Have you heard of Swedish Death Cleaning? While it sounds somber, this approach can help manage your belongings so your family doesn’t have to worry.
Swedish Death Cleaning is the practice of paring down and organizing all of your belongings before you die. This is something that we all know we should do, but it can be a difficult process. If you have ever had to manage a deceased loved one’s belongings, you know how physically taxing and emotional it can be.
The key is to tackle your things in stages and don’t try to do it all alone. Just think, if you address these things now, you can enjoy later years with fewer worries and burdens. Jillee at One Good Thing (she’s one of our favorites;) has been researching this practice and has outlined the method in several easy-to-follow steps.
According to one book written on the topic, the guiding question during this process should be, “Will anyone be happier if I save this?”. We think that question is a great rule of thumb to keep in mind. Paring down now will not only free your mind so you can enjoy your later years, but it may be the greatest gift you can give your family.
credit: One Good Thing
Here are some of the things to remember when Swedish Death Cleaning:
- Consider the “guiding question”
- Save photos for later
- Start with clothes
- Consider re-gifting
- When you do tackle photos, pace yourself
- Keep one box with your treasured items that may not be valued by anyone else and label “throw away when I’m dead”.
Visit One Good Thing for several more tips. This is great information and can help gently guide you or a loved one through this process.
Credit: All Created
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