Your loft conversion starts in three weeks and the loft is still full. Here's a calm way to clear it

Most of us have a loft full of things we'll "sort one day". A conversion, a new roof or a house sale turns one day into a deadline. Here's a simple plan for getting it all down and off to wherever it's going.

1. Start early, with a sort

Give yourself a few weekends. Make four piles: keep at home, give to family, put into storage, and sell or donate. Anything that belongs to grown-up children or relatives gets its own pile, and a message asking if they want it.

2. Bring it down safely

Work in pairs, pass boxes down rather than carrying them on the ladder, and keep boxes small enough to handle at height. Big or heavy pieces may need two people and a bit of patience.

3. Label by destination

Write where each box is going on the side, not just what's in it: "Mum's", "storage", "sold – collection". It makes the day itself far quicker.

4. Stage it by the door

Stack everything for each destination together, near the door, before the collection day, so nothing goes up and down the stairs twice.

5. Describe the job clearly

How many boxes, which bigger pieces, each drop-off address (family, a storage unit, a buyer), parking at both ends, and the date it needs to be gone by, ideally before the builders arrive.

6. Get quotes and choose

You can ring round, or post the move once and let quotes come to you. Pink Pumpkin Logistics, the site I run, lets you post it for free at pinkpumpkinlogistics.co.uk. Drivers send quotes and you pick the one you're happy with, with no obligation.

7. On the day

Tick each pile off as it goes, keep anything fragile or precious to carry yourself, and enjoy the empty loft. It won't look like that again once the room is built!

Disclosure: I run Pink Pumpkin Logistics, the site mentioned above.