Introducing Swedish Death Cleaning
You may have heard of a trend called "“Swedish Death Cleaning” that rose to popularity here in the states a few years ago (post Marie Kondo and pre-pandemic). I laughed when I heard it because while it wasn’t a term I was familiar with growing up, it certainly was a nod to the decluttering and minimalist mindset has always been a cornerstone for me of balanced living.
So what is Swedish Death Cleaning? In Sweden, it involves getting rid of clutter and making your home nice and orderly as you prepare to move on from this life (with the goal of not leaving junk behind for family members to deal with). While it sounds rather morbid and only meant for people in mid-life and beyond, essentially it is just about removing excess.
As we are all reminded every time we clean out a drawer or donate items from our closet that we no longer use, there is something very freeing and empowering about organizing your space. Whenever I’m feeling stressed, one of the first things I do is immerse myself in a cleaning project because it always helps my stress melt away.
There are in fact books written on this concept such as “The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter”. For brevity sake, I won’t go into a lot of detail here about how to systematically clean out your home, car, digital files, etc., but I can leave you with a few of my favorite habits to try:
When you bring home a new piece of clothing make sure to give away one that you have not used for months or years.
Instead of having all your things on display at once, put a couple of them in a cabinet and circulate your favorite items over time instead of buying new.
Make a drawer in your closet for those items you have not used in a loooong time. If they are still not missed you know they can go to someone else.
Before you bring anything home, look at it through the Swedish lens of needing to purpose and meaning. In Sweden, we are trained to savor what we bring home and make sure it can be used over time.
