How To Clear Out Your Attic In A Weekend

The attic tends to be a dark, forgotten-about dumping ground for any and all items you don’t want or need anywhere else in your home.

As such, it becomes a space filled to the brim with all kinds of clutter, a lot of which is actually old, broken, and often pretty dirty.

If that’s something that’s been grating on you lately, it’s clearly time for a proper attic clear out. And if you want to get the job done in the span of 48 hours, good news - you can!

So, if you’ve got a spare weekend and want to make your attic as clutter-free and sparkling as the rest of your home, here’s how to approach the job. 

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The Prep Work


Nothing can be done in a weekend without a little bit of prep! As such, you should:


Run a survey and create a layout


You need to get up into the attic before you do your clear out, as you need to know what you’re working with.


This is your chance to take a survey (or inventory) of what you see, and what you’ll have to sort through later.


This is also where you should create a layout of 4 ‘zones’ that you can split the attic into. Go corner by corner, if necessary, or group your zones by item type.


Arrange your ‘piles’


Your ‘piles’ are the things you’re planning to do with the attic clutter. Most people do ‘keep, donate, throw away’, but it’s up to you.


Hire a dumpster


You’re going to need an easy throw-out option for all the clutter that comes out of the attic.


You don’t have the time or energy to fill the car up, run everything down to a recycling center (or the dump), and then repeat the process again and again.


Instead, hire a dumpster to sit outside your house and fill that up instead. You can quickly check out the cost of a dumpster rental just to be sure, but the convenience is usually worth the cost!


Day 1: Zones 1 and 2


Or zones 1 and 3, or 1 and 4. It doesn't matter what order you do them in, just as long as you take two of them per day.


Saturday is the best day for tackling the larger stuff, such as old furniture, big boxes of a relative’s possessions, etc.


Day 2: Zones 3 and 4


You may want to leave the smaller zones for the Sunday, as this is the day when you’re most likely to be flagging in energy.


You want to be sure you complete your attic clear out as well, so it’s best to have the lighter tasks left over for the second day.


When you’ve got an attic clearance on the to-do list, you don’t want it to take too long. And thankfully, it doesn’t have to! Prepare for the task properly, make sure you know what you’re dealing with, and work methodically over Saturday and Sunday.

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