We spent the last weekend diligently decluttering and cleaning our attic. It was at the top of my list of projects for 2023. had tackle. And it was overwhelming, but it felt so good to get in there and finally tackle it. Decided what to do. Here are some organizing tips I learned along the way.
5 tips for staying organized
1. Timing is everything
Such a big business cannot be forced.This Attic Was Attracting Attention For A Time, But It Wasn’t correct time. Making decisions about what to leave and what to leave is exhausting physically, mentally, and emotionally. Probably most of the time, but something big like this requires a very dedicated block of time, and it’s nice to feel ruthless and purged.
2. Be Ruthless
Speaking of ruthlessness, both Chris and I went into this project with the intention of doing big things for big results! We were absolutely brutal in deciding what to keep. Luckily, most of the stuff in the attic is there because we don’t need or want to use it in this house, and the decision was pretty easy. There was some old furniture and art, but I haven’t gone looking for it yet, so I’ll move it! If so, you must go.
3. Divide into piles of “keep” and “keep”
We were going up and down the stairs when we first started looking at everything. I was too distracted and exhausted to go back and forth like that. From there, he sorted everything into two piles. Right side keep, left side purge. Once we had that, we were able to get some traction.
4. Make a sub-pile
Once I had a “don’t store” pile, the girls helped me unload everything from the attic and sort it into more piles. Sell, donate, recycle, throw away. It was Saturday’s all-day event of going up and down so many stairs, but of course we celebrated it with a frozen yogurt outing, and they worked really hard.
5. Momentum is your best friend
It’s easy to get carried away in the moment and flip through your high school yearbook for an hour and start remembering all the good times. Going off tangent and losing momentum will make this weekend’s project a month long for him, and it’ll make your butt hurt. It’s all about making decisions and moving forward quickly. Perfectionism can be your worst enemy, so lower your expectations and think and act quickly!
Before
After (prior arrangement)
I hope the photo captures the real mess and chaos… you can’t even see the floor! It makes me feel so much better even before I get organized.
A Note on Sentimental
My sentimental take is that if you have the space to store a few bins of memorabilia, give yourself permission to do so! Chris and I each had a keepsake box full of things from before we got married. Some of it I’ve kept for a very long time and it’s not very sentimental, but how can I throw it away after all this time? Decide to move on. Again, beware of getting lost in the tangents.
At that point, I decided to get rid of the big ones that held sentimental value. It was very thoughtful and really my favorite piece of art. Unfortunately that doesn’t match the vibe of this house and Chris was very encouraging to let it go and live a different life. was.
Notes on organization
You may have seen on Instagram that Chris and I have already gone to Lowe’s to get everything we need to get organized. I plan to store everything in bins and stack them on shelves. I can’t wait to see more uncovered floors.
Here’s what I bought!
empty the storage bin When shelf.
adhesive pocket for labeling boxes.just write what’s in them These index cards Slide them!
what’s next?
While I was decluttering, I received a ton of DMs with ideas for what I could do with this space. And while I love big lofty dreams, I don’t need more room at this point.
Large attics like this aren’t very common in Idaho, so this is new to us. , I’m interested!
