Ignore a loft at your peril!

We have a plan! This year every time we go up there take something down and throw it away. So far 1 thing so at that rate we will have to live for at least another 50 years by the look of what is up there.

that must have been hard
Good luck with the move - sorry we never met up while we were both in the same county!

I like the plan Whitewave, lol!

Thank you Alea, it has been emotional. I'm sorry we haven't met too - I haven't gone yet though...

When we moved after only three years in our our first tiny house, the man who came to gave us an estimate for the move glanced up at the loft hatch and asked "Usual stuff up there?" Offered a ladder to go up and check what was there, he declined it and said he wouldn't bother.

Come the day, their smaller van arrived, they filled it up, went up the ladder and immediately sent for a second, larger, van.

Heaven know what size the van would need to be to shift everything in this house.

I dread to think about what's in our loft- DH stuffed God knows what up there 18 years ago ?
I'm forbidden from even looking at it so sooner or later it's going to have to be sorted out (DH is 'abouttodoit' every few weeks....)
Probably got mice up there too I fear ?

We cannot ignore our loft! - the wildlife up there reminds us daily of its presence!

Our first house was a two up two down terrace with a kitchen n bathroom extension at the back.
The loft hatch was only big enough for H to get his head through......
So how the heck had a previous owner managed to get an old fashioned "sit up n beg" push bike up there

I remember a loft which contained a big oldfashioned mangle, made of cast iron. No idea how anyone got that up there.

Thankfully ours is easily accessible and I keep an eye on what comes and goes.. I learnt a lesson a long time ago.

I know more or less what is in ours. I go up and down quite regularly.

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.

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 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!

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 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.

"...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.

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

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.

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'.

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?

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.

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.

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!

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.