Organising your loft space

If there’s one area of the home that gets a raw deal when it comes to organisation, it’s the loft. We shove bin bags of assorted clothes, shoes and goodness knows what else up there and pretty much forget about it until the next time we need something. Cue mad scramble to the loft and a lost hour trying to find what you need! But it doesn’t have to be this way. If you’re lucky enough to have a loft, this is your biggest storage opportunity in your whole home- it just takes a little organisation!

1) Assessing the space. After sorting out the basics of lighting, access (loft ladder kits are relatively inexpensive and can be attached to the loft hatch) and safety of the space (like loose floorboards) perhaps with professional advice if needed, you’re ready to see what you’ve got to work with. Chances are you’ve got many, many years of accumulated stuff, so it may be easier to bring it down to sort. Whilst you are in the loft though, see what space you have to work with and what storage solutions you can utilise. Check height and width and make a little diagram so you can work out where everything will go.

2) Get sorting. A lot of things we keep in the loft we really won’t use again. If you’ve unearthed items you didn’t even know you had anymore, then think about whether they have any use in your life now or for the future. If not, consider selling them or donating it them charity. For the rest, check they’re in good order and make a list on your computer of what you have. Just list the general overview, like baby clothes, or photo albums rather than each individual item. This list come in handy in future years when you’ve forgotten what you have in the loft, so it’s definitely a worthwhile step!

3) Save the precious items. If you’re storing delicate or precious items like wedding clothes or photo albums, things that you might not want to look at for many years but you still want to be kept safely, then invest in plastic storage boxes that will protect your items from dust, dirt or water leaks. These Clear Plastic Storage Boxes come in lots of sizes, with lids, and are stackable. Check out your loft diagram and work out which sizes will fit into your loft space (make sure to check the hatch size too!). For children’s precious items (like those gym certificates and football medals), think about coloured storage boxes, with a different colour for each child.

4) Hand me downs. One of the top items that gets stored in the loft is clothes, especially an older child’s clothes stored away until they’ll fit a younger child, or seasonal clothes. These are the type of items that you probably want to access relatively often, maybe every year, so easy access is paramount. Something like a storage bag is lightweight for easy moving up and down into the loft, but strong enough to hold lots of clothes. There’s also a side viewing panel so you can quickly see what’s inside.

5) Future proof. Then there are the items that aren’t delicate as such, but you still want to keep for the future, things like baby clothes, bedding, spare duvets and our child’s favourite cuddly toys from when they were younger. This kind of stuff can take up a lot of space, so try vacuum packing it. You can then store the vacuum packs vertically or horizontally- whichever works better in your loft space.

6) Label it. Remember that list you made on your computer? Now you can print it off and cut out and stick on what’s in every box, bag or packet- trust us, it’ll save heaps of time when you want to find that pair of snow boots you just KNOW you have somewhere! Then all that remains is to slot everything back in place in your loft and bask in the organisational glow!

Image credit Photo by arnie chou on Unsplash