I have so much stuff in the loft/attic. Have you, and when will I get rid?

MallyGirl

dander wrote: »

I use my loft as a bit of gateway to leaving the house. Stuff goes up there when I think I don't need it downstairs, but I can't quite bring myself to get rid. Then every now and then I decide to do a boot fair or something like that and I go up and somehow when it's been in the loft for a while I can evaluate a bit more clearly about whether I REALLY do want to keep it.

We have used this system for my daughter's toys as she has outgrown them. Toys get moved up to the attic room and if she hasn't noticed the loss in a while they go to the CS. She is now nearly 14 so we don't have to do this anymore.

We have a massive attic room - 12' x 30' plus eaves loft space down both sides. The eaves are rammed full - suitcases and boxes for all significant items (lots of HiFi, keyboard, tech kit, you name it), all the camping gear (several different sized tents, event shelter, camp kitchen, etc), xmas decs, spare bedding (lots as visitors tend to arrive in hoards). The attic room also only has a passable corridor down the middle due to several tons of paperwork, plus there are 2 work desks, a chair bed and a king size bed which all get used.

Last weekend we cleared out 4 massive bags of video tapes and lots of paperwork like receipts/instructions for items we no longer own! OH wants to decorate but I have said no way till we have found the carpet again!

We rent a garage locally as we don't have one at the house but that holds 2 trailers, the top box, etc so no room for junk in there.

LameWolf

Ooh, I so wish I could get into our loft; but it's beyond my abilities, so I have to rely on DH. And he used to be a frightful hoarder.

He tells me there's nothing we don't actually need up there now, but I'd really, really love to get up there to see for myself.:cool:

pelirocco

We cleared ours out some years ago , and vowed never to fill it again . We do have Christmas tree and decs up there , and occasionally the suitcases make their way back up there .

Thank god we need as a year ago we had an electrical fire in our attic , it it had been full of stuff the whole has would have burnt down

f0xh0les

We sold our house in January and had to clear the loft, it was full of baby stuff, cots, highchairs, baby clothes, all sent off to the charity shop or given to neighbours still needing such things. Bunkbeds, DH's tat, there was bags and bags and bags of things he could not even remembering owning.
Claimed he had never seen them before.
The garage was worse, but I feel there may be a hoarding gene that joyfully romps through his family.

His parents have a full loft, built the most enormous shed/workshop rammed full, and had to buy a shipping container for the rest of their stuff (they live in a 5 bed house - just the 2 of them), it is stuffed!! They have not unpacked all the things from their parents' houses when they died 40 years ago. They are always talking about sending the stuff to auction, but they have been talking about it for 20 years. I know who it is going to fall to to sort it all out when they shuffle off. :eek:

In our next house, the attic will be converted with a staircase, and I am going to rule with a rod of iron!:rotfl:

tgroom57

I'm a hoarder too. I have a rule that whatever goes up into the attic, something of equal size / weight must come down. Usually this works well, but yesterday when I went up to meet the spiders there were 3 large boxes of hi-fi from 15 years ago. Each box was half the size of a washing machine Some of it's got to go!

MallyGirl

f0xh0les wrote: »

In our next house, the attic will be converted with a staircase, and I am going to rule with a rod of iron!:rotfl:

we have stairs to the attic room - it just makes it easier to get up there and dump stuff!

springdreams

I have my 14 year old DS in my loft ...


So what was formerly his room is now the loft room, and all the clutter is clearly visible

Slowly working my way through my house getting rid of things I no longer need or use, using the Kon Marie method. I will get there eventually. It is an eye opener how much stuff we cling onto when it is no longer hidden in the loft

calicocat

Someone with hoarding tendencies here too.

I sorted out quite a bit of my stuff when I moved a couple of years ago.....and I just don't want to get back to that stage ever again if I can help it.

I have actually just been up in mine recently to put stuff up there.........:eek: .

Not too much though, just a box of emergency supplies 'just in case'.......:rotfl:

My loft is quite big, is partly boarded out, and previous owners kindly had shelving built up there which is very handy..........Hmmmmm.


I am trying to be very strict with myself though. I've been here two and a half years now, and up there I have :

One big suitcase of carboot stuff, 2 suitcases of material (haven't used said items for around 6 yrs now), 2 body boards that live there in the winter, 2 xmas trees and xmas stuff, a box and bag of painting and decorating stuff, the emergency box, a cat carrier (that my cat refuses to use) , a cat scratch thing (new, that cat also refuses to use and kept for next cat), 3 emergency bags of cat litter, tent and camping gear, camping table, cooler boxes.

That's it I think.....writing it down that seems more than it looks.

at least I know what's there, it's all organised, and I go up every now and then to get or use something, so hopefully it will never get too bad.....i don't intend to let it.


When I have to do my mum's loft, it's just a load of stuff that I (not her) won't throw out....all my dog stuff in case I get a dog again.....and boxes of toys /hats/and other useless stuff. She tells me now that whatever is up there is my problem, as it's only my stuff......:o.

IndigoGirl

I can't get into our loft as I can't do ladders so it's my OH's domain. He always complains that it's full to the rafters and we need to clear it out. My response is always that I would happily go through any of my stuff that's up there and have a throwing session, he just has to go up there and get me something down to look through. He goes up, brings me down one of about 3 boxes that I've seen before, and can't ever produce anything else for me to look through. I'm taking this to mean it's actually all HIS stuff up there :-D

Primrose

Boarding over your loft and installing an easy access fold away aluminium ladder may seem a sensible thing to do.

If you're married to a born hoarder, DON'T !!!

We had a major clearout a few years ago when we doubled the insulation. It's now as bad as ever again I reckon if you haven't used anything for 18 months it should be disposed of, the only exception being financial documents which might be needed for HMRC which should be stored for 7 years.

Full lofts are real fire hazards. I wonder how many people have bothered to install a smoke alarm in their loft ?