Loft

Put it in three piles.
One for binning,
One not sure,
One for keeping.
A friend did this, waited long enough to forget what was in what (she had put the piles into bin bags by then) then threw them all away🤦🏼‍♀️

It is overwhelming and sympathize after having to do the same. When moving house. Limit yourself to one box at a time as you will find yourself going down memory lane though so one box might take all day. You have to be ruthless. I asked mine if they wanted any of their saved school stuff ( saved by me,not them, for sentimental reasons) I kept a few things and took photos of a few things as well to make into a photo collage. It is hard but it's a job that will have to be done at some point.

I have an overwhelming loft as well.
My fault.
Having said that, DH has some stuff up there but he is more on top of his stuff there than I am.
Plus the kids have by no means taken away all their paperwork etc.

There are some of us on the ongoing decluttering thread talking about lofts and other clutter.

I am not the best person to give tips.
My method so far is to clear the aisle so others can get at things. Thenput some stuff further under eaves.
Then tackle the rest, including finally, to give the kids back their stuff. Bar one who rents a flat.

On the declutter thread we also talk sometimes about the "how do you bite an elephant". "One bite at a time".
I do find that works sometimes.
Works better than I imagined it would.

If you have room to store get it all down from there in one swoop and steadily go through it. As Clickety said you have to be ruthless. I’ve just got a couple of boxes sorted and ready to go somewhere in the garage.

When i moved one of my Grandsons got it all down to the garage for me and I sorted it slowly some to charity shops some for the bin and a few bits to keep. Once the loft was empty I found it was like a weight lifted and the pile of things not as bad to deal with.

When emptying boxes of sundry items I try to take out what I want to keep, then anything for charity and then bin the rest.

This sounds rather obvious but I found it works better for me than taking everything out and pondering over it.

I have become more ruthless with age and I don't allow myself to linger over memories.

The family home in 2006 and prior to moving we hired a skip. We had waited long enough and threw out every item from our cluttered loft. Ever since then the loft in two more houses have remained empty and I am glad of it especially now that I am widowed and live alone.

Set aside 30mins each day at a specified time (I'm meeting a friend this morning so it'll be 4pm today, but to tomorrow it'll be 11am) to "keep, bin, maybe"
The bin stuff needs to go out to dustbin or to the tip straight away
Repeat

I moved here 30 years ago and was fit, working and on my own. I decided nothing was going in the loft. In truth, all that would usually be there is one floor down but at least it is easily accessed when I get around to it.

A man designed this house because there wasn't a cupboard except for the kitchen units.

When we had our loft converted into a flat we had very little time to clear it. The only thing I wish I had kept was my old Singer Sewing Machine. Surprisingly our grown up children didn’t want their old school books and my DD didn’t want her vast collection of school bags. Sadly, the squirrels had shredded my dress pattern collection. My advice to young couples moving into a house is to nail the loft shut. When my sister moved into her house, the removers refused to put anything in the loft as she wouldn’t have been able to retrieve it. Instead she has filled her garage (she doesn’t drive).

I would also suggest tackling one box at a time. When I was sorting through the countless Mother’s Day cards etc that my DC had made at school decades previously I discovered that most of the embellishments had fallen off, writing had faded, paper mites enjoyed a free buffet and all that was left was folded cards…….it was a joyful few hours though but very therapeutic to bin the rubbish and treasure the memories that the sorting process triggered.
It is a good idea to clear the loft in one go and relocate the boxes to a safer area where you can tackle one at a time but be ruthless when doing so. As suggested upthread, have a pile for donated, saving and dumping (recycle as much as possible too).
Good luck and I hope you don’t find the process overwhelming 💐

Put everything except the suticases and Christmas decorations in big plastic bags and bin them.

I work on the basis that putting anything in the loft is the same as taking it to the tip. Once something is in the loft no one ever brings anything down until they move house. So forget about the emotional ties. If you have put them in the loft they have already been eliminated from your life. Just get those black sacks out and finish the job.

If you cannot do it get someone to do it for you.

So you get down a box from the loft, ask the 'kids' if they want their stuff (old school jotters) and they say no. So you bin most but you secretly keep a few anyway. Then, after a few years have passed, you show them to the grandkids and they absolutely love looking at them with you. And the little stories spark memories and stories about their parents, aunts and uncles that the grandchildren never tire of.
So glad I saved them.

Its Not quite the same but my friend lost her husband 6 yrs ago, and hasn't sorted anything out, the house is too big for 1, a 4 bedroom 3 bathroom house, she wants to downsize but is STUCK, she said she wishes to close the front door and walk away, how sad, but it got me thinking, ive sorted summer dresses and winter clothes that I haven't worn passed 12 mths and gone to the charity shop, im starting on my kitchen next...its not easy but needs to be done

I try and enforce policy of not adding to stuff in attic so if someone is put up there, something else must come down. Same for clothes/shoes, not so easy!

Spend one hour each week sorting things until everything is done. Things to keep, for the bin, and the charity shop.

Can I suggest that if your access is via a small loft hatch, take a duvet cover up to fill as much as you can, and lower it down, (then straight to the tip). I don’t practice what I preach, sadly.

We did this when moving house, it's a nightmare but so worth it in the end. We even found my hubby's ex-wife's wedding dress! That went straight in the bin.

When first married moved 5 times in 6 years so very very little clutter stored. 6th move lasted 33 years and the loft had to be cleared for the 7th move. Children not interested in all their own stuff but definitely were when discovering stuff from their father's past none of which could be passed on. New house is supposed to only have Christmas stuff, very large suitcases I know I will never use but a son when up in the loft a couple of years ago found a golf trolley, yet another set of golf clubs, sails for a boat and a few boxes stuck far at the back. The golf clubs have gone but this post has prompted me to address removing what is left . At least photos, children's momentoes are stored in a big cupboard. At the last house move the contents of my husband's shed required a removal van of it's own for all the stuff he had. As family do not live near me if I dropped dead tomorrow it would be a complete house clearance to empty house so I should start now and hopefully save family a bit of angst.

DH refuses to put anything in the loft apart from suitcases and Christmas decorations and I can't argue because I can't get up there. However, there is a space under the stairs which he can't get to (because you need to bend down to access it) and I have some boxes there - music scores, photographs mainly - which at some time I do need to look at and reduce. After having cancer last year (just got the all clear from my latest blood test) I resolved to sort through all my belongings and weed lots out, but needless to say I didn't carry it through!

Sadie, bereavement has stages and everyone needs to go at their own pace. I too have a friend, medical profession and she cannot let go of anything that belonged to her husband who died six years ago. Suits, boots and so on plus all that stuff from her mothers house, it is everywhere. She has the same size house that I had, no loft, 1300 sq feet and it is always, just in case ds and dgc come over

Your friend is stuck in her bereavement and needs counselling but how can you suggest that? I don`t know, I talk with my friend and listen a lot and suddenly I think she is coming out of it. It helps her that I am also widowed

I moved to 1100 sq feet 4 bedroom and 3 bathrooms and I use every bit of my house, apart from the loft and the main bathroom. I was widowed 4 years before my friend but I got through stages quicker

At the end of the day we all have to decide for ourselves and not having things in the loft makes life a whole lot easier

All depends on what’s up there If you can’t remember shut the loft hatch and forget about it
Call it the kids inheritance. They might even remember all sorts of things and bring back memories

Vintagegirl

I try and enforce policy of not adding to stuff in attic so if someone is put up there, something else must come down. Same for clothes/shoes, not so easy!

Is your attic the first place to look for a missing person 😂

My late father-in-law had hoarded decades of 'stuff' in their huge loft. When they were getting very old, my mother-in-law kept asking him to sort it out, otherwise my husband and I would have to do it when they had died. He would shrug and say 'well I'll be dead, so I won't know anything about it'. And yes, they both died and we had the burden of clearing out all this stuff that meant nothing to us, but had meant something to them. Now I make sure I keep decluttering as I go on, as I wouldn't want to put that burden on anyone else. I agree with others re putting things into three piles: for me it's - charity shop/bin/keep. It really helps concentrate the mind.