The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning

[Macfrommichigan]

Folks,

Last evening I caught something on TV about a new book with this title. It was written by an elderly artist and the focus, really, is about paring down possessions and decluttering as part of the aging process. IOW, don't stick your kids with having to sort through piles of papers, attics of old boxes, and basements filled with junk. She advises tackling closets first, and saving personal things such as photos last. Apparently the author thinks 65 is an ideal age to begin the process of giving away, selling, and otherwise ridding oneself of as much stuff as possible. I gather she had to go through all her parents things, in-laws, and then husband's stuff, and decided not to burden her kids with the same experience.

This is a slightly different take on decluttering, and I must say, the idea has merit. I know I need all my razors, for example, but is my life enhanced by owning eleven sweaters? And now that I am retired, will I ever again wear a dressy wool overcoat? Is it time for that camping tent to live with someone younger?

I wonder if transitioning one thing a day from my possession to the thrift shop, or a relative, or the dumpster might be a viable approach?

Would love to hear 'bout anyone who has done this, or who has had to go through someone's stuff.... Any wisdom or sage advice?

My 67th birthday is in March, BTW. It feels like it is time to shed some stuff. I will start small; that old beer mug I've had for more than 45 years needs to go.

Mac

 

[Phog Allen]

I am only 54 but trending this way big time. My wife and I have agreed that if we move again the first item we pack full is a large roll off dumpster bin in the drive. The less we take the better.

 

[Rhody]

I have had to do this twice ... and I think anyone who at least thinks about it now is way ahead of the game.
the most recent is really not completed yet. many uncompleted tasks. its not satisfying work and its depressing work also going through decades old stuff (junk) It takes time and a thought process to go through files that have a 1972 Amana radar range instruction book along with a bank statement from 2012. So you cant just throw out everything wholesale in good conscious. There is also an economic piece to this. for example what is a full length mink coat worth in 2018? The estate sale place we are using wouldnt even talk about it unless it was the highest quality with NO signs of wear at all. He showed me an example - he had two. The best of the best was selling at his estate sale place for $300. and frankly who in 2018 is going to buy that thing? no one. Going through old files I know what what was paid and the appraisals over the years. and this was a fraction of the initial cost. Now I am not saying I would turn away $300 for it but it wont sell thats the reality. also the longer anything sits at the estate sale place the price drops and the costs rise so even sending stuff there is of almost no value. You just feel like you didn't throw everything away in the trash. So what do we do with it? throw it out? no its not right... so it goes to a sibling and will sit in her basement... on a on the cycle goes.

several years ago when my son was into matchbox cars I was at a hobby store that had taken a huge "collection" of cars that some guy amassed over a lifetime. You could tell it was his pride and joy. He had custom ones, custom ones made as a wedding favor, everything ever made probably for decades all in hand made wood racks and of course tubs & tubs. his house was full and he had a storage unit. 1000s of cars some with price tags still on them... gold one of a kind cars with $20 original price stickers; treasure hunts. etc. and they all were $1.00. he passed away and the wife understandably just wanted them all gone. it struck me as so very sad. and even now when I remember it it does.

I like the one thing a day approach because it gets you thinking about it and keeps it on your mind.

 

[auk1124]

We hauled off a dump trailer full of junk out of our basement last year. We plan on giving our garage the same treatment this year.

We found it liberating. Get rid of all that crap. It will make you feel better.

 

[FarmerTan]

Don't let my wife read this. Lol, this is a thing I must do. Sadly. I'm a borderline hoarder, so says the War Department. My dad used say our possessions end up owning us. A wise Irishman he was.

 

[FarmerTan]

@Macfrommichigan , I hate your posts. Way too often they hit me between the eyes. Behave yourself in the future, or I'll get an Ambassador to go rogue and send a dumpster to your house filled with old shaving stuff for you to dive in to....

 

[FarmerTan]

I have had to do this twice ... and I think anyone who at least thinks about it now is way ahead of the game.
the most recent is really not completed yet. many uncompleted tasks. its not satisfying work and its depressing work also going through decades old stuff (junk) It takes time and a thought process to go through files that have a 1972 Amana radar range instruction book along with a bank statement from 2012. So you cant just throw out everything wholesale in good conscious. There is also an economic piece to this. for example what is a full length mink coat worth in 2018? The estate sale place we are using wouldnt even talk about it unless it was the highest quality with NO signs of wear at all. He showed me an example - he had two. The best of the best was selling at his estate sale place for $300. and frankly who in 2018 is going to buy that thing? no one. Going through old files I know what what was paid and the appraisals over the years. and this was a fraction of the initial cost. Now I am not saying I would turn away $300 for it but it wont sell thats the reality. also the longer anything sits at the estate sale place the price drops and the costs rise so even sending stuff there is of almost no value. You just feel like you didn't throw everything away in the trash. So what do we do with it? throw it out? no its not right... so it goes to a sibling and will sit in her basement... on a on the cycle goes.

several years ago when my son was into matchbox cars I was at a hobby store that had taken a huge "collection" of cars that some guy amassed over a lifetime. You could tell it was his pride and joy. He had custom ones, custom ones made as a wedding favor, everything ever made probably for decades all in hand made wood racks and of course tubs & tubs. his house was full and he had a storage unit. 1000s of cars some with price tags still on them... gold one of a kind cars with $20 original price stickers; treasure hunts. etc. and they all were $1.00. he passed away and the wife understandably just wanted them all gone. it struck me as so very sad. and even now when I remember it it does.

I like the one thing a day approach because it gets you thinking about it and keeps it on your mind.

The only problem for me is the one thing a day would stretch me out to the year 2525. Even ten per day would probably have my 17 year old son's grandkids helping me. Sigh.

 

[cathdeacon]

Did you ever see a U-Haul trailer linked to the back bumper of a hearse? Planning for the future is a very prudent exercise, and as some of us older types peer into the not too distant horizon, we can see that all our collections and accumulations of things no longer makes sense, and will ultimately become burdens to someone else. My wife has become an Ebay and Etsy wonk, and has made $$$$ over the past 3 years divesting us of accumulated stuff, and an equal amount sent off to goodwill and other organizations that can use things and $$$$.

 

[Snurgblat]

Very interesting. I'll be keeping my rodents and bowls though. Nothing satisfies the dark voids in my life like photographing assorted guinea pigs in bowls.

 

[Lmarkow]

My employer has moved me a number of times over the years. Each time has been an opportunity to get rid of stuff that isn't used or otherwise worth moving. Except the garbage in the garbage cans. They always seem to pack and move that too.

 

[dpm802]

I have cleaned out the estates of my aunt and mother.
It is a grueling process, and often best left to the professionals.
They can sort through your stuff without getting distracted by emotions and memories.
They can do in 3 days what you can't accomplish in 3 decades.

But you pay a price for it.
They will write up a contract that offers to buy your stuff at wholesale value.
Usually you wind up paying them for their time.

 

[Macfrommichigan]

Six books, a fleece vest, and a beer mug are in a bag to go to the Thrift shop tomorrow.

One small step.

 

[FarmerTan]

Six books, a fleece vest, and a beer mug are in a bag to go to the Thrift shop tomorrow.

One small step.

Or a giant leap...

 

[Macfrommichigan]

Yeah. In no time I will be as possession free as was Gandhi or Thoreau. Just a clean shirt and a tuck of blades.

 

[Seraphim]

“Simplify, simplify”

-Thoreau

 

[Porgy Tirebiter]

I read somewhere of a handy trick when purging unworn clothes from one’s closet. When hanging up clothes, have the hanger hook facing one way. Once a year take stock of the items that aren’t facing the same way and chuck ‘em. More often than not those items are at the very end of the clothes closet rod.
I’ve also put tags on “big ticket” items for my sons such as the collection of really nice rugs bequeathed to me by my folks before they died. I have no use for them but they’ll find a good home with my kids once they get nice places of their own. When that happens, BOOM, here ya go, and my crawl space is 95% cleaner.
One of my secret thrills is cleaning out that crawl space and the garage every spring and fall of the accumulated crap I don’t need and don’t use, and off to the dump I go.
My Mom had the right idea...over the last five years of her life she would send my sister and my wife home with some item like small appliances, scarves, and at the end she bequeathed her collection of rings for my niece’s and my son’s (future) wives. Dad, not so much...after his death I combed through files and files filled with ridiculously oultdated things like thirty year old chequebooks and stock certificates for stuff like Consolidated Spats and Industrial Hay.
My boys will not have that joy/torture once I shuffle off this mortal coil.

 

[Rusty Blade]

Yes, sadly the accumulation of stuff is the by-product of our consumer based society. And the happiness that was promised with the purchase of each item was fleeting or non-existent. Our last move was from a large house to a smaller house and we filled two dumpsters with stuff that, at one time, we felt we couldn't part with. But it is liberating to purge and simplify. And the OP is right in saying that it's not right to leave all the mess to our children. Personally I could easily move into a tiny home and live a simple life. I may, however, require a separate tiny home for all my shaving gear.

 

[Macfrommichigan]

Chewing on this like a hound with a bone. Part of the problem for me is the accumulation of good stuff...that I am just unlikely to use anymore. Example: I have a nice tent, almost new. A beauty. But I am turning 67. Hard to let go, yet what are the odds I will pitch a tent again? Yeah, that tent has to go. And with it a bunch of camping equipment.

 

[Mojo88]

Last year I cleaned out the basement, storage shed and garage. After that I cleaned out my side of the closet and dresser. Cleaning out old clothes was the greatest time savings I could have imagined. Now everything is put away in the same place. Getting ready takes a few minutes vs having to look through clothes that I never wore.
This year I will do a quick cleaning that will take a day vs weeks.

 

[Macfrommichigan]

Have a metal canister, probably held popcorn once, into which I toss spare change, receipts, and such. Went through it yesterday. Three years of receipts, all of which I tossed, twenty bucks in change, and a couple fifty dollar bills. Mad money.

A bigger project, and this will be hard for me: closets. Retired now, and no longer wearing sport coats and dress slacks much, and need to pare that down. Maybe keep three or four outfits and jettison the rest.