Lofts do not get cleared because the job has no obvious shape. Here is one that works, and it fits into a single morning.
First hour: bring everything down. Do not sort, do not open boxes, do not get sentimental about a school report. Move it all to one room where you can see it. A loft you are standing in is a loft you keep negotiating with.
Second hour: four piles. Keep, donate, sell, go. Anything you cannot decide on in ten seconds goes in the go pile, because the ten seconds is the decision. If you have not thought about it in the years it spent above your head, you are not going to start now.
Third hour: deal with the keep pile properly. Box it, label it, and put it somewhere that is not the loft. The loft is how it got out of hand.
Fourth hour: book the collection, and put the donate pile by the door so it leaves at the same time. A pile that stays in the hallway comes back upstairs by the weekend.
