Clutter Busting: The Ghosts in Your Attic

The spring is truly the ideal time to attack the attic. The warmer months of summer will literally make you hot under the collar, but the cool spring mornings can make this an achievable task. In addition, if you find some items up there that you would want to sell, now’s the perfect time to host your own yard sale!

Step 1: As scary as it may be, go into your attic and check out the situation.

Step 2: Create zones in your attic (ex. Christmas, Easter, baby, etc)

Step 3: Minimize- Make sure you pick a day when you are feeling a very strong desire to de-clutter! Look at your items and say to yourself, “Would I buy this today?” Are you hanging onto decorations that you have not used in 5 years? Do you have clothes up there that are outdated or no longer your size? Are you hanging onto outgrown children’s clothes? It is time to let go of these items! As each bag leaves your home you will feel so much better!! If it helps, pretend you are moving. What items would you want to take with you if you were moving into a much smaller home?

Step 4: Once you have de-cluttered, it is time to maximize your space. Attics can be wonderful spaces, but can also be magnets for bad habits “I’ll store it here for now.” Our attics have a way of enabling us to procrastinate! Once you know what you actually do need to store, make sure you keep it in the designated zones (example: Christmas things with Christmas things). Word of caution: some things should NOT be stored in attics (photos for example). If you have photographs or old scrapbooks in the attic, make sure you bring them into the climate controlled portion of your home. Be sure to store items in airtight storage containers, not boxes! No need to run right out and purchase containers, my guess is you will have plenty as soon as you de-clutter the ones you already have!

Step 5: Change your mind set when it comes to the space in your attic. From now on, set up stricter requirements as to what gets stored in your attic. Is it really something that you NEED to keep or are you storing items out of fear or guilt? “What if I need it someday?” is often an excuse as to why things are not given away or tossed out. I believe what goes around comes around. If you give it away now, if and when you need it you will be able to get another one. Once your children outgrow their clothes (and you have no other children that can wear the clothes) do not store in the attic, give to someone in need, sell, or donate. Sure, you can keep a couple items to represent that time in their life (baptismal dress) but you certainly do NOT need to keep your children’s entire childhood wardrobe. Trust me; your good intentions will just end up to be their nightmare down the road! I have kneeled beside my share of grown up children looking through box after box who have tremendous guilt getting rid of unwanted items because their mom’s, “saved this all these years, how can I get rid of it now?” Purchase a medium sized memory box (acid free box or plastic container) and properly store the highlights of memorabilia in this box for your children. If you absolutely cannot part with the clothing of their childhood, take it all to a quilt-maker and have quilt made of all their childhood clothing and present this to your child upon his/her wedding.

Since I am a reformed clutter-bug, the past ghosts of my attic will forever haunt me. For this reason I keep an extremely minimal approach to what I store in my attic. Depending on your situation you may have to adapt to that way of thinking as well. I have a huge space in my attic and refuse to use it. It is far too dangerous!!

I hope you lose many pounds this week… of clutter that is! Don’t give up even if the task becomes overwhelming! Ask a friend or contact a professional if it gets to be too daunting a task for one person to tackle. Make some tea and catch up on old times as you deal with the items from your past. Just think of all the empty storage containers you’ll have after this!

Betsy