While Swedish Death Cleaning may sound like something involving a crime scene, it’s actually a thoughtful and effective approach to decluttering. In Swedish, the exercise is called döstädning — a combination of the word “dö” (death) and “standing” (cleaning). It’s based on the book, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family From a Lifetime of Clutter by Margareta Magnusson. She began the book after dealing with the deaths of her husband and her parents. At it’s core, it suggests decluttering your home so that when you go, it isn’t such a burden for those left behind. It’s similar to other trends on home organization and approaches to life, like hygge style.
But the concept became bigger than the process itself; death cleaning is not about dusting or mopping floors, it’s a permanent form of organization that can help make your everyday life better. And for many, going through their things and acknowledging worth is a positive experience. From psychology and sociology aspects, interesting reasons emerge around why going through our possessions, paring down and cleaning out can be really helpful.
It can help you feel less stressed and overwhelmed and more productive!
You may find yourself with lower stress and greater focus once living in a clean, organized space. With fewer things to worry about, life really can feel more manageable, from practical chores to big projects and problems. Less chaos on the outside often helps us feel less chaos on the inside. Multiple studies link clutter with stress and decreased productivity. One study that analyzed how 60 women described their home environments found that those who considered their spaces more cluttered, unfinished, and less restful had consistently higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol and worse moods over the course of a day compared with women who described their homes as being more restorative. Other research has found that clutter can make it physically harder for the brain to focus – because the visual cortex gets distracted by the irrelevant information you have to take in.
It can make you happier.
When you pare down, it helps emphasize the really important things in life, according to consumer behavior and psychology experts. Psychologically, minimalism is based on the idea that happiness doesn’t come from stuff, but rather from relationships and experiences. Once rid of the excess stuff surrounding you, you can better identify things that are really important to you and what brings you pleasure in your life. Studies have shown people who are more focused on materialistic pursuits — like getting rich and buying things — are at higher risk of becoming unhappy, anxious, having low self-esteem and even developing problems with intimacy. In addition, the idea of de-cluttering and streamlining our lives resonates especially more now because it feels like it pushes back against this fast and chaotic world we live in today.
Helps you cope with the reality of your own mortality.
Death cleaning can be a great way to start the sometimes difficult conversation around death. Going through all of your things can serve as a reminder of who you are, how you see yourself and how you want others to see you after you’re gone. Plus, there’s the practical aspect that eventually someone will need to deal with all your stuff, whether it’s you or your loved ones after you’re gone. Many people deal with a health condition or life circumstance that forces them to downsize or move out of their home, so minimizing belongings makes you more nimble for these changes. And research shows you’re better off cleaning and paring down sooner rather than later, as people are less and less likely to do it as they get older – it’s significant physical, cognitive and emotional work!
Not sure where to begin? Start with clothing then declutter by size.
Start with your closets. It’s usually easy to sort through clothing and figure out what fits and what doesn’t – or what styles are better off going. Take the opportunity create a system for your closet – like reserving the main sections for everyday items and putting seasonal clothing toward the back or up above.
After clothing, assess furniture and other items around your home that take up the most space. From there, you can work your way down to smaller items and personal mementos. Consider dedicating a box to hard-to-part-with items like letters and photos. Decide which items filling your kitchen you use on a day-to-day basis and reassess the rest.
Getting rid of something doesn’t have to mean losing it forever. Gift your friends and family objects you no longer need, but might hold meaning for them—like those copper pans they’ve admired. You’ll also find that many items can be sold or donated instead of becoming trash.
All that said, döstädning may not be for everyone.
Some ask if the surge of organization trends is simply celebrating one personality type and holding it up as a better way to live. Of course, there are a number of other ways to be happy, deal with stress and talk about death that don’t involve purging a majority of your possessions. Currently, however, minimalism continues to be the flavor of the day.
De-cluttering and feeling the urge to clean things out is just part of some people’s personality. Some have more organized lives because it helps them feel more in control. Or it just feels better to them.
There’s been a long standing, anti-materialism movement in our culture – sometimes driven by religious values and more recently by environmental concerns – asking us to live with a lighter footprint on our planet. How well we meet these norms can also be an evaluation of our values: a home that’s cluttered is viewed in an unhealthy way. Keeping a tidy home traditionally says something about how ordered, disciplined and well that home is.
However, homes we see in ads and social media with a perfectionist, minimalist aesthetic can be almost unlivable. We may aspire to it, but it’s hard to maintain in practice because daily life messes it up. Experts say you have to give yourself flexibility. Pushing yourself a little harder than you’re comfortable with in terms of getting rid of items — perhaps parting with a few more possessions than you think you can — will help most people see they can live with less. While you might think the way you are living now is best for you, you won’t know for sure unless you try something different!
In the end, there’s no right or wrong way to carry out Swedish Death Cleaning. As long as you’re paring down the clutter around your home and surrounding yourself with the most meaningful essentials, you’re not only making things easier for your loved ones in the future, you’re living a more purposeful life now.
Here at Bliss we want to make sure you always remember your self-care! During the month of January, try a 75-minute Swedish Massage with Sea Salt Glow Scrub or a Healthy Glow Facial. Call us at 562-439-4333 or visit www.blissonbroadway.com.