I tried Swedish death cleaning, the extreme decluttering method that's the anti-Kondo method, and it made me think about my stuff in a new way

• "The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter" — a book written by Swedish-born Margareta Magnusson — shares the Swedish practice of döstädning — or death cleaning — with the world.
• Swedish death cleaning is, in a way, the anti-Konmari method. While Marie Kondo's decluttering method focuses on only keeping things that bring you joy right now, the purpose of this cleaning method is to keep only the things that your friends and family will want once you've died.
• I tried this extreme decluttering method and went through boxes and bins that I've been throwing my belongings into to "deal with later," cleared out tons of cabinets and drawers, and gave away some of my clothes.
• As a 23-year-old with belongings split between my apartment in New York City and my parents' home in Westchester, New York, it proved a difficult task for me.
• I also found Swedish death cleaning to be difficult at my age because I don't have children or grandchildren to pass my things along to yet, which is a big part of the whole process and a big part of my decisions to hold onto certain belongings.
• Even though this is a practice that even Magnusson writes will take a long time, just starting has made me think about my stuff differently.  
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The concept of Swedish Death Cleaning is nothing new, but it was recently made popular by Margareta Magnusson, a Swedish-born woman somewhere between 80 and 100 years old, as she says herself.

Source: Editions Versilio chaine Youtube, "The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning"

Magnusson wrote a book published in 2018 sharing the Swedish practice of döstädning. She breaks the term down for anyone who doesn't speak Swedish: dö means death and städning means cleaning.

Source: "The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning"

The concept boils down to the act of preparing all of our things for our own death — answering the question, "What's going to happen to our stuff when we're dead?" Magnusson's book outlines the way she approaches death cleaning and offers tips for getting it done in the most efficient way possible.

Source: "The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning"

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