Swedish clean

[DaisyNGO]

I'm not dying

Just wondered if anyone had done this.

Reason - limited living space and feeling overwhelmed.

My DP and my sister are the sorts of people who live so minimally. It would make a huge difference if I could get rid of stuff, like to the point there's actual furniture we could get rid of.

Also curious, psychologically, has anyone found that doing this type of thing makes them feel better about a smaller living space?

Any general advice welcome. I admit, I have had times of regret at getting rid of certain things but now I think I am past that stage.

HI! What is a Swedish clean?
Sounds intriguing! I just posted looking for a tidying buddy... I have just moved into a very small space with a lot of stuff... I am aiming to get it largely unpacked and sorted today.... I have 5 hours!!
Bit ambitious but praps I can get some of it done!!

It's called Swedish death cleaning,sort of not leaving heaps of stuff for someone else to sort through.

ive just looked it up.. sounds perfect

yes.. ok well I shall integrate those ideas into my tidy today. I won't bother you with it but thanks for the idea! Hope you are having a good day!

@petal2019 Also called 'Swedish Death Cleaning', basically decluttering all the crap your relatives wouldn't want to have to plough through when you're gone.

OP, no, not as such, though I do try and declutter regularly. At the moment I'm going through all my old childhood photos chucking out the blurry and lopsided ones (if I have a better very similar snap too!) I hope I'm getting the balance right between minimizing but not wanting to destroy special memories. I suppose I won't know until it's too late! But there is only so much 'stuff' we can accumulate before feeling overwhelmed. Generally I'm very good at deciding what to get rid of, but all I've ended up doing is shifting it into the garage in big plastic boxes. I'm advertising everything on FB but no one is interested! I don't really know why as a lot of it is good quality, even brand new, stuff. I can't bring myself to just throw it away and the charity shops are already overflowing.

Swedish death cleaning? I think it's more for older people than me who are maybe retired, who are ready to pass on family heirlooms to next generation. Coincidentally I watched a YouTube video by Sharon Torrens (I think thats her name!) yesterday on the subject. She was doing it with her mum.
I have done some serious decluttering over the last few years though, more for bringing our home contents level down to something more manageable. I've enjoyed gifting things I no longer need, which I guess is similar! And it made me get serious about getting photo albums done as a single parent I hold all those memories and if I was gone, they would be lost.

Why not use the Kondo method as a general guide, if you need one - doesn’t have the eerie connotations of death...

I’m doing the same at the moment. Not for lack of space but because I want the psychological benefits. I can’t stand having a cluttered space/ cluttered mind, so it’s not in a mess. But I’ve just realised I really don’t need all these things. It feels really good to clear things out.

Hi all! Ed that sounds fab with the photo albums. You sound very organised! Well... the best I have done recently is chuck out most of my papers and take photos of things that were sentimental but not essential. Still some piles of stuff but threw out 12 sacks!!
Ok..well I shall get on with my version on a different thread!... all buddies very welcome.

I didn't put the full title in case it freaked anyone out.

It's the only mindset that I've come across that made me say "yes, I really can get rid of x because I will never need it".

I'll look up Sharon Torrens, thank you.

And to answer your question, I’ve lived in small flats before and it was definitely much nicer to not be overrun with stuff. So much of it is tat (or feels like tat) when you break it right down.

@HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule

Why not use the Kondo method as a general guide, if you need one - doesn’t have the eerie connotations of death...

I’m doing the same at the moment. Not for lack of space but because I want the psychological benefits. I can’t stand having a cluttered space/ cluttered mind, so it’s not in a mess. But I’ve just realised I really don’t need all these things. It feels really good to clear things out.

X post I couldn't get on with Kondo at all, all that sparking joy shit.

I am struggling to concentrate due to visual clutter, that's a big part of it.

I've started doing this! It's hard because dp ironically a Swedish person doesn't want to get rid of bloody anything even though he does want the tidy minimalist home. So it's very slow process here

@HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule

And to answer your question, I’ve lived in small flats before and it was definitely much nicer to not be overrun with stuff. So much of it is tat (or feels like tat) when you break it right down.

In a bigger home, I would keep it, but it might be part of the process, to accept we won't have a bigger home.

Thanks all, I'm off to figure out stuff now.

@ShaneTheThird

I've started doing this! It's hard because dp ironically a Swedish person doesn't want to get rid of bloody anything even though he does want the tidy minimalist home. So it's very slow process here

Ooh cross post I am hoping to do it by xmas but it's only my stuff that needs reducing.

We just got new carpet, and the act of clearing everything away (into kitchen / bathrooms with no carpet) and then thinking as I put it back "do I really want this? If so where in the house should it live?" has been very helpful. Have thrown away or charity shopped so much stuff.

My DH, we realise, is hopeless at de-cluttering. I think it is because he grew up in a family where money was tight. So for example if we buy some nice new towels because the old ones ones are worn out, and I put aside a couple of the old ones for cleaning and go to throw the rest away, he'll say we should keep them just in case. Psychologically, I think he is worried the day might come when we can't just afford to buy new towels and need to go back to the worn out ones. But no one needs 20 years worth of threadbare towels clogging up their cupboards!

I loved Declutter by Debora Robinson as a fun and more balanced book about how to go about decluttering.

@DaisyNGO yeah it’s OTT on that front, but the method is sound - just translate it into whatever terms you like.

Or stick with the death cleaning.

Or make up your own method!

I find that once you break the ‘must hold on to things/must have X,Y,Z’ mindset, the rest follows pretty easily.

Not long ago I finished a massive de-clutter. I got rid of 12 wheelie bins worth, 68 bin bags (special collection), furniture (charity van collection and large merchant's chest, table, chairs and bookshelves to neighbours), 10 estate car loads (minimum) and finally a one ton truck full of the contents of the loft.

I look round and can see I still have a fair way to go before I finish - and yes, I think I probably am death cleaning. I have one son and don't want to land him with our stuff. I can get rid of a lot, lot more yet and yes, it will include more furniture. The house will look sooo much better and will be so much easier for my son to deal with come the day.

Summer "My DH, we realise, is hopeless at de-cluttering. I think it is because he grew up in a family where money was tight. So for example if we buy some nice new towels because the old ones ones are worn out, and I put aside a couple of the old ones for cleaning and go to throw the rest away, he'll say we should keep them just in case."

I'm the same and I don't plan to change that. I get really worried in case I chuck something and have to re-buy it, because I would be raging at having to spend the money.

I have done some decluttering. I suspect it's a lot different than decluttering a bigger space. I find myself looking at small things and saying "but this makes no difference" but I suppose eventually it will.

I dont consider myself nearly old enough to have to do a Swedish clean but am aspiring to minimise the shit in my house.

From mine and DH's point of view - why buy new towels when the existing ones are still usable even if no longer pretty?

I try to clean and declutter by imaging I'm moving house tomorrow... would I take it with me? If the answer is no, I chuck

I love this idea. My late MIL was forrin and when she died all of her possessions were packed up in a bin bag and sent off to a poor person. She literally only owned five or six nightgowns (she was bedridden the last 2 years of her life) a coat, a scarf and a few personal effects. I contrasted this with when my grandmother died and my DM and her DB had to take 2 weeks off work to clear the house before putting it on the market. It was such a source of stress and grief for them and they needed time afterwards to process it all before they could start grieving her. I told my dc not to be sentimental about any of my things (apart from photographs) and to chuck it all out.

@Comedycook

I try to clean and declutter by imaging I'm moving house tomorrow... would I take it with me? If the answer is no, I chuck

We are hoping to move but that didn't motivate me to do more than tinker round the edges.

I downsized post divorce - I went from a big house with masses of storage space to a much smaller house. I had nowhere to put things so kept them everything in boxes in the loft until I moved a year ago to somewhere with no loft, so my box room literally became that.
I didn't attack it from a death clearing perspective, but more from an I'm an Utter Twat perspective. I was holding onto boxes I had never opened - some had been in cupboards since early 00s and not used, just moved from house to house. I do not need what I do not need! I have got rid of loads and am still going. I genuinely miss none of it because I was not using or looking at it anyway. Obviously I have some things I want to keep, but I'm not hanging onto things for the sake of it and I really don't want DD to develop such sentimentality over piles of shit that she does the same as an adult. It is very freeing. Even in a big house before, the stuff wasn't out, it had just been neatly hidden and ignored rather than being glaringly obvious and ignored.

MrsPleasant "I didn't attack it from a death clearing perspective, but more from an I'm an Utter Twat perspective" 😂 Love it!

There's not a huge amount due to space here's a

dithering example - hiking boots. Expensive. Not used in 3 years due to health issues. Getting rid feels like saying "you will never be well enough for these". They were used a lot before. Also for hiking - waterproofs, various camping bits. I honestly don't know if I'll go camping again.

At some point, my parents can store stuff for me but it means carrying it on the train, which is left to poor DP as I will struggle with that too.

I do have a stock of stuff generally for things like 10 day isolation. I think most people in flats don't try to do that but the last two years has proved my point that it's a good idea IMHO.

If I come across something I've forgotten about, I should get rid of it but I've just found a tiny violin someone bought from their holiday and that stuff makes me lol so hard.😂 Or "spark joy" I suppose Kondo would say.