Cleaning for life: Don’t put off the project

The gentle lady with a smidge of dementia still lived in her big home, complete with a lavish bookcase holding thousands of volumes. And a kitchen with all those serving platters and china. And four bedrooms stuffed with memories.

She was feeling weak and confused. “I would like to downsize,” she said. “But what do I do with all of this?”

The Swedish have a solution for this and it starts long before a person starts feeling too weak to start such a project. They call it, somewhat unpleasantly, ‘death cleaning.’ But the project is really about preparing to live simply.

The idea is to live in a house, cleared of clutter, where everything has a place.

Author Margareta Magnusson, in her book How to Free Yourself and your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter, points out that this makes it easier for those left behind, but it also makes daily living easier.

Magnusson divides the cleaning into categories of rooms and things, like clothing and books.

She advises to start with a category with many things in it, but very little sentimental attachment. If you no longer give large family dinners, start in the kitchen where there are likely to be tons of serving dishes and tableware, fancy and not. Ask a newly married grandchild or niece, if they would like some of these items. In fact, invite your young relatives to take things you sort out.

Make a special effort to sort out photos, scrapbooks or memorabilia that other relatives will want and offer it to them.

Sort out things you don’t wish to leave to family, too.

One unique idea: Create a Throw Away box. Fill this box with things no one but you appreciates — a letter from a late friend about her summer vacation. Your family doesn’t know this person anyway. When you are gone, they can look through it or throw it away without the slightest bit of guilt. In the meantime, you can still enjoy it and leave no doubt to your relatives whether you think the items should be kept.