‘Swedish Death Cleaning,’ Also Known as Decuttering

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“Decluttering” is a word one hears often as the new year arrives. Books are written providing advice. Videos are made, lists created of how to tackle the often-daunting task of getting rid of stuff. My Beautiful Mystery Companion and daughter Abbie have been busily decluttering over the past few weeks – before the semester began, and we all had to return to academia. I was primarily the designated driver to Hope’s Closet, which received several contractor bags worth of stuff. I also got rid of a bunch of clothes and shoes. There is more to be done as always.

We have a three-car garage in our home on Three Geese Farm, with the single garage serving as an ersatz storage unit. Now, in an unprecedented feat I consider close to miraculous, we can actually park all three vehicles inside, out of the elements. It is now the designated parking spot for our 4-Runner, newly purchased and only driven on out-of-town trips and other special occasions. The ancient Tundra and 2014 Rav4 with 191,000 miles are the everyday vehicles. Before clearing out the garage, the Tundra parked under an oak tree just off the driveway, where it collected an impressive array of acorns last fall that rattle around its bed when I drive it.

Google “decluttering” and a long list of related articles and advice pop up. My personal favorite is Why Swedish Death Cleaning is Great for Downsizing. Who can resist that title? It is actually a thing, the Swedish term being döstädning, which translates to “death cleaning.” The notion is to slowly start getting rid of stuff you don’t need so, when you pass beyond the veil, your children only have to deal with a limited number of possessions. My BMC and I both had parents who hung on to just about everything. Having to clear out your parents’ house, in which they have lived for decades, only exacerbates the grief. I speak from experience. So, we are going to do our best to keep chipping away at the clutter. Clearing out the garage was an excellent first step.

I listed several items for sale on some Facebook marketplace sites. I have sold a few items in the past on Facebook – a Bowflex that served largely as a clothing rack, a hardshell guitar case, some other minor items. After I listed the items, including a reupholstered antique fainting couch for which we’re asking $400, the scammers started.  One fellow told me to mark it sold, send him my address, and he would be right over. Since I have no intention of inviting a potential mass murderer to our home out in the country, I told him to text me his name and phone number. That way I could check him out more closely. I never heard from him again. When I checked further on FB, this miscreant lived in Ukraine!

I had already decided that for all the physically smaller items for sale – a mandolin, acoustic guitar, and a flute – I would meet the potential buyer down the road in the PetSmart parking lot. The fainting couch, if it sells, will require someone to come to the house – but only after passing my background check.

Another annoyance with FB marketplace is the people who ask, “Is this item still available?” I reply that it is indeed and never hear from them again. Why in thunderation are they asking if it’s available? The price is already on it, so the logical next step is to either agree to pay the posted price or haggle. This has happened more than a dozen times.

The decluttering shall continue. I plan to donate nearly all my newspaper publisher clothes – sports jackets, button-down shirts, dress pants – to a local thrift store that is run by a nonprofit I support. I’ll keep a couple of jackets, shirts, and slacks for the occasional (I hope) funeral I must attend, or other events more formal than showing up to work my library shift.

I am refraining from calling it Swedish Death Cleaning. We are just lightening our load, slowly and surely.

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