Unless your home is brand new, storing items in your attic is actually more trouble than it’s worth. I lived in one old house where a portion of the attic had been transformed by a previous owner into a cozy bedroom. The rest of it was a remarkable storage area. Unfortunately, this is usually not the case. In the next home I had, I feared going up into the attic. The floors weren’t finished. Even one of our cats feared venturing up there. We swore the attic was haunted. The poor cat was never quite the same after being closed up there for several days (yes, accidentally, of course!)
If you’ve stored anything in an attic then you know that the attic is hot –very hot – in the summer. And just like your basement, you need to be careful exactly what you store there. Antique and collectibles experts warn us never to store our collectible items in either of these spots. Both areas have the potential to damage our treasures. I can certainly understand why.
If you’re using your attic as storage, you need to use the same strategy for decluttering that you would use for the basement. Take one box at a time and break down your goals. Start at one corner then work one section at a time. Do you have a large number of boxes? Check them out as quickly as possible. If you realize that one box is all Christmas decorations, then using a permanent marker, mark it as such. You can always come back later to sort through it and maybe even put the items in a nice plastic storage bin. But for now, you just want to know what’s in there. Decluttering this space my seem overwhelming, so you need to break down the task into smaller more manageable tasks. When you have one corner finished, then move on – clockwise – to the next area of clutter. If you notice that there are any items that are damaged, beyond repair, then toss them immediately. It may take two or even three stages of decluttering before you actually make the progress you’d like. But trust me, it’s definitely worth the effort.
Some people claim the rewards you reap from this process go far beyond merely reclaiming the space of your house. Some say there are emotional, spiritual . . . and even financial benefits to this process.