The Swedish art of death cleaning

G

Glowworm

Senior Member
Location
Sweden
Have you ever heard this expression? It's used here when we sort through and throw away things that are no longer needed like clothes, books, photos, ornaments and other junk in order to save our children a load of work clearing up after us when we're gone.

I'm currently having two rooms redecorated and am sorting out loads of things that nobody is interested in having. I mean who really wants all the last five years back issues of computer magazines or a complete set of Hercule Poirot DVDs when they can watch them on TV twenty times a week? Not to mention about two hundred books I'll never read again and VHS tapes of old movies - I haven't even got a VHS player any more.

Do you indulge in the Swedish art of death cleaning or can't you bear to part with things?
 

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My apartment needs an overhaul and I must go through stuff. Yesterday I found a newspaper clipping of me(!!!!!!!) at my college protesting & surrounded by cops. My mother used to clip & save these things. Also, me walking with Dr. Benjamin Spock at a protest in DC which she lovingly kept.
 

I'm not sure I like this death cleaning thing to make it easier for my relatives. If this really made it easier for my relatives, I'd rent warehouses, and cram stuff into them. But as Glowworm said, "can't you bear to part with things?".
Well, I can't. I did have a large VHS library. I don't know why, but as soon as you taped something, you never ever wanted to see it again. And there was a teensy other problem, I no longer had a working VHS player. I just got rid of all those tapes about two weeks ago. It was a hard thing to do. I'm keeping the broken VHS player. I ain't making that easy for any relative.
 
I have a very difficult time getting rid of things that bring back pleasant memories to me. I can't count the number of family pictures I have, or videotapes especially if family members are in them. I still have the sweater my husband had on the day we met in 1961. I just realized I an be in the hoarder category.
 
Right now I’m working on my filing cabinet. Boring stuff. Only important papers will be kept. There may be some info that‘s essential for me but useless for my DDs or DH and those files should be labelled as destroy upon death. There’s so darned much that they’ll need to do, the last thing they need to do is ponder junk.
 
I was doing fine before the holidays.

I need to get back to spending a few hours each week sifting and sorting. The easy stuff is pretty much gone. I'm left with things of sentimental value and some things of monetary value. I hope to be finished by the end of this year!

images
 
Kathleen’s Place said:
We did (mostly me) did when we moved from 2800 sq ft condo into a 2 br apt. Made me sad for awhile but I soon got over it. But my husband!!! What is it with guys? We have a storage locker full of old movies, old computer stuff, old movie cameras. He just WILL NOT part with this junk 😫
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Same thing with my huzz. Until I gave up trying to get him to downsize to a smaller, closer-to-town place, I tried getting rid of a bunch of stuff (somebody had said that when she did that, her huzz finally agreed they could move to a smaller place); told him I was going to, he said he had a bunch of stuff (clothes, tools, etc.) to get rid of too; when it came time to take all what I wanted to take to charity (or throw away), he had changed his mind & decided to keep all his stuff after all.
 
A complete set of Hercule Poirot DVDs ??? Is it the series with David Suchet as Poirot? My wife refers to David Suchet as "her boyfriend".

Anyone know if Swedish DVD's are compatible with machines in the US?

If they are, we should talk.
 
I read excerpts from that book and wish that it was titled differently. None-the-less, the premise is certainly valid and my wife and I are working on it. It is not easy for either of us and as much as it bothers me to get rid of some of my favorite things, it bothers me even more to see her part with some of hers. We have some things that we have to hold on to because they have meaning that the grandchildren are interested in. She also has a few things that I so closely associate with her that I would cling to the memories they evoke if she had to leave the planet before I do.
But we do have to downsize, pure and simple.
 
hahaha! i told my son, when I leave this body, he's going to be here cussing me out as he goes through all my "stuff"!
I'm waiting for warmer weather to go through my storage and rid of tons of things.
Guess I have kind of a "cowboy mentality". I'd be happiest with just what i can carry on my back!
"Things" particularily expensive things, weigh you down, entrap you!
I'm part Swedish so, maybe it's inherited; this "death cleaning".

As always, IMO.
 
 
I went at it last year. I call it purging.
I may have even gone a bit overboard. I had a really nice sheet pan from my cake business I had for a short while. I figured I'd never be making that large of a cake again so I sold it for $2.00 on the Market Place.
This winter I wanted to make some custard and the note I put on my recipe said to use the pan to put the cups in for the water bath.
I also got rid of a planter I didn't think I would use because the deer eat everything. I bought a couple of house plants and wished I had the planter for my bay window.
Now I put things aside in boxes marked to go and think about it for awhile then get rid of it.
On a whole I'm glad I got rid of what I did. My kids are thrilled. they don't want anything Mama has.
 
Pepper said:
My apartment needs an overhaul and I must go through stuff. Yesterday I found a newspaper clipping of me(!!!!!!!) at my college protesting & surrounded by cops. My mother used to clip & save these things. Also, me walking with Dr. Benjamin Spock at a protest in DC which she lovingly kept.
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Pepper, I cannot see you protesting or being surrounded by cops. (Said tongue in cheek)
 
Kathleen’s Place said:
We did (mostly me) did when we moved from 2800 sq ft condo into a 2 br apt. Made me sad for awhile but I soon got over it. But my husband!!! What is it with guys? We have a storage locker full of old movies, old computer stuff, old movie cameras. He just WILL NOT part with this junk 😫
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For us, it just the opposite. I want to donate or throw away anything that hasn't been used in a year or two, whereas my wife wants to keep everything forever.
 
Oris Borloff said:
A complete set of Hercule Poirot DVDs ??? Is it the series with David Suchet as Poirot? My wife refers to David Suchet as "her boyfriend".

Anyone know if Swedish DVD's are compatible with machines in the US?

If they are, we should talk.
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Yes Oris they're the ones with David Suchet, but they have region code 2 which is Europe. USA has region code 1 so they wouldn't work in a US player. A friend came round and took them.
 
Glowworm said:
Yes Oris they're the ones with David Suchet, but they have region code 2 which is Europe. USA has region code 1 so they wouldn't work in a US player. A friend came round and took them.
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Glowworm,

Thank you.

I'm not so sure I need hours of competition for her affections anyway.:unsure::D
 
When I discard something, my attitude is that I’ll make some mistakes but on the whole getting rid of excess is best in the long run.

That said, I’m going to get rid of something right now.
 
When I downsized and moved I got rid of stuff by the truckload, and it wasn't long after I started asking myself why I threw that away. It still goes on today. My philosophy at the time was that if I really needed a particular item and I had thrown it away, I could buy another. As for personal items like old photos, they remind me of what once was and never will be again. Too sad. Out they went. Always forward, never back.
 

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