How Swedish Death Cleaning Can Free You From Your Clutter - For Good!

Last January, Marie Kondo and her netflix show Tidying Up sparked a revolution in how we view our stuff. Around the same time, an equally radical approach to decluttering, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter by Margareta Magnusson was also released in the US.  Swedish Death Cleaning offers a way to reframe our relationship to what we own by asking us to take responsibility for what we chose to keep (or not) during our lives.

Since the process is profound but the name is a little off-putting, let’s break down exactly what the term Swedish Death Cleaning means:

The word "cleaning" refers to a downsizing process, not traditional cleaning like mopping and dusting.  Magnusson's cleaning is more of a clearing out process, slowly and steadily getting rid of possessions.  People have been downsizing like this for ages for various reasons, but Magnusson describes a special approach.

"Death"?!?  Put this in front of "cleaning" and you have a new take on the routine, namely the goal of clearing out your home enough so that when you die, your loved ones won't be overwhelmed with work to do and decisions to make.  "Death Cleaning" is removing the items you no longer need or want from your home while you can, to spare someone else the task of dealing with them when you're gone.

As for "Swedish", while the concept is really more universal than Nordic, Magnusson's book is in Swedish, thus this adjective in the translation. 

Put them together and there you have it, Swedish Death Cleaning.

Magnusson shares stories of how she settled the estates of family members and decided that she wanted to do this for herself as well, while she was still alive and could enjoy the process.  She gives simple tips like starting with large, bulky items and saving personal things like old letters and photos for later.  Let friends and family know what you're doing, she suggests.  They may want to help, which would mean extra hands and nice company, or they may want some things you want to get rid of, which relieves you of the task of finding them new homes.  What to do with things you don't want to toss that have personal value to you but no interest to the rest of the world?  Keep them to enjoy, and store them in a box labeled "Throw away when I'm gone."  Finally, Magnusson recommends practicing death cleaning over a long period of time and notes that it's never too late to start, until it is.

Depressing? Perhaps.  Meaningful?  Probably.  Liberating?  Absolutely!  Here are my top reasons why we should all engage in a little death cleaning every now and then:

1. The opportunity to reminisce

Swedish Death Cleaning at any age can be a cozy way to spend an afternoon, recalling fond memories before tossing old trinkets that you're done with. Who do you think would most enjoy one last look at your possessions, you or your loved ones?  You will enjoy this trip down memory lane, your relatives likely will not.

2. Less burden on your loved ones

Emptying a household is a heavy responsibility. One of the best points Magnusson makes comes early in the book:  Never assume that someone will want -  or even be able - to take time off work or from their own life, to deal with the things that you didn't care enough to deal with.  "Regardless of how much they love you, don't leave this burden to them.  It will disturb their good memories of you."

3. The less you own, the less encumbered you are

Look around your home, Magnusson suggests, and notice how much of what you have has probably been yours for so long that you no longer see, use or value it. Saying goodbye to these things is sweetly liberating. A thesaurus search of "stuff" gives the suggestion "trappings."  Don't be trapped.

4. Your home will be easier to keep clean and organized

The less you have, the less you have to dust or keep track of. An organized space invites calmness, not stress. 

5. The practice might teach you about your habits

A little Swedish Death Cleaning earlier in life can give you good insight into what you tend to keep.  Do you notice any trends or mistakes?  The hope is that you can make wiser decisions in the future if you better understand your shopping patterns and why you've chosen to keep certain items.  But if you find things that *you* don't know why you've kept then they can hardly have great value to your loved ones, which brings me to my next point.

6. YOU get to decide where things end up  

We once worked with a client whose daughter had threatened to throw away everything in his house after he died. Fearing she meant it, he decided to donate carloads of clothing and household goods, and was happy to release everything to new homes instead of the dump.  It's really very simple: Either you chose what happens to everything you own, or someone else will when you are gone and no longer own it.  Because as the saying goes...

7. You can't take it with you

Some day you will be gone, but your things will not.  The fewer things you have, the fewer things you have to take care of, and the fewer things there will be to leave behind.  Less is more.

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