Ignore a loft at your peril!

DS and DD left home about 20 years ago and now both live abroad so why is my loft still got lots of their 'stuff' in it ? Every time they come to visit they never seem to have time to get up there and sort it out. No doubt they will decide they want it after I dispose of it. I keep telling them that I will be downsizing before too long but as yet it falls on deaf ears.

I don't know that there is much you can do when the DC live abroad, that is a tricky one.
We took our DC's toys to them when we visited their homes before we moved and left them when we left to come home. Have to confess we didn't tell them until we were saying goodbye as got into our car to leave which was very cowardly.
DS has turned the tables though as he brought back his train set so that DGSs and he can set up a layout in our large and empty loft. Could be fun if it ever gets finished.

Perhaps your son had casts done if he played rugby and had teethguards done? Or braces?

You know how men are supposed to hate hearing the two phrases "Romantic Comedy" and "Period Drama"? Well, my two phrases are "I must start tidying the loft" and "I must start tidying the garage". Both take weeks and neither last long.

A loft with "DDs little ponies" and their castle. Some soft toys a few boxed games, piles of Lego in an ottoman. Even more piles of books OH keeps buying but never reads. Boxes for trombones and much more.

I have no loft, but I do have a storeroom in the attic. It is shelved and has an 'under the eves' section for items that won't fit on the shelves, but I tend to literally just dump things in there and then when I have time (in ever diminishing quantities) I go in and blitz the place so that for about two months in the year it looks and functions as it's supposed to do. Because I no longer have access to a car of my own it's harder to have a mega-tidy and just get rid of stuff as I used to do. Last year I never even got around to properly putting away 'Christmas'.

I had to get everything out of the loft a few years ago, to take advantage of free loft insulation that was available then.
I feel very virtuous that there is now nothing in the loft, but quite a bit of stuff is lurking around in unexpected corners instead.

There was no access to my roof space until I had a hole cut for laying insulation a few years ago.
I've never even seen into it as the hatch is over my stairwell so there is nothing whatever in my loft.

I think it is probably best to keep the loft empty if at all possible. I don't know what it is, perhaps some kind of magnetism, but stuff gets drawn to just be there and then it somehow multiplies when your back is turned.

I agree with keeping the loft empty. That would be the ideal answer. Just pretend it isn't there.

My advice to young couples buying a house is never use your lift. When my sister moved into her house 6 years ago the chap helping her refused to put anything in the loft as he said she would never get up there.
We no longer have a lift as we turned it into a flat for our daughter. When we had to empty it most of the 'treasures' went straight into a skip.

Annsixty try the 'Dorset Wellie Method" to catch your kitchen mouse - lay a wellie down on the floor, the theory is that the mouse sees a dark hole and runs into the wellie, then you can easily carry it outside and set it free.

I have just finished sorting my dad's place out and it has been such a timely reminder of what not to leave, for others to make sense of and deal with.

I have paperwork going back 50 years for old closed bank accounts and spiteful letters left after a family fallout years ago and worst of all photos on my mother in her coffin..........please think before you accumulate stuff that would be better destroyed.

On a brighter note I once helped my mate move house and she is a proper miser and found 9 thousand pounds in her loft which she had 'forgotten that she had' as you do.........so I guess it is worth a look,

Thank you Misslayed but does that mean I hsve to lurk in the dark kitchen at the ready? ?

Oh my, some of these posts bring back memories. Cleaning my parents home out was a nightmare. Nothing had been cleared for years, the loft was rammed and as for the garage ....... We have a loft which is completely empty, no garage and very few cupboards, so whoever follows me should have absolutely no sorting out to do. I learned my lesson early on this one.

We moved into this house 14 years ago. The previous owners told us they'd cleared out the loft. A few months later hubby had a look. They'd left loads of kids toys, a pram, and other bits and pieces. We spent days taking things to the charity shop. Now many years later we have three grandchildren and i wonder if we should have kept all that stuff. It would have been an adventure for them to go through it all!

About 3 years ago with help from my son we had a massive clear out in the loft. Now it is full again and we are planning another clear. The biggest problem is the hundreds of family photos we have going back donkey years. What to do with them,

My ex and I split up 8 years ago after a very long marriage. We brought up 3 children, now grown up, in a house which had to be sold. We had a loft, a garage and 3 sheds to clear. It was a huge task as most stuff accumulated over 28 years had to be given away or thrown away. I put what I thought I might need into storage as I was moving to temporary accommodation. When I finally got a small house of my own I was determined never to build up a problem like that again. I have never even opened the hatch into my loft and made it a rule not to store anything up there. I am ruthless about giving away things which I don't need.

Totally agree. We need to be ruthless if we don't want our children having to go through our junk.

We have just moved house and, after only 16 years of what we thought was minimal living, it took us ages to sort our loft and garage and it was really hard work. We also helped an old friend move out of her home for over 40 years. I don't think she had ever thrown any thing out. In one loft there were 20 suitcases!

And who will ever go through those grandparent's photo albums full of distant views of distant relatives at the sea side? In the bin with them, I say!

Happy Easter.

When we down-sized we just had to get rid of a great deal of stuff, but kept some things which went into the loft, these I am gradually getting rid of, some of them might be worth something, I do not know, but the other half will just not let go. I remember how distressing it was sorting out my Mother in Law's home after she left, it was FULL of things which were not really relevant. There were however a whole pile of EAGLE magazines in pristine condition from the very first edition - unfortunately we just let them go. Worth a fortune these days. There is nothing in the loft that is mine, I do not collect, so I just have to persuade the other half to let go, and then he seems really sad, having not realised the things were there anyway.

Annsixty you could bait the wellie with peanut butter, tuna, or Chocolate. Either the wellie or a trap.

My father died in 1985 and my mother remained living in their house until she also died in 2013. She'd said they had nothing in the loft . When I sold the family home did not even think to send someone up there. About 6 months after the new owners were chatting to the neighbours they mentioned when they were in the loft they came across lots and lots (and lots ) of old irons,kettles,Pifco stand hairdryer and other 1970s style electrical items. I then had a childhood memory of my (electrician) father buying broken stuff from auctions thinking he would fix them and sell on. Guess he never got round to it !

DH emptied the attic of everything 5 years ago - I don't do loft ladders and heights. I was so glad he had done this as he died 6 months later and it was one less thing for me to worry about. Only the plumber has been up there since!

When I moved into this house 10 years ago, the previous owner had left an old dining room chair and a large analogue TV which still worked . The chair was taken to the recycling centre and the TV was put outside until my Son in law had time to take it to an appropriate disposal facility. It was stolen from my back door. I have refused to allow anyone to put anything in the loft as I am too old to get up there now. So empty loft for me and nothing for my family to have to get rid of when I pass on.

We have lived in this house nearly 40 years and planned to move a few months ago, but that got cancelled. However, one good thing that came out of the plan was the decluttering and we managed to clear everything out of the loft and it all went down the tip! It was mostly full of empty boxes, DH had kept every box for every item we had ever bought! Plus black bags of old towels and blankets ( the moths had had a field day!) old suitcases, a couple of book cases, several boxes of wire coat hangers,etc, etc you get the picture, all absolute rubbish! Now it is completely empty and I have sworn the loft hatch will never be opened again!