I am having the biggest clearout of my life and I am losing the will to live!!

[outgrown]

Loft conversion begins October. So I need to...
Empty 15 years of treasures from the loft.
Sort through all the nice baby reminders to see if it's all necessary keepsakes
Empty boys bedroom which will become hallway.
Empty my bedroom which will become boys bedroom.

And as a bonus, also thought we would clear out girls bedroom, which had massive fitted wardrobes that have just been constantly filled and never emptied for 11 years, just for fun

I can do all this in six weeks right...

Yes , yes you can! Only a few years here but today am tackling the loft for the same reason. Charity, bin and keep piles... be ruthless. But start strategically!

Hire a skip. Anything that hasn't been used or cherished for more than 6 months gets dumped. Should be easy in 6 weeks if you don't get sentimental about things! Good luck!

Ugh. I'm in the middle of packing to move country (again.. we've only been here 2 years and still the amount of junk we've accumulated is ridiculous) - it's terrible..

My advice - get a mask, and some of this stuff you squirt up your nose to catch the dust (it's in boots in the hayfever section) - you're going to get a sinus headache from all the dust otherwise.

I don't get sentimental but we've been here for 15 years. Exh wasn't a fan of chucking things so he hid things in the loft. Since the divorce I haven't had much time. Last year I redecorated all downstairs for the first time since he went.
Currently getting rid of tons of stuff on free sites as feel bad about landfilling with stuff we have just outgrown.

Two bin bags of clothes, an endless stream of visitors collecting my crap from the free sites, and all the wheelie bins are full...

Your local tip is your friend here (although I would second the advice to get a skip given the scale of your undertaking). They won't want stuff to go to landfill either so take everything you've got and they should help you recycle everything possible. Our one now has a second hand shop attached to it, which makes it even better as you can take all your old books, DVDs, etc as well as the usual tip stuff.

There are also companies that will come and take all your unwanted stuff away. They will also look to recycle everything possible.

Be strategic with your wheelie bins, there's no good filling up the black bin the day after it's been emptied and then having nowhere for kitchen waste for two weeks.

Bins are being emptied tomorrow and I have permission to fill my neighbours who are on holiday ☺️

I didn't realise the tip was so recycling friendly! Thank you. Makes me feel much better!

Oh god yes. Our one has just reopened after a major refurb and the people there could not be more helpful. They will literally carry the stuff out of the car for you if the place isn't busy! You can recycle all sorts of things, including paint, TVs, small electronics, appliances, clothes, plus obviously cardboard, garden waste, metal, wood. Nothing goes into landfill if they can help it as they have targets to meet.

Ours does now want to limit use just to residents, so you may get asked if you can prove your address (they send you a sticker through the post to put in your car but I don't know if that's just a Leeds thing).

You can do it! I have just done similar I. The 5 weeks holidays, although admittedly, we have only been here for 5 years. 3 car loads of household items and toys to charity shop, another car load of clothes to a different charity place, end
Es bags I. The bin, and a few choice items sold on a local online selling site. I am down to the last few things to go through now, and it has definitely been worth it. However, I am a sentimental old thing, so I have still kept a couple of boxes of memory things.

Good luck, it will be great to be clear!

Yes you can definitely do it :) I am nearly done with the same as your loft conversion starts in 3 weeks and it was supposed to start in mid Oct so I had to rush at the last minute! Lots went to the charity shop and quite a bit was freecycled. It felt great to get everything in the loft sorted though and we got rid of so much paperwork and kids old schoolwork that we would probably never look at again but took up loads of space. I just divided the work into chunks then put aside one day per weekend and went for it until that bit was done.

British heart foundation collect anything that could go to a charity shoo, they usually pick up within a couple of days of calling. They give a date and will just take anything you leave out for them so you don't have to wait in. We did a mega sort and sent about 10 boxes of books/DVDs and 5 bin bags of clothes/toys

Agree better to give away rather than dump. Sell, give and throw piles is the way forward.

Titsywoo I'm now panicking they'll bring mine forward lol.

Today we have emptied DD room, sold and donated all the furniture and bags and bags of toys and shit (new is being delivered next week). We just have piles of her nice things to go back in once completed next week. So just a week of complete chaos upstairs with three rooms everywhere!

Tomorrow we will paint and that's one room done.

I did this recently. Just moved into new house.
My tip is
A) put stuff into your car to take to the tip as you go. You then have to go to the tip!
B) Salvation Army charity shop.i found boxes of serviceable baby and toddler clothes, toys, pram and cot sheets. I asked if they would like them as i couldnt see any in their shop. Yes they beamed. We dont sell them often we give them directly to families that need them as its the most direct and efficient use of your donation.

I have spent the last few weeks de cluttering and can even see some corners in my house

Have been amazed at the refusal of my local charity shops refusing to take books, cds and dvds etc as they are over flowing

Welldoneme my local charity shop had at least 3copies of the da Vinci code last time I was in. There's only so many they can sell I suppose.

I read the Marie kondo book last year, haven't fully put it to good use but it gives you a good mental starting point.

I took books to oxfam as in our town they did books. Dvds and cds went to the recycling box at the tip

DDs room cleaned and half decorated. Will be finished in the morning.
All her sorted belonging and DS's sorted belongings now sitting on my landing and in my bedroom

We never thought about it in the plans but don't forget you an have an upstairs under stairs cupboard! We added it in at the last minute and although we cannot access it all the time as it's behind my daughters bed we can fit tonnes of stuff in it. Between that and the eaves we have done far better than expected since ours. We also hired a storage unit as it made everything so much easier for during the work and during decorating. if you don't want it for too long it's quite cheap as they all run introductory offers.

We can't make a cupboard due to the layout of the other stairs and rooms...but I had forgotten about the eaves! I was panicking about where all this stuff would go! And a storage unit...what a good idea ☺️

@outgrown we used big yellow. Shurgard said we had to buy a padlock from them for £15! Big yellow we could just use an existing one. We also rang up when offer ended because we needed for a couple more weeks and they gave us a reduction on full price for bit longer. I found them quite good. Think about getting lights fitted in eaves cupboards - that helps us as they are obviously quite dark!

Toomany, do they get spidery?

@outgrown - no they are all properly ventilated temperature controlled paces. No spiders seen!

Or do you mean eaves spidery? Not seen any in ours!

Oh good!!