10 Things to Know About Swedish Death Cleaning

The name “Swedish Death Cleaning” gets a lot of attention for good reason, but once you learn about it, it’s a pretty sensible, practical way to deal with your possessions as you approach your later years. It’s based on a book, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family From a Lifetime of Clutter by Margareta Magnusson. It’s generated a lot of buzz.

Magnusson, a Swedish artist, began writing the book after dealing with the deaths of her parents and husband and tried to figure out what to do with their possessions. She writes about the Swedish idea of döstädning, which translates to death cleaning. Dö means death in Swedish and städning means cleaning. The thrust of the book is to slowly begin decluttering so your death isn’t such a burden for those you leave behind.

It’s similar to other trendy thoughts on home organization and approaches to life, like hygge, which caught on last year.

You’ve kept certain items around the house as a reminder of an experience, but you don’t need to have the object to trigger a memory. Your mind still holds onto the trip or special day you had that led you to keep a souvenir.

Take a look in your kitchen cabinets and make a note of how many plates and glasses you keep. Chances are you don’t need them all. Here’s why Death Cleaning is the answer to your clutter.

An important piece to Swedish Death Cleaning is involving others. This is helpful for a couple of reasons. For one, it will help keep you accountable if you tell others of your plan. It also becomes a good time to share with your family your wishes after you pass. During this process, you should begin putting together a document that holds any login and password information for any financial institutions or other relevant information that’s going to be tough to find after your death. Make sure your remaining items are packed and stored properly.

Hannah-Rose Yee wrote about Swedish Death Cleaning and tried it herself. It wasn’t as easy as she thought it’d be to give away some of her things. A friend wouldn’t accept a scarf and Yee wanted books she’d given away back within a couple of days.

To avoid that problem, Magnusson suggests bringing your things to friends and family as presents. Instead of a bouquet of flowers, give your friend whatever item of yours they’ve long admired. Get yourself started with these cutting clutter strategies for every room.

Magnusson urges those 65 and older to start the process of shedding possessions. You can start by selling some of those items first. Yee sold a number her old things and earned around $500, she said. Once you get started, the purge becomes easier. This is how one therapist’s advice helped her patient grieve. 

Taking a new approach to something is never easy. It takes on average two months form a new habit. So, along the way of Swedish Death Cleaning, Magnusson says it’s alright to reward yourself. Go see a movie or grab a cupcake—just don’t buy a bunch of new stuff.

The Christian Science Monitor reported in July 2017 that children of baby boomers aren’t itching to take possession of their parents’ home furnishings. In fact, they’d rather not.

It’s not only that children don’t want their parents’ possessions; it’s that there’s not a market for that old mahogany furniture pieces. The price of mahogany furniture has dropped considerably in the past few years as people have started to favor mid-century modern designs and cheaper furniture from IKEA.

You’ll want to check out these 12 ways to downsize, and here’s the definitive guide to how often you should clean everything in your home.

In a Forbes story, Richard Eisenberg had to unload an apartment full of his father’s possessions after he died in order to avoid paying an extra month of rent. Eisenberg pointed out there are liquidators who specialize in cleaning out estates. There are even move managers for seniors who downsize from their homes to a smaller condo. Some senior move managers charge between $2,500 to $3,000 and others will sell items at estate sales. They’ll take a cut of the proceeds of the estate sale, usually around 35 percent or so. Next, here are 10 cleaning myths you should stop believing.