Blog
You Don't Need More Space
May 3, 2018
You need less stuff.
The newest organizing craze is known as "the Swedish death cleaning" which comes from the book The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter by Margareta Magnusson. Now, I get that the title could be a bit off-putting. We're not known as a society that deals easily with the topic of death, but the process offers a lot of practical ideas and reasons why this type of cleaning is a good idea.
One of my favorite ideas is that of creating a "Throw Away" box. This is a box of things that only have meaning to you that can simply be thrown away once you're gone. They couldn't be used by anyone else, they wouldn't be significant to anyone else so there's no need for anyone to decide if the contents should be donated or sold.
Speaking to that point, another idea that really resonated with me is that one of the main reasons behind the process is to reduce the burden on your survivors of having to go through your stuff. You know how overwhelming your stuff can feel and you're invested in it! Just think how overwhelming it would look to someone who has no attachment to it. The death cleaning process is an early gift to those you will leave behind. And let's face it, we'd all feel a lot better in the here and now if we had less clutter.
Still not convinced? Here's a great article that further describes the process and some of the other benefits.
If you're still having trouble getting started on the task of sorting through what you own, ask yourself the following:
Still not convinced? Here's a great article that further describes the process and some of the other benefits.
If you're still having trouble getting started on the task of sorting through what you own, ask yourself the following:
Here is the question:
Who would you like to spare the task of going through your current amount of clutter when you're gone?