(Photography: Kristina Šoljo | Styling: Marissa Foye)
Swedish Death Cleaning is not as morbid as you may think. A method of decluttering that originated in Sweden, it is the practice of relinquishing your worldly possessions while you’re still around to ease the significant burden placed on your family members upon your passing. Yes, that would mean sorting through that pile of forgotten paperwork in your garage, the attic that’s filled to the brim with items that could be considered clutter, and the random spare bedroom wardrobe you’re too afraid to even peer into, lest it burst its banks and never be able to close again.
Popularised by Margareta Magnusson in her book The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, the cleaning method also known as Döstädning implores us to reassess the items we truly value and renounce the ones we don’t, to make the lives of our children easier.
What sets Swedish Death Cleaning apart from your regular decluttering or spring cleaning is that it focuses less on how the items make you feel, and instead considers how each of the items would make your loved ones feel. It is the art of decentering ourselves from our own lives, even in death – a selfless gift we can bequeath to our next of kin.
So should you clean out your things now so no-one has to do it later? While we may think that each and every item we’ve held onto for years will hold as much significance to others as it once did to you, can we ask that of our offspring – the arduous task of sorting through our long lost memories piece by painful piece, especially when they’ll be navigating a new world without us?
Is it selfish to want to hold onto relics of a past life until the final toll? Or would we be doing ourselves a disservice to neatly pack up a life well-lived and ship it away while we’re still around to enjoy it? Is it not one of life’s joys, to fill our surroundings with objects collected from travels, pieces that have brought us joy, and memories from time spent with friends and family?
There’s a way to do it without giving up your sense of self for the sake of convenience. Start with the messiest spaces and go room by room, or zone by zone. If you come across an item that still brings you joy or you truly think it will bring joy to your next of kin, treasure it. But if it is just taking up space in your home with no tangible or emotional benefit, ditch it. Plus, there’s something to be said for a clean slate and less clutter to improve your quality of life in the present moment.
For more, mother-daughter duo Melissa and Isabella offer their generational takes on Swedish Death Cleaning.
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