“Swedish death cleaning” - sounds scary, right?

It’s actually a very peaceful process and, somewhat surprisingly, “Swedish death cleaning” does not mean dusting yourself to an early grave.

This recent phenomenon, popularised in 2017 by Margareta Magnusson, is about lightening the burden of clutter, and clearing your life of unwanted stuff. 

Stuff is funny - you think you need it, you never use it, but you just can’t stop collecting it.

This is all well and good for a while. But space is finite (especially in London) and sooner or later these material possessions will begin to crowd out your life; this can lead to an awful feeling of claustrophobia in your own home. It’s also really inconvenient for future generations.

‘Swedish death cleaning’ is the concept of relieving yourself of this ‘stuff’ before your days are up. If you let clutter fill up your space, then you’ll inevitably condemn your children to carry this burden too. Not only will they learn bad habits about hoarding and cluttering their lives, but one day they will be responsible for sifting through the vast quantity of useless possessions that you’ve acquired through your days. They’ll have boxes upon boxes of stuff to either discard of, make space for or just leave gathering dust in the attic.

Of course, most people would rather not think about the inescapable fact that their days are limited. Swedish death cleaning, however, is not about spending your whole life preparing for the day you leave this mortal realm.

Despite it’s crudely-translated title, this concept is actually about life. It’s about ensuring that your loved ones have a spacious and decluttered life, and that you don’t have your life run by excessive and useless material possessions. This process is therapeutic too - you see your progress visually, and the effects can be felt instantly.

You can also help others outside of your family with this ritual, too. One man’s rubbish, they say, is another’s treasure, and your local charity shops are always looking for donations of books, clothes and household items. Just because you and your family can’t find a purpose for your clutter, it doesn’t mean that others couldn't. Charity shops deserve local support; they provide shoppers with bargains, charities with valuable resources and Swedish death cleaners with a perfect out. 

N.B. That being said, you shouldn’t burden charity shops with tat or damages items, so don’t abuse them, or leave donations simply as an alternative to a trip to the tip.

Of course, this is just a little outline of the process of death cleaning, and there are many nuances that you should also be aware of while practicing this art. It’s worth remembering too, that this is also not intended to be something you do once and it’s done. This is a process, and people often repeat this multiple times a year. This outlook can also assist in limiting the amount of 'stuff' you acquire in the first place, so it's a process that gets easier, not harder, with time.

We’d strongly recommend picking up the book that popularised this ritual in late 2017: The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter. You can get your own copy of the little guide here and learn all about this process from the death-cleaning pioneer, Margareta Magnusson.