So, what should you keep in the loft? After years of helping people go through mountains of items they have forgotten they own, our advice is simple. The only things that should be kept in the loft are:
-Seasonal items (Christmas, sailing, ski-ing, camping, cricket, etc). This way you get them down each year on rotation and you know what you have.
-Temporary items – you are helping someone out with storage space for a finite time, or something is on its way to somewhere else.
-Legal papers – things that you need to keep for legal reasons but are unlikely to ever need access to. This will include probate papers (21 years), business records (7 years), or anything relating to a court case you’ve been involved with.
You should not keep granny’s old china in there – what a waste! You need to use it and appreciate it.
You should not keep things in there that you will ‘go through later’, because you never will! You must always give a deadline and it would count in the temporary items category. Don’t keep things in there that ‘might come in useful one day’. You will forget they are there!!
So, as you are likely to be in the loft getting down your Christmas decorations this weekend, why not think about the things that shouldn’t be in there and sort them out? If you need help, you know where we are!