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?

@JustlikeElllie absolute shite!! literally all over the bloody place!!

Nothing
In our last house when we moved we had 20 years of stuff up there - there wasn't a single thing that we kept when we took it down. It included empty boxes of long gone electrical goods and text books from our uni days

When we moved into this house we made a pact to put nothing at all up there so we don't face the same situation again.

20 years ago mine was a clutter filled death trap. Bring on divorce and goodbye all clutter. Over 2 years got rid of everything, plastered and added staircase, cue new adult movie zone, seating and no clutter, it's bliss.

Similar to other posters. I have learnt the hard way and now keep only seasonal type stuff. Xmas stuff, camping, suitcases.

I do have a big pile of uni stuff I kept from eldest child but youngest now not going so I will have to find someone to pass that on to.

I can remember my dad in our old house standing at the top of the loft ladder and THROWING black bags with all his might to add to the mountain of shit up there.
20 years later it was horrific to get rid of it all.

In this country the greatest luxury of all is space in your home. Don’t fill your space with tat.

Nothing apart from tv aerial , when we moved house we decided to make it out of bounds having chucked most of the contents of loft at old house away ! Use the garage as storage instead

@JustlikeElllie we converted our garage so lots of of things went up there that couldn't going the shed. I have kept an old tent that I keep meaning to sell, some old toys I can't part with, my wedding dress which is of no use to anyone anymore, wtf did I keep it? Old pictures in frames. Loads of crappy bits that 'might be useful' one day.... I guarantee that day will be the day after I chuck it all out. Clothes storage bags with summer clothes in as we don't have enough wardrobe space so I swap things between seasons. I used to be ruthless but I am just so busy all the time with the kids that I ignore it all.

I thi k they left one box and a Xmas tree otherwise nothing else. Cleared it out well my sister did I dont like going up there, hate spiders. I never go up there so there is nothing up there now.

And clutter free/minimalist...just only have the things you need.

DH is a moderate hoarder but doesn't put anything away anywhere that takes as much effort as getting in the loft, I hate heights and we have very high ceilings so the only way anything is put in the loft is if I specifically ask DH to do it, so just Christmas decs and a few baby things I really should get rid of, next to me, baby bouncy chair thing and a spare high chair , so not much at all really

A huge amount of insulation stuff, and probably lots of cobwebs. I sometimes hear the tap tap tap of birds in the summer - but I think that’s the eaves not the loft itself, the sound just travels.

Christmas decorations, suitcases and some tech stuff that's about 20 years old.
Also bats I think.

A water leak coming from chimney that we discovered when we saw water dripping through the ceiling on our way to bed tonight. DH has just been up to investigate and nearly couldn’t get down because of his fear of his heights. I’ll be phoning my roofer in the morning. Not a good start to the year.😔

On a lighter note we have a box of rare Star Wars spaceships that belonged to DS that he no longer wants. They too expensive to give away. I need to get around to eBaying them. We have DS’s wooden baby walker in the shape of a dog that I kept for sentimental reasons. Some old lampshades from the ‘90s that the previous owner left up there, and of course a Christmas tree.

Oh dear God.

The loft.

Don't make me go up there.😫

Nothing. It's a new build HA and we aren't allowed to store in it

😂

Loads up there. Suitcases, Xmas Decs and tree, photos, spare duvets. Clothes for DD2 that DD1 has grown out of. Boxes for electronics for returns or selling on. Stocks of loo roll and kitchen roll from Costco. We viewed so many houses with no decent loft access and it surprised me how little others use the loft space.

We had a big clear out in our last house move, my old school uniform, natwest pigs, old lego were amongst the stuff we threw/ sold.

Christmas decorations, suitcases, camping gear, summer clothes (and winter clothes), Lego sets, papers to keep, airbed. Basically things that are required but hardly ever used…

My daughter's bedroom and en suite is in our loft! In our previous house nothing - in my experience once it goes up there it doesn't come down til you move.

We got a lift conversion. So now 2 enormous bedrooms and a shower room. All clutter went into garage and a lock up.

Probably just some spiders and dead wasps. Might get a handful of CDs up there, at a push. It's about the size of a hamster cage.

We do have a bit of eaves storage where the Christmas tree lives for 50 weeks of the year along with some sewing machine boxes and power tools.

Previous 2 houses were awful, absolutely stuffed with all sorts of shite as they were massive. Now we have a thatched house with no loft (or not one you can use for storage anyway) and our loft contents reduced to what fits in one large built in wardrobe and one large shed. It is actually lovely to not have the option to store it all. Very liberating- I don’t miss the loft at all.

We sell or donate everything now the minute it is identified as surplus. As we have a 4 year old that’s regularly toys and clothes. In the past we’d have accumulated car seats, clothes and toys by the black bin bag etc. Now it goes pretty much instantly.

Absolutely nothing in my loft. Don't see the point of storing stuff in it! If you shove it in the loft, then chances are you don't need it. But I live in a big house so don't need to store Christmas decorations or suitcases in it.

Currently a bastard squirrel 🐿 that has been driving me mad!!

Not much. I'm such a declutterer now and used to be the opposite, which is how I grew up so I suppose it seemed normal.

Having a clutter free home/rooms/space has been such a huge positive for me. Even though everything has a place and there's plenty of empty drawers/wardrobe room I still regularly clear out anything I've not used/won't genuinely need or don't love.

The loft has the boxed fake Christmas tree in it simply because it won't fit anywhere else. It's currently got a plaatic storage box next to it with decorations all bagged/boxed/labelled and waterproof wrapped just in case of a roof issue.

Totally like mine.
The only thing I ever go into it for is the decorations.
If I wasn't scared of heights I could sell a lot of the old toys for ££.

I need to train a child to go up there🤔

Too much. Boxes and boxes of clothes, some over 30 years old. Some more clothes on covered racks. Yarn, boxes and bags of yarn, turns out I can't crochet as fast as I used to buy yarn. Christmas decorations, we amalgamated two homes into one and had an excess of everything. Hundreds of trophies and pieces of crystal that my dh won at his hobby, 40 years worth. Old suitcases, model cars that haven't been built, shoes, high heels all hanging from the rafters, I love them but after three foot surgeries I can't wear them. Coats, lovely coats but I hate wearing a coat since my mid 40's. Old electronics, 6 kitchen chairs I was convinced I'd refurbish, bedding, dh hobby old stuff, his current bits fill a king-size ottoman bed. And more clothes, did I mention the clothes, kept them for my niece but she's broader than I was so never fit her, pity because she loves the bits she's seen. I need a size 8 - 10 narrow built girl who likes old clothes.