For many of us, whether we have children in school or not, September always feels like a fresh start. The summer is over and it’s time to address those issues and jobs that have waited until it is business as usual. Although in 2020 nothing is “as usual,” students returning to school and workers back to the office, still provide a taste of normality and the chance to look ahead. 

September Sort Out is doing its annual rounds of promotion on social media and online – you can easily find a calendar to help you tackle the contents of your entire house in just 15 minutes a day over the course of the month. Having a “good sort out” is one of the most quoted reasons from our customers for boarding the loft and or fitting a fixed ladder. Nobody wants to board the loft to fill it immediately with junk they have been hoarding elsewhere. Usually they intend to store clearly labelled boxes with contents that have already with sorted and organised. We all start with good intentions!

Decluttering Top tips for loft storage

If you are having a September Sort Out. Here are our top tips:

1. Tackle a small area first. Even if you want to declutter the whole house, starting with one bookcase or problem area is less daunting. You can do the rest in time. You don’t have to stick to a schedule, but breaking the task down into manageable chunks makes sense.
2. Before you start, gather together five boxes or bags and label them: items to throw away, recycling, charity shop, for sale, and a final one for storage.
3. Ask yourself, “When did I last use this item?” If it was more than a year ago, then think, “Why am I keeping it?” If it is for sentimental reasons then maybe you could display the item somewhere to enjoy it, rather than gathering dust in a pile. If it is an item that you may need in the future, but don’t use regularly, then it is probably perfect to store in the loft.
4. Think about how you store items. A box with a lid will keep the items in good condition so that you don’t feel like you are just dumping them out of sight to gather mildew. For clothes, think about vacuum packing to keep them moth and dust free. Items sorted and grouped and even labelled will save time in the future – we all know this, but sometimes can’t be bothered or just want to get on with the job. Gathering the right storage boxes or bags in advance, together with labels and marker pens, means that it is much more likely to happen.
   
5. Think about your loft access. If you don’t have a fixed ladder, then adding one can make an enormous difference to how easily and safely you can retrieve items. If you are balancing between ceiling joists when you go up to your loft, then it is definitely time to think about getting it boarded.