Ignore a loft at your peril!

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.

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

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.

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 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.

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'.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

It wasn't too bad, mumofmadboys, just one or two things caught my breath. He had such an odd collection of stuff - including the top and bottom casts of his own teeth! How did that happen? Lol! Have to be honest and say there wasn't much that I wanted to keep but I've got a lot from his childhood so I'm not without reminders.

When I moved to this house I am sure that a lot of the removal cost was the amount of stuff I had in the loft at my last house. That was not going to happen here- the loft has been floored, insulated, good lighting and a proper loft ladder attached. It is empty and will remain so. The fact that I cannot climb a ladder does help!

There's nothing in our loft but insulation. But the cellars are a whole different ball-game. We have the next two days free, so I'm planning on a thorough sort out. Should be fun.

It must be very tough sorting through your son"s stuff. Hope you have reached the end and maybe found one or two things which you want to keep.

MIL's house was stuffed full but when we looked up into the loft there was - nothing !

Ours is full to the gunwales and we really must do something about. We did go up there the other day, brought a couple of things down for DGS to play with, and shut the hatch again.

Teasmade anyone?

DH and I each have a 'memories' box in which we keep all those sort of things so at least DC know that those will be real the 'toughies' but then there are so many things which catch you unawares so I expect the DC will still find the odd 'heart thumpers'.

It took 2 years to clear our loft before we downsized. It was a wonderful feeling when it was done but some things had an unexpected emotional pull. We do have 'stuff' in our new loft which is actually tiny. Nowhere else to put the suitcases, Christmas decorations - that sort of thing. It feels ok because it's organised and there isn't that much. Or not by comparison. When my Dad knew his life was ending he supervised us clearing some of his 'stuff'. He said he didn't want us to have the pressure after his death. It was both hard and weird but I think the process helped him in his letting go. Not sure I could do the same though. Time will tell. Loft contents can be emotional things, the oddest thing can trigger the strongest emotion. Go there with care perhaps.

mollie so sad, that really is tough for you.
Don't even think about it, your son would not have wanted that.

"...a terrible warning to us not to put our own children in that position."

How true is that!! Over the years OH has just moved 'rubbish' (in my opinion) from one house to the next, tucked it away out of sight until the next move and repeated the process so now he has a mammoth job! I think he now understands my regular ruthless blitz on 'stuff' ...the wife is always right!!!

My son's stuff is another matter. His father, my ex, emptied his rented bedsit, stuffed everything in boxes and dumped it on me. I suppose we were both too raw to deal with it properly but now I'm finding stuff that if he (the ex) had been more considerate I would never have seen. What do you do with a 24 year old's collection of mucky videos and magazines, for example? It's bad enough trying to clear an elderly parent's home but sorting out a youngster's stuff with all it's hopes and dreams and silly stuff is truly tough.

We have in times gone past moved into property where previous owners have just left all their detritus for us to clear or ignore.
When we bought our current home it was stuffed full literally to the rafters. It was an executors' sale and we insisted that it be totally cleared and it took the family months to empty it out. They were at it every weekend with a hired van so there was a great deal to sort. It is a huge loft and there was as much up there as there was in the rest of the bungalow.
We took this as a terrible warning to us not to put our own children in that position.

We are scarily organised since our downsizing move.
I didn't want anything to go up into the loft but DH insisted as he didn't want extraneous 'stuff' in our living spaces. I feel very virtuous (for the first time in my life!) because everything is in lidded containers or special bags and labelled with the contents.
The only thing I do have to contend with is when DH can't find something he is continually saying, "Of course, that is one of those items YOU got rid of" until I either find it for him or tell him that "we discussed and agreed and chucked it out together!"
It is amazing how little we really need.

There's nothing in ours. It is rather inaccessible. We do have crawl spaces which run the entire length of the house on either side. I don't think we could cram much more into them. Christmas has only just been packed away again, DH, DS and I are very reluctant to get down on our hands and knees. If we ever come to move, I think it can all go in a skip.

We moved house a year ago after 15 years in the house and five children. We were both working and often life was too busy to sort stuff out as we went. It took us daily trips to the tip and charity shops virtually every day for a month to get rid of the junk we had accumulated. At least we should never accumulate so much junk again!

We have been in this house 40 years and never had a clear out of the loft.
We do not have a loft ladder but H could get in easily with the tall steps until a couple of years ago, now he can't and I never could. It must be full to the rafters with rubbish, it must be useless if we have never needed it in all that time apart from suitcases which we don't use any more.
No wildlife as far as I know, now the kitchen is another matter entirely since a mouse moved in,and can we catch it?****

We moved here just over 2 years ago and did the usual thorough clear out beforehand specially after recently combining our 2 households into mine and amassing too much stuff.

Husband insisted on going up to the loft where I'd thrown up ancient suitcases etc and had planned to ignore it.

However, in one of the cases I found the shawl my Granny had knitted for my daughter, it was the last one she made. As this was when my daughter was pregnant it was all the more poignant ... it grew a couple of wee holes after washing which I sewed up and it was used in hospital when DGD was outside the incubator. My ancient Mum knitted a new shawl for her, again probably her last foray into shawl making.

Our current loft is easily accessible so we keep track on what's up there.