Swedish Death Cleaning Quotes

I often ask myself, Will anyone I know be happier if I save this?

Save your favorite dildo, but throw away the other fifteen!

A love one wishes to inherit nice things from you. Not all things from you.

The one thing we know for sure is that we will die one day. But before that you can try to do almost anything.

Start with the large items in your home, and finish with the small.

Putting your house in order, if you can do it, is one of the most comforting activities, and the benefits of it are incalculable.” —LEONARD COHEN, THE NEW YORKER

You can always hope and wait for someone to want something in your home, but you cannot wait forever, and sometimes you must just give cherished things away with the wish that they end up with someone who will create new memories of their own.

Do not ever imagine that anyone will wish—or be able—to schedule time off to take care of what you didn’t bother to take care of yourself. No matter how much they love you, don’t leave this burden to them.

A Christmas without a book for a present is a disappointment.

Life will become more pleasant and comfortable if we get rid of some of the abundance.

Living smaller is a relief.

Let me help make your loved ones' memories of you nice -- instead of awful.

Mess is an unnecessary source of irritation.

It is amazing, and also a little strange, how many things we accumulate in a lifetime.

Women of my generation were brought up to not be in the way, to not trouble their surroundings with their presence. That is not the case with men, who take the space they are given for granted. My daughter sometimes says that I am so worried about being a nuisance that my worry itself becomes troublesome. Men don’t think like I do, but they should. They, too, can be in the way.

Don’t offer things that do not fit the recipient’s taste or the space in which they live. It will be a burden to them, and if they think your feelings might be hurt, it may be difficult for them to say “No, thank you.

Beautiful things such as an African wooden bird, strange things like a singing magnetic pig, and funny things like a solar-powered waving bear are all things that I adore. My vice is really things. It took me a while to understand this, but you can enjoy all these things without owning them. Even though this may sometimes seem quite hard to do, training yourself to enjoy only looking at things, instead of buying them, is very nice and also a good practice. You really can't take everything with you, so maybe it is better to not try to own it all.

Here in Stockholm on the 14th of August is a big annual book sale. A whole long street in the center of the city is occupied by tables with books that people want to sell. It is a fantastic day for those who want to get rid of some books and for those who want to pick up more. If there is not something like this where you live, maybe you can help start one.

This cycle of consumption we are all part of will eventually destroy our planet—but it doesn’t have to destroy the relationship you have with whomever you leave behind.

Only count the happy moments, and forget the ones that cause you sorrow.

Aging is certainly not for weaklings.

Old people seem to think time goes so quickly, but in fact it is we who have become slower.

I do know people who maintain what we in Sweden call a fulskåp, a cabinet for the ugly. A fulskåp is a cupboard full of gifts you can’t stand to look at, and which are impossible to regift. Usually these are presents from distant aunts and uncles that you put on display when the giver comes to visit. This is a bad idea.

His snickarbod (Swedish for "toolshed") gradually became what I believe today is called a "man cave." In Swedish we also now sometimes call it mansdagis-- a male kindergarten, which makes me smile and which feels like an entirely appropriate word.

The boat was a type called an Optimist dinghy. It is a beginner's boat. If that little boat had been able to speak, no one would have believed all the stories it could have told: tales of victory and defeat, tales of oceans and islands and fjords it had brought its occupants to.

Death cleaning is not about dusting or mopping up; it is about a permanent form of organization that makes your everyday life run more smoothly.

A loved one wishes to inherit nice things from you. Not all things from you.

Sometimes the smallest changes can have amazing effects. If you find yourself repeatedly having the same problem, fix it!

G. Bengtsson, a Swedish author and poet whom my husband liked very much. The poem, “A Gazelle,” ends in the following way: The seagull knows a way to rest. The human heart, on earth, does not know yet.

If your parents are getting old and you don't know how to bring up the topic of what to do with all the stuff, I would suggest you pay them a visit, sit down, and ask some of the following questions in a gentle way: "You have many nice things, have you thought about what you want to do with it all later on?" "Do you enjoy having all this stuff?" "Could life be easier and less tiring if we got rid of some of this stuff that you have collected over the years?" "Is there anything we can do together in a slow way so that there won't be too many things to handle later?

If you want to change your life, you have to do something different.

My daughter sometimes says that I am so worried about being a nuisance that my worry itself becomes troublesome.

His

To hunt for misplaced things is never an effective use of your time.

Most people clean their homes once a week.

Mess is an unnecessary source of irritation. Even in a fairly small family, one

In a home where you have been living for some time, it should be easy to keep some order.

Give everything a place and you won’t feel angry, irritated, or desperate when leaving the house.

Today, I meet many relatively young people who do not have children of their own. One might think, Well, I have no children, therefore I need not death clean. Wrong. Someone will have to clean up after you.

Men don’t think like I do, but they should. They, too, can be in the way.

Your favorite oracle and problem solver is no longer around. He will never show up again to keep you company and to make life easier. This is a terrible fact that we each encounter in different ways, whether it is a spouse, or the inevitable loss of our closest friend or family members.

When they buried their relatives, they also buried many objects together with the body. This was to be sure that the dead would not miss anything in their new environment. It was also an assurance for the family members who remained that they would not become obsessed with spirits of the dead and constantly be reminded of them because their possessions were still scattered all over the tent or mud hut. Very clever.

There is a line that Anni-Frid Lyngstad from ABBA used to sing: “Only count the happy moments, and forget the ones that cause you sorrow.” It is damned important to make time for the happy moments that will become good memories later on.

If there is one thing I have learned from death cleaning, it is that I hate staples.

I have to remove these nasty little metal pieces, one by one, so that they do not destroy my precious shredder.

That is another benefit of death cleaning: thinking more about how to reuse, recycle, and make your life simpler and a bit (or a lot) smaller. Living smaller is a relief.

Thinking of the new home in which your object will find itself is very important as you do your job.

My vice is really things.

One’s own pleasure, and the chance to find meaning and memory, is the most important thing. It is a delight to go through things and remember their worth. And if you don’t remember why a thing has meaning or why you kept it, it has no worth, and it will be easier for you to part with.

You cannot know the places your objects may go after you are gone and that could be wonderful to contemplate.

Some people can’t wrap their heads around death. And these people leave a mess after them. Did they think they were immortal?

Going through all your old belongings, remembering when you used them last, and hopefully saying good-bye to several of them is very difficult for many of us. People tend to hoard rather than throw away.

So what is death cleaning? For me it means going through all my belongings and deciding how to get rid of the things I do not want anymore.

It is a word that is used when you or someone else does a good, thorough cleaning and gets rid of things to make life easier and less crowded.

Also I remember collecting the nice tissue papers that oranges were wrapped in when they were imported again after the war in the forties. We had not seen bananas or oranges for many, many years.

This hoarding disease can be treated. But if a doctor cannot help, the only thing I can think to do is order a big container when the time comes.

Recycling and donating can both help the planet and also bring things to people who may need them.

Aging is certainly not for weaklings. That is why you should not wait too long to start your downsizing. Sooner or later you will have your own infirmities, and then it is damn nice to be able to enjoy the things you can still manage to do without the burden of too many things to look after and too many messes to organize.

There’s no sense in saving things that will shock or upset your family after you are gone.

How we would prefer to arrange things if we fall ill and how we want to be treated when we are dead are decisions that are within our power, if we face and take control of these inevitabilities.

Another problem was a parcel at the very back of his desk drawer. It contained a large piece of arsenic! It had been there for almost thirty years, since the time we were worried that the Germans would invade our country.

I would call this method some kind of cross between Marie Kondo and Swedish Death Cleaning,” I say.

To let things, people, and pets go when there is no better alternative is a lesson that has been very difficult for me to learn and a lesson that life, as it goes further along, is teaching me more and more often.

Be aware of the fact that to downsize your home will take some time.

Trust me, the more time you spend going through your belongings, the easier it will be for you to decide what to keep and what not to. The more you work at it, the less time-consuming it will become.

There must be something wrong with the way I have organized my home if I have to continually mess up the place that I originally worked so hard to decorate and keep orderly. Life will become more pleasant and comfortable if we get rid of some of the abundance.

Choose a category that you believe is easy for you to handle. An easy category is one with many items to choose from and without too much sentimental connection.

always choose clothes as my first category. That is easy for me since I know that I have many garments in my wardrobe that I seldom or never use.

I always choose clothes as my first category. That is easy for me since I know that I have many garments in my wardrobe that I seldom or never use.

In general, when death cleaning, size really matters. Start with the large items in your home, and finish with the small.

When your home is a complete mess, it is very hard to clean it at all. But it is never too late to do something about this problem.

The intention is not that we should remove things that make our lives pleasant and more comfortable. But if you can’t keep track of your things, then you know you have too many.

Auction houses are generally very helpful if you do not have friends or siblings to help you.

And so the number of possessions grows and collects quickly over the years. Suddenly the situation is out of control and the weight of all those things can begin to seem tiring.

The problem is that you have too much stuff to deal with. It is time to change your way of living. It is never too late to start!

When you have lived a long life, it is so easy to get lost among memories from a long time ago.

Some things are nice and important to save.