Why buying a house with an attic was the worst mistake we made

“Expansive storage” has always been one of my most sought-after household features. What bliss to simply open a roomy cupboard, shed or garage, stow everything away and live completely clutter-free.

But, as I’ve recently discovered, this is a total fantasy, and no amount of storage space offers a clutter-free life. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. 

Basically, the more storage space you have, the more you fill. And too much storage is dangerous. Rather than helping to declutter, it leads us down a slippery slope, encouraging us to “over-store”, and hold onto more than we really need. 

When we bought our house, I was thrilled that it had an attic with a pull-down ladder. It seemed to be one of the best storage solutions I’d ever encountered. However, rather than offering solutions, it’s become a “storage enabler”, standing between me and a less-encumbered life.

Obviously, the attic is home to all manner of items that we’re not ready to let go, such as a wobbly art deco coffee table, a magazine rack I’ve been meaning to restore, and those black leather pants purchased on a whim in the mid-1990s. There are things we infrequently use, such as camping equipment or Christmas decorations and, of course, countless school projects that my kids can’t possibly part with.

However, thanks to the attic and its seductive space, we’ve become complacent about de-cluttering. We now keep everything without considering if we really need it. Should we pass on that perfectly good four-year-old-jigsaw puzzle to another child, or just pop it up in the attic? 

And after years of popping up furniture, baby toys and boxes of memorabilia (“No Mum, I can’t throw out last week’s spelling list, it’s going in the attic!”) it’s now full to the brim.

Not just attics, but every storage space is to blame. Walk-in robes, garden sheds, garages and lock-up cages are all responsible for us storing more than we need. And once they’re full, what then? Do we build another shed in the garden, or perhaps rent more space at a storage facility?

At some point, we need to look at all that stuff, most of which has been tucked away, unreachable for years, and decide whether or not we really need it. Perhaps review the space it occupies, and see if there’s a better use. 

I know a family with a lock-up garage, but it’s so full of junk, there’s no room to park their car. Meanwhile, a house on our street is blessed with off-street parking, however, the driveway is jam-packed with stuff and therefore unusable. So, the residents park their three cars and a boat on the street, leaving little room for the rest of us.

We recently had a conversation with our builder about going up a level, which would mean giving up our attic. Naturally, I suggested we incorporate extra cupboards into our upstairs area to make up for it. But our builder gently refused, saying that it would reduce the size of the new living space: “Wouldn’t it be better to throw all that stuff out?”

While initially a little shocked, I now see that this is exactly what we need to do. The problem is not our stuff, rather the space in which we store it. By eliminating the storage space, we won’t be able to keep everything, nor will we “over-store” in the future. We’ll have more room for living, rather than competing with boxes of stuff we no longer use. 

And I’ll finally be able to truly declutter, and live the minimal life I’ve always dreamt of … as soon as I find somewhere to put the leather pants – you never know when I just might need them.