As a very spoiled only child, my childhood home’s attic doubled as my playroom, dressing room, and mini office space, as well as storage for games and seasonal decorations.
Recently, six years after moving out, I realized that despite keeping my belongings in my new home to essentials only, I was still quietly commandeering the attic in my parents' house to hide the rest of my stuff.
So, after two decades of chaos there, I decided to put my top decluttering tips into play and sort out the attic, and immediately got rid of three vital things.
3 things I immediately decluttered from my parents' attic
To make things a little easier (and to avoid decluttering when feeling overwhelmed), I tackled clearing out my attic storage with my mom. Having two pairs of eyes and hands on board certainly made tackling such a large area a lot easier.
1. Childhood toys and clothes
I was particularly keen to declutter my childhood toys and the last remaining clothes. Realistically, at nearly 25, I am not going to sit down and play with Disney princess dolls.
I am not a particularly sentimental person, nor am I planning on having children myself, so it was easy for me to see these pieces of plastic as ‘sentimental items’ that are just taking up space. A lot of these items were given to family friends with young children or donated to charity stores.
The same went for decluttering and organizing board games. While they played a crucial role in keeping me and my friends entertained in the early 2000s, I am ashamed to say that the internet and video games have largely taken their place over the last 15 years. So, it was finally time to say goodbye.
There was only one exception to this crusade, and it was my collection of Littlest Pet Shops. The little animals were my number one toy as a child, and are quickly becoming a bit of a collector's item. So, they were granted the right to stay and were rehomed into large plastic containers.
Amy Berryhill, professional home organizer and owner of Spiffy Chicks, says, ‘My go-to containers for attic storage are the weathertight bins from The Container Store. They're absolutely worth the investment.
'They help keep out critters, protect your belongings from dust and moisture, and come in a variety of sizes – so you can use the same style throughout the space. This uniformity not only makes everything fit better, but it also creates a visually calm, cohesive look.’
When you are organizing an attic, Amy suggests picking bins based on the item’s use. ‘If you're storing items you'll only access once a year, such as Christmas decorations, stacked bins work well. But if you're pulling things out more regularly, I recommend installing shelving. That way, you can easily access a single bin without having to move a whole tower.’
2. ‘Who knows when’ items
Over the last six years, I have been guilty of stashing things in my parents' attic every time I visited under the guise of ‘who knows when I might use it.’ As I live in a rented home, this included all sorts of home decor and furniture that was easier to hide away elsewhere than sell, donate, or trash.
Although these are items you should never store in an attic, this is a common issue for this storage space, says Meghan Cocchiaro, owner and professional home organizer at Organized by Meg, who shares, ‘I often call basement storage rooms and attics the place where your things go to die.’
Although I had made efforts to keep them tucked away and non-intrusive, doing this rather than making a decision on their future was making my parents’ attic into a clutter coffin.
To tackle this, Meg told me, ‘The answer to getting organized is not to run to the store, buy a bunch of containers, box up your stuff, store them away, maybe even slap a label on it, and then call it a day. You must apply a process that will logically walk you through dealing with the stuff in your home.’
So, most of it was decluttered or sold (through no small effort on my mom’s part to convince me they needed to go). After all, if I don’t consider them important enough to stay in my current rented home, it is unlikely I would use them when I buy my own.
3. Milestone memorabilia
Attics are common spots for burying milestones and travel memorabilia, but after talking to several professional organizers, I realized that if it is hidden up there, it is serving absolutely no purpose at all besides taking up space.
Max Wilson, storage specialist at Pocket Storage, explained, ‘Often, the memory is truly what's sentimental, not the physical object itself, especially if it's mass-produced and holds no unique artistic or financial value.’
Often, when I think back on things I did with my parents as a child, or trips we went on, it is the things that do not have a physical item attached to them that I remember most – such as camping every weekend between school weeks or day trips to museums.
So, everything from ticket stubs to theatre programmes to decorative tchotchkes was tossed into a trash bag (a heavy-duty bag, from Walmart, to ensure it didn’t rip on the way down all the stairs) and consigned to the trash.
Nothing changed, the memories still stuck, and my mom had a little more space in her own attic to keep all of her crafting essentials. Helping my parents declutter felt really good, especially as so many of the items in the attic were mine.
What to shop
This shelving unit arrives flat-packed, making it easier to get into the attic before you construct it.
Keep attic floors and shelves neat by using clear plastic totes to keep items neatly categorized and save them from pests.
To keep your stored items safe in the attic, wrap them in bubble wrap. Not only will it prevent items from breaking, but it will also keep them safe from moisture fluctuations and pests.
With attics being primarily used for storage, labels can help to breakup the monotony of rows of boxes, helping you find items more easily, even when using clear containers.
Attics are prone to moisture fluctuations, and for attics with windows, sun damage. Permanent markers make labels last longer.
To protect storage from humidity fluctuations, consider leaving a desiccant pack around key storage areas, changing them out as needed.
Meet the experts
When working in a space as large and all-encompassing as an attic, it can be hard to decide if you should donate or sell decluttered items. Putting a plan in place before you start, and using the three-box decluttering method, can help you declutter without making a mess.
