Shelter is my guiding word for this year. It is a non-striving word. A shelter offers refuge, provides safety, and embraces calm and quiet.
I’m happy to report that I have lived to tell the story of my Swedish Death Cleaning Adventure — my effort to make it easier for those who will have to deal with my possessions when I am no longer on earth to do so.
As a wrap-up of this two-part article on Finding Shelter…In My Home, I would like to share what worked, what didn’t, and what I learned.
Set an intention: The goal was not to turn my home into a Shrine to Minimalism, but to have my space clean, uncluttered, and uncomplicated, not only for me but those who will have to deal with my possessions when I am gone.
Have a Clearing Companion: It was really a good idea to have Melissa, my Clearing Companion, help me. We had actually done a top-layer version of decluttering in 2021 and I was happy to find there was not as much to go through as I thought. She was a cheerleader when my energy flagged and offered thoughtful ideas.
Set a Time Limit: We dedicated two hours a day five days in a row. Ten to noon worked well even though the last couple of days we went over 30 minutes or so. We also made a refresh/reset date for two weeks after the last session to move or reorganize things that weren’t working. Having this session turned out well as it gave me a bit of time to reassess some of my decisions and make adjustments.
Stay focused: Although some organization was done as we went along, this really wasn’t the time for that. This is about clearing and consolidating. The whole idea was to contain and reduce. I don’t need five spatulas, maybe only one or two. I don’t need 27 pairs of black pants, maybe only five. I don’t need 47,000 paper clips, maybe I could get by with 47?
Keep the momentum going: Here is where having my intention helped. I tried to stay focused on what I wanted to keep. I had to reframe my thinking on this process — instead of getting rid of things, I was letting go of things. And, I found that taking action made me want to take more action.
Leave a little space: The five-days-in-a-row gave me a little space in between sessions to rethink a decision or two and let something go that originally I thought I wanted to keep. And because my Clearing Companion took away the donation boxes every day, I had no opportunity to pull anything back out.
Don’t just hide stuff away: There’s a big difference between storing items that actually mean something to you and that you use and just hiding things away just to get them out of your sight. Think about what you could use, what you could display, what could be thoughtfully stored, and what could be shared — whether that is with family or friends or a donation center.
Storage is OK: Acknowledge that it’s OK to keep some sentimental items. After all, this is your life that you are looking through and thoughtful storage of cherished items is fine. I don’t like a lot of things sitting around on surfaces, so it’s nice having an empty drawer or an empty cabinet to hold things that I use, but just not every single day.
The Final Result: Although we did rearrange a few pieces of furniture, my home doesn’t look that much different but it sure feels different. I now have a bit more space, I know where things are stored and why I am keeping them, and am excited to begin tweaking the arrangement now that some of the (literal) dust has settled.
No matter your stage of life, if you are interested in beginning to let go of material items in your home, let me recommend The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson to get you started. I found it to be full of great suggestions especially for those of us of a certain age.
And a final bit of encouragement: Layer by layer you can do this. Start early and you also can survive Swedish Death Cleaning and make space in your life and your time to appreciate activities that you enjoy. And those loved ones you will leave behind? They will certainly thank you for your consideration.
Story and artwork by Lucy M. Pritchett
P.S. If you missed it, here’s part one of this Shelter series.
Leave a Reply