmas' etc

I go by the rule if its, not been used / worn /played within 6m it goes. Unless seasonal of course.

Im ridiculously organised and i could tell you where absolutely anything is in my house, loft or garage

Things we use, but not for most of the year.

So (usually) the Christmas decs, Christmas jumpers, Nativity costumes etc (which are currently out). Then the suitcases live up there.
We've got a couple of fans that go up there in the Winter well 51 weeks of the year usually and a little electrical heater that we tend to put up there in the Summer.

Books
Clothes
Outgrown baby clothes, equipment and toys
Christmas decorations
Shergar
Lord Lucan
The Amber Room

Our decorations are very organised and labelled now.

For some reason we put a load of toys and clothes in the loft. Think because we wanted to sell them but never dealt with it, so they were put up there.

We've been decluttering now for a year and have sold or given away literally hundreds of items.

Nothing at all.
We collected so much in the previous house and it was so difficult to clear out, we’ll never use a loft again!

We have one corner (at the front) filled with suitcases and cabin bags. One corner (at the back) filled with Christmas trees (probably four? Plus one still up in the living room) and miscellaneous shite. This actually extends to the other back corner with Halloween decorations (four boxes maybe?) and Christmas decorations (probably around 17...) Then there's more boxes of stuff which comprises my collections (Lomonosov, seashells, childhood toys), big bags of Christmas wrapping paper and Christmas cushions.

The front side is full of DH's miscellaneous electronics shite which was in the loft gathering dust undisturbed in our previous house, and is now gathering dust undisturbed in this house.

I'm DESPERATE to have a clear out and get rid of loads of stuff. I actually have done already and gave about a dozen boxes of items to Oxfam. There's just so much still! I really want to have a loft conversion and know I need to get rid of tons of things and streamline the remaining stuff.

Our house has the original 1930s roof which needs replacing too. The torching on the underside of the tiles continuously falls off so everything is covered in dust and chunks of torching. Sounds dreamy doesn't it

Nothing. If something is destined for the loft it can just as easily go in the bin, be recycled or sent to charity if not sold.

Easier maintenance with an empty loft.?!

Two Ukrainian ladies and their cat.
A double bed, a dresser, a folding table, three chairs, two wardrobes, a chest of drawers and a cabinet with books, CDs and cassette tapes.
An alcove room has some old clothes and shoes in storage boxes; and a sink / drainer.

It's a proper room, we have a Victorian terrace, carpeted stairs up to it.

I don't know, I don't like heights or ladders so I won't go up there, I keep as clutter free as possible so I don't need to store lots of thing's away.

Mine has a large suitcase with a medium suitcase and a couple of backpacking bags inside that. It's just inside the hatch, I don't have a ladder for the loft but it otherwise looks empty.

Ours is horrendous. There is so much up there and it's huge and totally full. I really need to declutter it but just cannot face it. Maybe this needs to be one of my new years resolutions.

A lot of dead rats. 😳 We don’t go up there.

I wouldn't know because I've never looked 🤦🏻‍♀️ I've lived in 3 houses and never used the loft. Could be a dead body up there for all I know 😬

What about the smell? One cat present unnoticed is bad enough.

Apartment so no loft. That solved the issue

Nothing that I use once a year or more. Just "dark archive" stuff and boxes and boxes of lego.

Totally agree.

Apart from things like decorations, suitcases Anything that goes in the loft should be dealt with there and then otherwise just storing a problem for later, as I've discovered.

Same here.

What made you put stuff up there?

I'm trying to understand why we've done the same. Why did we ever think we'd want or need all this stuff again?

loads and loads of playmobil sets.

2 bedrooms and a shower room

No idea - we only moved in a few weeks ago. To be honest, I’m scared to look! Sat looking at the hatch now and wondering if I should send DH up there tomorrow…