I spend Sunday afternoon (not enjoying the sunshine) in our loft, which I have to confess is full of boxes and bags of clutter we’ve not used in years…My old guitar (yes I once had aspirations of becoming an Indie Pop god), a map of a gold mine in Venezuela I worked in as a geologist 15 years ago (it’s a long story), and several bags of old clothes and children’s toys.
Like most lofts, ours had rapidly become a catch-all storage dump for those things we meant to get rid of over the years but just didn’t or felt we couldn’t.
“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful” said William Morris and with this famous mantra in mind I set to work on a mission to reduce the number of storage boxes up there and generally tidy-up.
The first thing to do when tiding a loft is to take a good long look at what you’ve got stored up there and think about the last time you used it. If there’s bin-bags full of out of season clothes that haven’t been worn in the last year or two it’s time to go to the charity shop. Likewise, if like us you’ve half a dozen storage boxes full of children’s clothes waiting for little Johnny to grow-up it’s probably time to have a purge. Swallow your pride and declutter by getting rid of those hand-me-downs that are obviously not going to be de rigueur when Johnny hits his teenage years and never worn.
elfa's freestanding shelving really has helped with storage in this loft
Ok, so there may be one or two garments you just can’t bear to get rid of, everyone’s allowed one or two memorable garments (like my tartan trousers that I’ll never fit back into…were they really ever fashionable!?!) but do set yourself a limit.
Our loft was like many is full of plastic and cardboard storage boxes full of all sorts of clutter, some of which were simply taken straight up there when we moved into the house a few years ago and worse still…have never been touched since!
The secret to dealing with storage boxes full of clutter in the loft is to sort then purge in bite sized chunks. Sifting through boxes full of memories is going to take some time so bring a few boxes out of the loft at a time and work through them slowly. Set yourself a target such as, one box a night over a week whilst you’re watching your favourite soap opera or perhaps whilst the kids are at school. Once again, ask yourself if you will really use or need each item again, if not then pass to a charity shop or recycle so that someone else can get some use out of whatever it is. If there’s sentimental value, how about creating a ‘family memories’ storage box as you de-clutter but be ruthless and stick to one memory box and include only the most important items that will really mean something to the next generation.
awesome stuff thanx for the tips
Thank you for the sensible critique. My neighbour and I were talking about this and got a good decluterring book on that matter from our local library and most books where not as influensive as your information. I am very glad to see such information!