“Dostadning: The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning”
by Margareta Magnusson
“The problem is that you have too much stuff to deal with. It is time to change your way of living and it’s never too late to start!”
Dostadning is the Swedish phenomenon of “death cleaning” – decluttering your home with the intention that the clearing process is easier for others when you are gone. I have to be honest… it’s not a term that I like but it does make sense for those of us who have experienced the overwhelm of sorting a loved one’s possessions and instead want the peace of mind of knowing that their own affairs are in order.
Margareta Magnusson is an elderly lady who anecdotally takes the reader through how to begin, how to sort your possessions and what to keep and how to reduce the clutter in our lives. The book is advertised as something that will help people of any age to de-clutter their lives and take stock of what is important… whether sorting the family heirlooms from the junk, downsizing to a smaller place or using a failsafe system to stop you using the essentials.
Something I liked: The book is short and easy to read with a few interesting illustrations. Although it has rave reviews, this book wasn’t quite what I expected. But I did like the fact that it is a gentle easy-read for beginners to the concept of de-cluttering, which mainly focuses on the author’s personal memories and her own reason for “death cleaning”.
What I wanted: I think I was hoping for a lightbulb moment to help me sort out the clutter at home and live a more minimalist life. The book didn’t give me the practical hints and tips I was hoping for. Instead, I felt this book was more appropriate to those in their later years or those who are interested in reading about how the author reduced the clutter in her world.
Setting aside my niggles about the lack of inspiration, I did take away some key learnings which I wanted to share with you:
1. Relieve the distress on yourself and others by living a more minimalist life
2. Start now – none of us know what’s around the corner
3. Don’t under-estimate how important it is to talk about this with friends and family.
Nonetheless, the concept of tidying our world to make it easier for ourselves in our lifetime and others when we are gone is a good one. Living a more organised and spacious life makes things like moving house and finding important papers much easier. As for on our deaths, sorting our stuff in our lifetime will certainly make things easier for loved ones after we have gone. But, most importantly if you are finding it hard please ask for help. The Association of Professional Declutterers and Organisers have a webpage where you can search for professionals.
“Death cleaning is certainly not just about things. If it was, it would not be so difficult.”