Very trivial questions

I am 82, and I think it was a year ago that I last went into the loft. Now I am not physically fit enough.
I used to love hoing up there to see what was squirrelled away, but will leave it to the AC to investigate, if they feel the urge.

At 76 I can still go up and down to the loft, but that’s because many years ago dh installed extending metal stairs (not a ladder) which is easy enough to pull down and put back. Plus there’s a light switch at the top, so you can immediately see what you’re doing.

We still have too much stuff up there, though, despite having got rid of a lot when dh added more insulation some years ago.

Regarding your loft, empty it now while you are able. I’m still able to get in my loft and have slowly brought almost everything down in preparation to move but my family have banned me from getting up there and I know they are right it’ll just be my luck to fall and break something so my Gs are going to finish the job..
Do get it done sooner rather than later I’m 76 and finish 😂

That should be fitish lol

1 - I don’t leave anything lying around. I like everything in its place so in your position I would assign these things a place now and you can always move them if you decide they would be better somewhere else.

2 - I am very lucky to have my loft level with the landing, just like another room, boarded and insulated but not plastered. I have always been afraid of ladders so if it were a traditional loft I would just never go there. I do, however, keep as little as possible in the loft. I always think ‘out of sight, out of mind’ which doesn’t suit me. My husband would shove everything in there if he could!

I'd take them downstairs and dispose of them whilst you have the energy. Anything that could go in a a loft isn't really needed in my house.

Totally agree pascal, except perhaps Christmas decorations.

Move them to a different room. Admittedly this only postpones the ultimate problem of what to do with them, but it does make the bedroom a finished unit, and means it is more likely (though not absolutely certain) that it will stay that way while you sort out other rooms.

Eventually you will have moved those 4 items, plus any more homeless ones from other rooms, all around the house into and out of every room. You will then have to face whether to alter them somehow to suit one of the rooms you rejected them for, take them to a charity shop, hide them in a cupboard, or throw them out.

A radical alternative would be to buy a bigger house, and design a room where they will blend in with their surroundings.

Good luck.

I would like to give my bedroom a complete makeover, but there are things I’m sentimentally attached to that it would take much heart searching to part with and in the new scheme there would be no room for them. It has to happen though. As for the loft, I have been strictly forbidden to go up there unless there is someone else on hand and even then they aren’t keen to let me do it. My teenage grandson, however, loves to go into the loft and he rummages about while I shout instructions from the bottom of the ladder! Problem is, he gets sidetracked by all the stuff from his rapidly disappearing childhood that I am still housing. “Ooh, Nan! Can I bring this down?” “No - it’ll never go back up again!”

Thank you for these answers.
They are going to be very helpful.

I probably could get up into the loft, but it would be my luck that I couldn't get down again.

Sometimes you have to be sure you've really, really thought things through

Each time I have redecorated a room, I have not put back certain things. Some have been given to charity eg BHF, others have gone to the tip. Or are still in the garage. What has gone back is in its permanent place. One exception is a cushion I intend to recover. It has been lying around so long that I don’t notice it any more. I’d better put it on my To Do list.

I have a good sturdy ladder and a light switch at the top butI never go up into the loft unless someone is at the foot of the ladder, to help bring stuff down. It is not worth risking. If one of the grandchildren ( aged 17-22) comes, they will go up.

fancythat when I moved to here in 2019. Had massive declutter of my old house 2018 and things that where in the loft that had been in there since my husband died in 2004. And I didn't know what was in them went straight to the charity unopened . The children's cuddly toys had to be thrown out as they had gone funny . Any toys and books they wanted for future children they took the rest went to charity. I even sent my wedding dress and veil to charity. I found decluttering decluttered my mind as well as my home . And got rid of things I had held on to for far to long . I moved from a large 3 bed semi to a 2 bed bungalow but my rooms aren't small.

I vowed never to have anything put into the loft in my bungalow. And it is still empty now. When I unpacked found I had brought things I didn't need or want . I like my home without any clutter and everything has it's place and put back in the place it came from otherwise I lose things because I forget where I put them .

I had a declutter last week as I have things I can no longer use due to lack of strength in my hands and arms . Including plastic containers that clip round the side . So brought ones from M&S that have easy seal and a chunky handle you just lift up and down and enamel baking dishes from Amazon. My daughter took all the plastic containers and stoneware to use .
I decide where things are going as soon as I get it as I don't faff about . It's how my mind works . Plus being disabled I need to have order it's how my life works.

I can, at 81, still get into the loft to go through things but I only do it now when the AC are here. My husband hasn't been able to go in for about four years. We have, almost, finished going through the stuff we brought with us when we moved that we didn't really need. Now, most of the boxes contain 'family heirlooms' of no great monetary value, that the AC may want for sentimental reasons. I have done an inventory of these as I go along outlining where, and from whom, we inherited them.

Devorgilla

I can, at 81, still get into the loft to go through things but I only do it now when the AC are here. My husband hasn't been able to go in for about four years. We have, almost, finished going through the stuff we brought with us when we moved that we didn't really need. Now, most of the boxes contain 'family heirlooms' of no great monetary value, that the AC may want for sentimental reasons. I have done an inventory of these as I go along outlining where, and from whom, we inherited them.

What a brilliant idea, to do an inventory. When my parents died, I was left a load of stuff, some quite valuable, some just attractive to keep. Unfortunately, I had nothing to tell me where they had come from, which rather took the shine off things.

I too like the inventory idea.

Whiff I couldnt part with things in a box unopened! How brave.

When we had our roof completely replaced, my DH absolutely refused to let me store anything back in the roof space, which had been jammed with boxes, some from when I moved here 40 years ago. Ditto our cellar. I think perhaps he had the right idea as we'd like to downsize now and I have so much stuff!!

That reminds me - I need to go the loft but I shall do that with the help of my grandson. I just need to see what’s up there and get rid of stuff. I don’t want to leave all the work for the AC.

We have a loft ladder. I am 80 and still can get into the loft. However, having learnt the lesson of moving and having a loft full of ‘stuff’. We now have a lovely completely empty loft .

My husband (75) added to our loft insulation last year and cleared the last few items up there so will not be going back!

I’d suggest that if you haven’t used it or thought about it for years you really don’t need it, so get rid or find a more easily accessible home for it.

Are they "stuff" or furniture?
I usually make a scale drawing for furniture and move little "blocks" about on paper first.

If it's "stuff" I'd keep testing it in different places over a few days.
I'm a leave it here and then leave it there person.

My daughter has banned me from climbing ladders. I clean the windows when she’s not looking! Don’t keep things in the loft it not worth the worry later.

In November we had a massive roof leak that signalled the need for a new roof. The roofer-man suggested we also increase the loft insulation from almost zero to the recommended height so we had to clear out all the stuff. DH insisted there "wasn't much up there" but I stuck my head through the hatch (always left the loft to him but now he isn't capable) and was appalled to see it all.

Had to get DSiL to empty it all and it took 3 weeks to get it all to the tip. NOTHING was worth saving. All went to recycling.

Re your remodelled bedroom, it wouldn't happen with me. I would know where it was all to go, using a plan on my computer.

Do be careful midgey. There have been a couple of awful accounts here lately about broken bones leading to dreadful outcomes. I have a window cleaner but also a window cleaning thingy on a long telescopic pole. Clean windows aren’t worth risking your life for.