How do you organise your attic?

[OhioOhioOhio]

It's my last place to declutter. I hate being in there so think I will attempt it weekly. A couple of things at a time. Any good ideas to keep it sorted? Quickly?

There's nothing in our loft.

The night before we moved here 8 years ago, all that was left to do was to empty the loft. We'd decluttered a few weeks before that and there were boxes which hadn't been unpacked from when we'd previously moved 16 years before but even so, what was left still filled our bedroom once the loft was empty so we decided to get even more ruthless once we'd moved. We got rid of a huge amount of it and bought metal shelving units for in the garage and what was left was neatly boxed and labelled and stored there.

I quite like the nothing in the loft idea.

I can't imagine nothing. But I can remember almost nothing. Sounds so much less stressful.

Zones, boxes and zip-up laundry bags with labels on them.
It gets very hot and very cold up there, photos and papers will deteriorate.

I keep a spreadsheet of what's up there so I don't have to go up too often.

I have mine in "zones" (vague areas of stuff!) Joiner put shelves in the eaves so we have great storage. Perhaps too much as I need another sort out!!

Re baby items: I hoarded baby stuff and then got ruthless. He was 15 so in no need of pram!! Sent it all to refuge/charities. (Then I discovered a local lady makes memory bears from clothes eg baby clothes. One babygrow isn't enough!! That's a nice way to remember childhood outfits)

We have two - a side attic that you get to through a hidden door in my wardrobe which leads to the roof space above the garage, and a normal attic accessed by a loft ladder.

Both are fully boarded and have shelving set into the trusses. Side attic has suitcases, seasonal duvets, spare pillows, spare electric blanket, spare towels. Main attic has Christmas tree & decs, memory box for wedding and each boy, then various zones - spare kitchen items, light fittings, taps and fittings, camping gear, tramping box, skiing box, the best of the toys and books from the boys’ various ages and a stash of boxes that I store my ornaments in whenever we move house.

I love how easy everything is to access and how sorted it all is. I can go up and get anything I need within minutes.

I do zones as well
Everyone is allowed a big box of stuff in sentimentality corner
Per DC I kept first pair of shoes, outfit they left hospital in and christening outfit
My worst failing is keeping empty boxes in case I need to return something faulty or thinking they might be useful for eBay packaging

That's what I want hic. Did you have a way of deciding what kid stuff to keep?

Why not get rid of the stuff so other people can use it? I take photos of things and keep them digitally so i have the memory prompt but not the clutter.

a side attic that you get to through a hidden door in my wardrobe which leads to the roof space above the garage

Basically Narnia??

We’ve been sorting ours as well.... we went to Ikea and bought a little wardrobe you can zip up for winter coats and clothes the children haven’t grown into yet.

Where do you all keep your ghosts?

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/3657077-Please-tell-me-this-is-not-a-ghost-even-though-it-obviously-is-and-I-have-to-move

Don’t keep any baby stuff. Get rid of it. You absolutely won’t miss it one bit when it’s gone.

My loft is empty but the eves space and garage is full of 8 years worth of junk. Some boxes haven’t even been opened since we moved in. I also have two sheds full of crap and the whole thing is just getting out of hand so this morning I hired a skip which will be delivered tomorrow and I am going to spend the weekend decrapping my life.

Put stuff in boxes , put boxes in attic , close trapdoor and forget about it.

Mines zoned. And in matching plastic storage boxes with a4 printed labels that are laminated.. Oh I'm so sad.

So would be

Red Xmas baubles
Gold Xmas baubles
Silver
Xmas Dec's
Outdoor Dec's.
Etc

Baby accessories
Baby newborn
Baby 0 to 3 and so on up to age 1

Halloween decs
Halloween catering

Easter hunt items
Easter baskets and bonnets

Summer items.. Beach towels etc

Catering items. ( as in ones I just use indoors for party items.)

I don't go in the loft. I send dh. But least he knows where it is or I stand at the top of the ladder and direct..

Camping gear and Christmas stuff to one end. Secret stuff behind it. Storage boxes dated when last used or opened (vague info on what it is). If it's older than 2 years I sling it or sell it.

Ours needs to be fully boarded.

But when it is:

Racking around the edges.

Labelled boxes (and ordered by genre, spare plates, glasses etc)

Possibly an armchair and a wine fridge (for hiding purposes)

Hmm organised & attic don’t really go together in this house - you could probably find shergar, Lord Lucan & the Loch Ness monster in ours.

We have zones - each of us has a section as does 'Christmas' , the 'house' (out of seadon duvets, spare cushions etc) and a bit where the holiday things go (snorkel etc). Buy a pack of brown parcel tags - very useful to tie around handles etc.

I have never put anything in there & never will.

Get rid.

I have 1 very small clear plastic tub of baby clothes kept in DDs wardrobe, so it gets looked at a lot & she puts the clothes on her dolls.

We moved house last year. Old house had traditional attic full of crap. And mice. New house our bedroom is in attic which has been converted, just has eaves storage. So we hired a skip and threw most of the old crap away, after charity shopping anything someone else might want. New eaves storage mostly just has Christmas stuff in, I've written a list so I know what's in there. And no mice.

If it’s in the attic it probably needs to be chucked out apart from Christmas decorations. We question everything we keep. Is it worth the space, will we use it again.

Plastic boxes and zones. Stuff I am in control of is very organised, DH not so much. We moved last year, most of it was his - old consoles, annuals, football cards/programs etc. 14 months on stuff of his is still in the garage

Other stuff is kids clothes (to grow into), Christmas decs, present box, toys (Duplo, happy land, wooden train, Playmobil, Lego)

We did get rid of quite a bit in the move.

Oh and the spare bedding

This is the first and only time I can ever be smug...our loft is completely empty!!! We've lived in our new build 8 years and have never put anything up there. We moved from a house with a loft conversion so nothing in that one either!