Is your attic looking crazy and in need of some love? Read on to see how I organize my attic and for simple attic organization ideas and tips fro your own attic!
If you’ve read my Deep Cleaning Schedule for Your Whole House post and have been following the schedule along with me, you’ve been doing a lot of cleaning! Great job!! We’ve gone from top to bottom, cleaning the ceilings, fans, walls, trim, bedding, mattresses, windows, and more! Whew!
Now we’re getting to the parts on the schedule that are my favorite – ORGANIZING. Cleaning is something that I do because I HAVE to. I like to have a clean house and am passionate about doing so without using harmful chemicals. But, organizing is way more FUN for me!
I know not everyone is like that. Some of you may feel the opposite. And some of you may not like either one. But whether we like cleaning and organizing or not, they do need to be done! Having the schedule and checking off when you complete the jobs each month will make it a little easier and take the guesswork out of what needs to be done.
Having an organized home is so important. It can reduce stress and can help you be more productive. Having organization systems in place can save tons of time when trying to find something. And I know that when I’m trying to do some type of work that involves thinking, I have trouble focusing if there is clutter around. When the school day is over, I have to put things away in my classroom and clear my desk of any clutter, before I can grade papers or complete other mental tasks. My sanity requires it!
So throughout the rest of the year, we’ll be going room-by-room to organize do some more deep cleaning. I’m going to break down how I organize each room in my home and share some tips for making your home more organized. I realize you may not have the same rooms as I do, so adjust the schedule to the number and type of rooms you have in your home.
May’s Deep Cleaning & Organizing Jobs
Here’s what I have on the Deep Cleaning Schedule for May:
- Organize the attic.
- Organize the garage.
- Pressure wash the house.
I like to complete these jobs in May because it is the perfect temperature for being in those areas of the home that don’t have heating or air conditioning. It’s not cold anymore, and it’s not too terribly hot yet either. So let’s start tackling the first organization job in May – the attic organization!
Attic Organization
Just a disclaimer- I do LOVE organizing, and I go up and organize my attic each year. So not a whole lot had to be done this year. It took about 3 hours to freshen up my attic organization. It may take more or less time depending on how organized your attic is already and how much stuff you have to go through. But the good news is: if you go ahead and organize it well this year, you won’t have much to do next year (IF you keep it organized when you’re putting things away throughout the year).
My husband and I had our house built, and when we were designing the home, one of my top priorities was having plenty of storage space and a big walk-in attic. I love being able to just walk right in off of our bonus room to get whatever I need, without having to climb a ladder. I definitely would recommend it if you’re in the market for a home or building a home.
Whatever size attic you have though, my recommendation is to fit your “stuff” to the space you have. If you have plenty of room, it’s not a problem to have more in it. If your attic is much smaller, you might have to do more purging. You should never allow your attic to get so full that you can’t see the floor and can’t walk around in it at all. It kind of defeats the purpose of having stuff in storage, if you can’t even get to it.
In my opinion, the purpose of an attic is to store things you don’t need every day but at certain times throughout the year. We store decorations for Christmas and fall, hunting necessities, clothes that our oldest son has grown out of that will be handed down to our youngest son, gift wrapping supplies, and a few memory boxes of things we don’t use or wear anymore but want to keep for memories. Try not to keep tons of stuff in your attic that you NEVER use. Even though it is a storage place, there’s no reason for letting a bunch of stuff you don’t ever use take up space in your home.
So go through section-by-section of your attic and set aside things you don’t need and want anymore. Throw those things away, put in a box take to Goodwill (or similar drop-off place), or set aside to sell.
1. Wrapping Station
3999643622621762592 IMG 1244 1
The first thing I went to town on was my wrapping station. I store my wrapping paper in an upright container from Target, and I love it. I used to have a cloth one, and it fell apart after a year of using it. In the green box, I store my tissue paper, bows, and ribbon.
The tissue paper has gotten a little out of control. Throughout the year, I stuffed some tissue paper in it when I was rushing around putting stuff away. So, I went through and tossed a lot of the tissue paper away (with Jackson’s help!). We threw away tissue paper that was too wrinkly, had tears, or was just not pretty.
Then I folded all the pieces that I decided to keep and stood them up vertically in the box. Previously, I had them all lying flat, but it was hard to find the color I wanted. This way I am able to see all the colors and find the perfect piece when I come up to wrap a gift. I definitely recommend storing your tissue paper like this!
Next up was my gift bags. I also had all these lying flat in this purple container, which made it a nightmare when trying to find the right bag.
To organize my gift bags, the first thing I did was dump them all out on the floor. Then I went through and threw away the torn or ugly ones. I put the ones I wanted to keep back in the plastic container. But, this time I stood them all up vertically from largest to smallest (mostly). When they’re standing up, it makes it so much easier to find the perfect bag when you need one!
I also added a little basket inside to store my gift tags and a pen. That way, when it’s time to wrap presents for Christmas or one of the kids’ birthdays, I can just take the whole box out into the bonus room (where it’s carpeted and AIR-CONDITIONED) and get to wrapping!
Wrapping station organization complete!
Watch my YouTube video here to see how I reorganized this part of the attic in 2021! Let’s just say it was in some major need of reorganization!!!
2. Arts & Crafts
When I organize the attic, I move along the edges like a circle. So the next things were these blue and green organizers. The blue organizer I use to store art and scrapbooking supplies. I left it as is for now. It’s mostly organized already. But, another day, I am going to get a rolling cart like this one to use instead and make it an “art cart” for the boys when they do crafts. (UPDATE – I DID get the cart and organized our art supplies in it. You can check that out in my Dining Room Organization post, since that’s where we’re keeping the cart.)
In the green organizer, I had some more scrapbooking supplies and a bunch of business supplies for when I used to sell MaryKay. I’ve been holding on to them for years, and I haven’t sold MaryKay in about 9 years. So I threw all that away.
3. Luggage
Next up was my luggage. I had the black container full of duffel bags and book bags, as well as more suitcases and bags lying on top of it. Again, laying things on top of each other makes it hard to find what you need. When I needed something out of the black container, I would have to move everything off of it first.
So, I took the bags out of the black box and stood all the suitcases, duffel bags, and book bags up vertically. Have I mentioned that standing things up vertically makes it SO much easier to see everything and get to what you need? I also took a few bags out that I’ll take to Goodwill. Whenever you’re organizing, go through and only put the things away that you actually like and will use. If you no longer have a desire or need to keep it, get rid of it!
4. Clothing
I’ll show you how I organize the clothes in my closet when we get to the bedrooms in October and November. I keep all of my clothes in my closet. I don’t switch them out with the seasons. Again, I fit my stuff to the space I have. If clothes don’t fit in my closet, I weed out what I don’t need or want.
In my attic, I store clothes that are too small for Jackson, our oldest, and will be handed down to Jase, our youngest, when he is big enough to wear them. After Jackson grows out of a size, I go through all the clothing that size and take out pieces that show more wear or I don’t like anymore to take to Goodwill. The pieces that look better and I want to keep, I store in these plastic containers. I use a Sharpie to write what size clothing is in each container. You can get a case of 8 of these Sterlite 8-gallon plastic totes for your attic organization here, if you need some. They hold up really well!
I have also been keeping the clothes that Jase has grown out of, just in case we have another boy in the future. But, we’re thinking that we’re probably not going to be having another baby (unless God has a different plan!). So, I am going to put the clothes that Jase has grown out of for sale on Facebook Marketplace. I put several things up for sale last summer and had a lot of success with it. The things that do not sell after about a month on Facebook Marketplace, I will give away.
5. Baby Items
We also have a lot of other baby items that we’ve been hanging onto “just in case.” Since we’re probably not going to be needing them anymore, I will be putting these things up for sale on Facebook Marketplace as well.
LOTS of baby items ready to go up for sale. If the Lord blesses us with another baby, we can always buy new things. But right now there’s no point having stuff in the attic that we don’t plan on needing to use again.
6. Hunting/Camping Items
The things in the back of the attic will be going too. My parents will be taking the mattress soon (It’s theirs, and we were storing it for them.). I will be also putting the baby crib and changing table up for sale.
Next up, I straightened up my husband’s hunting stuff. The large blue container on the left had his hunting things (besides some clothes and ammo that are in our bedroom closet and his guns which are in our safe) and camping stuff. As you can see, it was overflowing.
So I moved the black box over that I was previously using for duffle bags and put our camping stuff in it. I put the rest of my husband’s hunting stuff (that were lying on the ground and on top of the container) into the blue container.
7. Memory Boxes
Each member of our family has a memory box (or a few). In our memory boxes are special cards and notes, special stuffed animals, t-shirts that we want for memories but won’t wear anymore, etc.
We also have a memory box of mementos from our wedding.
I emptied the contents of this box and went through and tossed some things. We had TONS of leftover napkins, invitations, programs, and wedding favors in there that we DID NOT need. I kept one of each of those and put back in the container only the things that I really wanted to keep for memories.
Watch this YouTube video to see how I finished decluttering and reorganizing the attic in 2021! It was quite the transformation!
8. Kids’ School Memories
This is Jackson’s memory box. I previously had everything thrown in there. So I went through and organized the items into large envelopes. I made one for cards, one for small mementos, one for artwork, and one for school work for each of his school years so far.
I don’t keep every piece of school work he brings home – just special writings and artwork and papers that he did really well on. And I only keep what will fit into the envelopes. I also have a display in our downstairs hallway for recent artwork the boys have made.
9. Decorations
I have one plastic container to store our fall decorations and five containers for Christmas decorations. I go through these containers each fall and winter when I get them down and throw out anything I no longer want.
All I had to do now was rearrange some items in the containers to fit the rest of the things that were lying on top.
10. Electronics
We store our electrical cords and other electronics that we don’t currently need in the gray plastic container. Last summer we went through and tossed several things we for sure didn’t need anymore. We tested each thing to make sure it still worked. If it didn’t work, it was tossed. Wrap rubber bands around the cords of your extra electronics, to prevent them from getting all tangled up.
11. Sweep the floor
That’s it for our attic organization! I accumulated three bags of trash, so I took those out. The last thing I did was sweep the floor well. Because, yes, even the attic floor should be swept sometimes to make it look cleaner.
I hope this provided some inspiration for you and you were able to get something out of this to apply to organizing your own attic. Let me know if you have any questions. What kinds of things do you store in your attic? I would love to see a picture of your attic when you finish organizing it! Feel free to tag me on Instagram @brittbringsithome
Happy organizing!
