We have been hard at work for the last weekend, decluttering and purging our attic space! It was at the top of our 2023 project list because it was becoming an overwhelming goliath that we just had to tackle. And as overwhelming as it was, it felt soooo good to get in there and finally tackle it. At this point, we still have some organizing to do, but we went through everything and decided what’s staying and what’s going. Here are some decluttering tips we learned along the way.
5 Decluttering Tips
1. Timing is everything
A big undertaking like this cannot be forced. This attic has been begging for some attention for some time, but it wasn’t the right time. It’s physically, mentally, and emotionally draining to make decision after decision about what stays and what goes, and I couldn’t make it a priority until I was ready. I guess that’s probably how most things are, but for something big like this, you’re going to need to block out some very dedicated time, and it’s good to be in a ruthless, purging mood.
2. Be ruthless
Speaking of being ruthless, Chris and I both went into this project to take big action to see big results! We were absolutely brutal in deciding what to keep. Luckily, most of the stuff in the attic is there because we haven’t needed or wanted to use it in this house, which made the decision-making pretty straightforward. For example, we moved some furniture and art with us from Idaho, but we haven’t searched for them, so they’re going! It has to go if we haven’t missed it, haven’t used it, or don’t hold some sentimental value.
3. Sort into “keep” and “don’t keep” piles
At first, when we started going through everything, we were hauling things up and down the stairs, which totally hijacked any chance of gaining momentum! It was much too distracting and draining to go back and forth like that. From there, we decided to sort everything into two piles; right-side keep left-side purge. Once we did that, we gained some traction, and it was seriously satisfying to see the don’t keep pile get bigger and bigger.
4. Make sub-piles
Once we had our “don’t keep” pile, the girls helped us bring everything down from the attic and sort into even more piles; sell, donate, recycle, and trash. Going up and down so many flights of stairs was an all-day Saturday event, but we celebrated with a well-deserved frozen yogurt outing, and they really worked so so hard.
5. Momentum is your best friend
It’s easy to get sucked into the moment and start flipping through your high school yearbook for an hour, reminiscing about all the good times. Don’t do it! Going off on a tangent and losing the momentum will turn this weekend project into a month-long pain in the butt. This is all about making quick decisions and moving forward. Perfectionism can be your biggest enemy, so lower your expectations and think and act quickly!
Before
After (pre-organizing)
I hope the photos capture how truly cluttered and chaotic it was. You couldn’t even see the floor! Even before organizing, it feels so much better.
A note on sentimentals
My take on sentiments is that if you have the space to store a couple of keepsake bins, give yourself permission to do it! Keepsakes are the one thing that you don’t have to be ruthless about. Chris and I each have one keepsake bin full of stuff before we were married! Some of it is stuff that I’ve just kept for so long that isn’t even super sentimental, but after all this time, how could I just throw it away? As long as it’s stored and out of the way, just make the decision to keep it and move on! Again, beware of getting lost on a tangent!
On that note, I did decide to get rid of something big that does hold some sentimental value to me. Chris gifted me this migration art that hung in the dining room of our last house. It was super thoughtful and was truly my favorite art. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t match the vibe of this house, and Chris was super encouraging to let it go and let it live another life. It was definitely the hardest decision I had to make through this process!
A note on organizing
You may have seen on Instagram that Chris and I already made our way to Lowe’s and grabbed everything we needed to get organized, and I just know it’s going to look so good. I’m planning to store everything in bins stacked on shelves, and I can’t wait to see even more of the floor uncovered.
Here’s what we bought!
Clear storage bins and shelves.
Self-adhesive pockets for labeling the boxes. Just write what’s in them on these index cards and slide them in!
What’s next?
While we were decluttering, we received so many dms with all of your ideas of what we could do with this space! And while I love a big lofty dream, we just don’t need more rooms at this point. It’s such a glorious storage space, so we’re keeping it as such for now.
Big attics like this aren’t very common in Idaho, so this is kind of new to us. I’m curious, though if you have an attic or a basement, and be sure to chime in with where you live!
I have commented several times on various posts that our house is very similar to yours in terms of style/architecture, size, and location (the SOUTH!). The one thing I will suggest regarding your attic is to insulate it. We moved into our (so similar) house in 2017 (non-insulated walk up attic), and since then, so many of the things we stored there have been ruined due to temperature extremes. We took the plunge and insulated the entire attic this past year, and I can already tell it is making a huge difference! Not only is it comfortable in the attic year round, it has also helped keep the second story more temperature controlled. So … that’s my suggestion: insulate the attic!
I have an unusable attic ( crawl space) and a great basement. I have already started measuring spaces in my basement to install the shelves and bins you used in your purge for my own purge. I really need to keep Holiday decor simple and organized. I live in Rhode Island.
The house we left, after 27 years, in CT was a 1917 colonial with an attic and a basement. We moved to a house 2100 sq feet bigger (!) but with no attic and the basement has a media room and ‘exercise room’ in other words a lot LESS room for storage! HaHa. Since we didn’t know if we’d find a house to move into, or need to rent we were living with what we would need for the foreseeable future. We did! But no pantry and no mud room. a kitchen reno and build in studio eaves book cases means most boxes are not yet unpacked! Beyond what we knew we’d need! And the guest room! Which has gotten use!!
We’re still in CT but closer to family and much closer to husbands work! GREAT TIPS! Used some in pre move, but didn’t have tome to fully implement! As projects get done hope to do more ruthless purging ! I do s help to gave comoany! Any tips on hiw to get that help?! 😂
Looks so good! We have a large loft, where one of our adult daughters lives and a cellar (previous owners collected wine) but is filled with everything we don’t use. We have tidied it sometime in the past but we just literally open the door and shove things in. Looks a lot like your attic in the before photo. We have too much on at the moment to tackle it but we will set aside 2 days soon.
We are in Victoria, Australia where it’s hot at the moment.
Lynne
We have a two story detached garage and ALL our storage is upstairs of it. We have very little storage in the house because it is all livable space and why take up precious living quarters? 4 years ago the garage burned to the ground plus we lost our laundry room and parts of the back of the house. EVERYTHING gone. All my mom’s keepsakes, china, seasonal decor, all my kid’s keepsakes. But we were all safe and you can live without those things when you have to.