The Dreaded Attic Clean Out

Contributing Author: Peggy Walker Barnes
Peggy Walker Barnes

There is probably no scarier place in the house than an attic.  It has spider webs, creaky floors and typically a lot of mysterious boxes thrown in a haphazard manner, along with lots of old furniture.

Cleaning out an attic can be a trip down memory lane and a dreaded task all rolled into one.  Here are a few tips to make this task less cumbersome:

1. Deal with a box at a time. You might have to remove the box from the attic to stay focused on it and deal with all the contents.

2. Sort what you find into categories – photos, memories, papers, decorations, etc.; whatever makes sense to you with what you find in the boxes.

3. Go back through all the sorted categories and decide what you are going to do with it.

4. When attacking the furniture, decide who the furniture should go to and ask that person if they even want it. Many times, we are storing up furniture because it belonged to someone else, but no one in your family wants it, so you are just passing the storage problem along to someone else later.

5. Cleaning out an attic is going to take more than one day to complete. Schedule work for several hours at a time and get through it little by little. It is also helpful to have some “heavy lifters” scheduled so you can get the designated “to go” objects out of the house and on to where they need to go.

Attic clearing is hot, tedious work, but someone must do it.  Why not schedule some time to begin the process today?  You will feel relieved and unencumbered when the clutter is cleared.

By Contributing Author, Peggy Walker Barnes, Organizer, Life Coach and Speaker