Swedish Death Cleaning Method: Why You Need To Do It
Let’s face it. We all love organizing our homes, but it’s often challenging due to time constraints. With the Swedish Death Cleaning Method, you can finally follow the process of organizing everything in your home for good.
With the Swedish Death Cleaning, even the world-renowned Marie Kondo can’t stand up to this process. Even though we love it, it’s time to step aside, hygge. There’s an exciting and new kind of minimalism on the block, and for good.
So, What Is The Swedish Death Cleaning Method?
While it might sound gruesome, its origins come from a concept where you would organize and declutter your loved ones’ homes before they passed away. Moreover, the goal was to lessen the burden of those remaining and make settling their personal items and estates easier.
Typically, this method worked for the elderly or terminally ill. But as it goes, many discovered it’s beneficial for everyone to organize and declutter everyone’s spaces quickly. The internet features many professional organizers and can often feel overwhelming with so many methods. That’s why we love the Swedish Death Cleaning Method because it’s easy to follow and makes sense.
Furthermore, this method will help you decide what things in your home need organizing and sort them into bins. With it, you will determine what’s truly important and what you want to keep, give away, donate, or recycle. This can ultimately lead you to learn more about dumpster rental options for efficient decluttering
“Putting your house in order, if you can do it, is one of the most comforting activities, and the benefits of it are incalculable.”
LEONARD COHEN, THE NEW YORKER
The Swedish Death Cleaning Method looks like this:
- First, go room to room and sort all clothing items. Don’t focus on anything that doesn’t fall into that category.
- Next, look around every room and notice what occupies the most space. Then, decide if you need it and its purpose for that space.
- Finally, clean out digital files on all tech, including phones, laptops, desktop computers, etc.
The Origins
In a book written by Margareta Magnussen, who coined the term in her 2017 book The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter, she asked readers to consider those who receive delegation to clean up possessions after death. Instead, her Swedish Death Cleaning Method makes the arduous task easier for everyone.
Ideally, this method allows you to organize swiftly to reduce the burden of going through every item individually. Let’s face it. We all have drawers and closets that won’t close because we have them jam-packed full of “stuff.” Typically, if you haven’t used it or wear it for over a year, you don’t need it!
Another Swedish term that’s quickly becoming popular and called cleaning döstädning, for those many years away from death but want to enjoy the benefits of this method. She goes on to say how rewarding it is to spend time with these objects one last time and then dispose of them. I couldn’t agree more.
More importantly, Magnussen states in her book that death cleaning is not sad. All you need to do is look around and make decisions right then on what you need to keep or get rid of. And in doing so, it will make your life easier and less crowded.
The Checklist And Why It Works
Basically, the Swedish Death Cleaning Method is simple and easy to follow. When it comes to organizing our homes, that’s how we want it. Moreover, this decluttering philosophy extends to many areas of our home and goes beyond deep cleaning. Ideally, it’s all about what you want to keep and let go. That’s it at its core.
Swedish Death Cleaning Method Calls For Sorting Clothing First
Starting with your closets is a great way to begin the process. Create a toss and a donate pile and place clothing you haven’t worn in ages in either. Place what you wear the most in the front and sort seasonally. Think about selling what you don’t want to a thrift store to generate extra cash.
Next, Organize and Declutter By The Size Of Items
Ideally, the Swedish Death Cleaning Method calls for sorting and decluttering by size. Moreover, this means things that occupy the most space in your room. Once you sort those larger items, you can work down to smaller things.
Again, create a toss and donate basket if possible, or you can make a list of what needs to go or stay. It’s best not to think about what’s sparking joy as in the Konmari method, but rather what’s useful in your life now.
Preferably, the idea is to remove all those things that clutter up your space so you can implement minimalist living and enjoy life better. Think about what you use daily, which has functionality and purpose in the current moment.
If you do this systematically and keep yourself motivated, you can clear out much of what you don’t need or use. For example, I have several lamps in one of my rooms. I asked myself, do I need that many lamps, or do I keep them because they look pretty? Then, I paired down to two lamps and was delighted with the outcome. I did the same with blankets, pillows, throws, and many decorative items. Now, my rooms look neater and more organized.
A Hot Digital Mess
With so many digital devices in our homes, it isn’t easy to organize and sort through what we need and don’t. After all, like so many of us, we store endless amounts of photos and videos on our devices, and to what end? And what about our passwords, websites, and other sites we bookmark and never visit? That’s why you need to declutter and organize your digital possessions, too.
Aside from that, what about our social media pages and logins to our bank accounts? Did you know you can delegate a loved one to oversee them upon your passing? It’s good to know you can. Schedule a day or at least a few hours to delete as much as you can from your tech and give a list of critical passwords and information to a loved one.
Take a look at your desktop, laptop, and phone. How many icons or documents do you see staring you in the face? I’ll be you hardly use them or thought about deleting some. Once you do this, you’ll feel much better and keep them that way moving forward. This is where Swedish Death Cleaning comes in perfectly and helps keep you organized and in order! Conversely, you can click here to find out how to hire a dumpster rental company to unload the things you don’t want or can’t donate.
Finding Purpose And Meaning In Our Possessions
More importantly, if you own too many things, it’s hard to find purpose and meaning in them. They become lost memories in the overwhelming amount of what we own. So, let’s not wait until we are off this planet to make sense of our lives and belongings.
Plus, the things you give away to your loved ones or donate will allow what meant so much to you to live on. With all the chaos in our lives, why not destress the one area of your life you can control? Of course, there’s no right or wrong way to complete this journey. If you follow the basic guidelines, you’ll be on your way!
With the Swedish Death Cleaning Method, you can begin a journey that results in clarity and a feeling of peace, knowing most of what we keep has a deeper meaning than that closet full of clothes we never wear.
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