I FINALLY TRIED SWEDISH DEATH CLEANING (and it actually works!!!)

here's the thing we're all gonna die unless you're like a vampire like a witch put a hex on you to live forever or if you found the fountain of internal youth those things aside those of us who are mortal we all gonna die and all the stuff you've accumulated in your life you can't take it with you [Music] i recently decided to try out swedish death cleaning which i won't lie when i first heard swedish death cleaning i just thought it like was some fight club style cleaning method i just like pictured some fight to the death but like with clutter i'm not really sure i guess i didn't really think it all the way through it's kind of just where my mind went but i kept hearing about it and hearing about it and hearing about it and i was like you know what i gotta know more so i bought the book that sparked it all the gentle art of swedish death cleaning how to free yourself and your family from a lifetime of clutter which was written by marguerita magnussen i hope i'm pronouncing her name right excuse me i'm trying to film a youtube video i was trying to were you hoping to learn a little more about some swedish depth cleaning today or it's a really easy read i read it in like two days and i won't lie the general theory behind it is the exact perspective shift i needed right now about my clutter if you've been watching my videos for a while you know i'm a big believer in daily decluttering i believe in doing a little bit every day to keep your space tidy and organized and free of clutter and it works really really well for me but eventually even with daily decluttering every home needs a good deep declutter and this is a time to just tend to those spaces that have gotten away from you and you're not really sure how or why but it happened this is reality you guys i make videos on youtube about helping you guys get more organized and more productive and yet this is currently how the dresser and my son's room looks because this is just reality so what is swedish death cleaning well it's the basic idea that eventually we're all gonna die and we don't want our stuff to become a burden on our loved ones once we're gone in sweden there's this kind of decluttering called and i'm sure i'm going to mispronounce this but it's do standing dew meaning death and standing meaning cleaning and it's the process usually started between 50 and 65 years old of clearing out unnecessary things so that when you are gone your loved ones aren't left to sort through it all and when you look at the definition just that way it may seem well polite you know a little bit morbid but it's actually an extremely peaceful and freeing process and it can be adopted by anyone at any point in life the real idea behind death cleaning is just to unburden yourself from your clutter the origin has to do with decluttering an old age so that your clutter doesn't become a burden for someone else but the practice is really about the process of letting yourself let your stuff go and then you know we've got two baskets an empty shelf doesn't seem too cluttered but the truth is this basket here is just full of just nothingness just a bunch of stuff that i didn't know where to put it all right let's take a look into the mystery basket shall we we have a halloween costume i actually did save this because i think i may use it we used it for this year's halloween i think i'm going to use it for next year's halloween so i am going to save this one this was a piece of miles halloween costume we're never going to use this again i had to like glue all over it to make them a scarecrow um so this one it's got to go why am i keeping this all right we got some kids stuffed animals we're going to put this in the kids section figure it out later you know it's a bag with his name on it will we use it i don't know i'm gonna put this in the think about pile oh this is a good one this is something only somebody who has toddlers will understand my child hates when um books have jackets i've tried all sorts of tricks you know the books might be cold if they don't wear their jackets there's a piece deep down inside of me that is like these books should have these jackets on them you know i was a teacher for a long time i just it kind of bugs me but i don't really need to keep a bunch of just paper jackets but now we're all wrinkling gross because we shoved them in this bag these books are still functional about these jackets we can probably let them go miles has been asking for this toy for about three weeks now we know where it is random piece of fabric oh look you thought i was joking more book jackets you hid them all the way in here [Music] they're good books but callie they work without the jackets i'm letting my gotta let go of you know this need and desire to keep these because i think the books need them and let it go oh good enough admit that makes sense in a toddler's room all right so much better now the basket that's in the toddler's room actually just has toys in it which is what it should have and what it was originally designed to be a basket of toys throughout life we become burdened with stuff with so many things so much stuff accumulates in life and i always say the biggest issue with clutter in our life is that we have so many methods in which things enter our home and very few methods in which they leave our home and basic math will tell you that if more comes in then goes out you're gonna end up with more in and so why do we hold on to all this stuff why don't we just let go of stuff as much as we bring it in in the book she mentions how we typically hold on to things because either our fear of letting go or partying with something we think someone might want it or need it our clutter instinct and our hoarding instinct because we have this like deep down instinct to hold on to things just in case of emergencies but this is why death cleaning is actually so freeing because when you look at getting rid of your things from the perspective of unburdening yourself and the loved ones who would have to go through this stuff when you die it gives you this amazing new lens to look at your stuff through it really gives you a lot of perspective about what you really need to keep one of my favorite things she talks about in the book is for when you get to an item that you've been holding onto forever some things are going to be really easy to part with when you clutter when you declutter and others just won't we all end up with these things that we just hold on to we keep them for years and years and years even if they aren't serving us in any way and there's lots of reasons we do this maybe it's a gift someone gave you that you didn't really love it can be hard to part with something that's was gifted to you all right i just came across this watch that has been sitting in the store for probably two years now my father gave it to me as a birthday present and so it feels special to me because he gifted it to me but the truth is i don't wear watches and i don't think i've ever worn this but still the thought of getting rid of it seems wrong maybe you think you might need some this thing someday maybe it holds a sentimental value to you it's a memory of some kind it can be especially hard to let go of things that belong to a loved one who has passed away but in the book she poses that you ask yourself two questions about an item one will you use it again and if not will it make someone else happy you know is someone else going to be happier that you held on to this two more examples almost a decade ago my brother died unexpectedly it was really hard he was my only sibling he was in his 20s living in new york city and he didn't have a lot of possessions somehow when we went through his things i ended up with his leather jacket that he loved to wear and i remembered when he bought it when he first moved to new york city so for years i hung onto this jacket i hung it on my coat rack i think it was kind of for me like having him there we moved houses i brought it with me hanging in at new homes on new coat rackets and finally when we moved into this house i knew it was time to part with this i'd hung it for years but i didn't really use it most days i didn't even know it was there and it was just taking up room and i knew no one else had this random connection to this old leather jacket i was the only one who had memories or connections to this and i would still have those memories even when the jacket was gone but it was hard letting it go this is like my dead brother's favorite jacket right this carries some guilt associated with partying with it but he didn't care that i had it and someday when i'm gone my kids are not going to want to deal with some old jacket that i held on to i had so many other important things to remember my brother by that my kids would want and then i could keep another example sort of on the opposite side is hanging right in my christmas tree here my grandfather passed away this fall and my mom used some of his old clothes to make ornaments he loved cats he always had at least one now this is something that means something and i will use it i'll hang it on my tree every single year it's a far more practical memento to keep of someone as a mom one thing i definitely procrastinate decluttering is my kid's clothing it's just super overwhelming to me they grow through things so quickly and i'm not sure that our family is done or not so it just brings up all these questions of do i keep it do i not keep it this is probably that fear point that margaretta mentions in the book i have a fear of getting rid of these things because what if we decide to have another kid and i need it and it's a valid point but i also had a boy and then a girl and i can tell you that of the three extra large vacuum bags of clothing that i saved for my first child my second child only wore about 10 of those things so that perspective definitely really helps me when i'm going through this stuff deciding what i should really keep all right can we just have a ladies only moment please to comment on the phenomenon that is spare tampons i swear every time i declutter there's always just a random spare tampon somewhere like i've been storing them away like a squirrel in the winter okay so going back to the idea of swedish death cleaning i know this is a super random thought but i love murder documentaries right like i could binge forensic files all day long i had awful pregnancy insomnia with both of my kids and i'd be there 2 a.m watching murder mysteries you know but i also noticed this weird phenomenon when i watch a murder mystery if i watch a murder show at night then that that night before bed i always tidy my house a little more than usual like i go out of my way to tidy things because in my mind i'm thinking if i get murdered tonight in my sleep i don't want all these detectives and police coming into my house well it's a total disaster and i know this is a morbid bizarre thought i'm aware that is absolutely ridiculous but i also know i'm not alone because i mentioned this to you guys on instagram and a lot of you said you totally do it too anyways the point is when you think i might not be here tomorrow it just becomes so much easier in your mind to tidy and clear your space so i've been using this general idea of swedish death cleaning for a couple of weeks now and i'm just totally in love with it i love how absolutely freeing it is when you can allow yourself to let go of something when you can look at it and say this isn't serving me i don't need it and none of my loved ones will want this when i'm gone and then you can let yourself let it go now listen i've said it before and i'll say again i'm definitely not a minimalist i never will be but i've gotten really good at letting go of things in my home as a daily habit of decluttering and i know the excess stuff doesn't make my life easier but instead it burdens me it causes me stress it causes me anxiety it makes it hard to find things sometimes i think we think oh i'll keep this because i just might need it but we don't realize how much this extra stuff is actually burdening us so i just love the sort of liberating perspective that swedish death cleaning gives you with your stuff one day you won't be here and you can't take your stuff with you like i said 2021 has been a big year and has just been the perfect mindset that i needed to tackle through some of the areas that had just gotten really out of hand after you're done the best thing about decluttering is always that amazing realization you have so much more space than you realize when you part with the things that you didn't need i live in a home that's just about 1100 square feet with two kids and two adults working from home full time it's not a super big house so you think we'd be bursting at the seams but look at all this spare room that we still have totally empty drawers it's a really great feeling it honestly changes the entire mood of a space when it is not burdened down with extra stuff i really hope you guys enjoyed this video and learning a little bit more about swedish death cleaning if maybe you didn't really understand it before like i said the book was super quick to read i highly suggest it if you want some perspective on your clutter or the hard areas in your home or just having a hard time partying with lots of extra random stuff in your house as always thank you so so much for stopping by and watching i hope you're having a fantastic day and i will see you all in my next video

Channel: But First, Coffee

Views: 2,835,827

Keywords: swedish death cleaning, decluttering with swedish death cleaning - dont burden your family, how to declutter, the gentle art of swedish death cleaning, decluttering swedish death cleaning, i tried swedish death cleaning, home organization, home organizing, the swedish phenomenon of de-cluttering before you die, do it on a dime, swedish death cleaning before and after, swedish death cleaning method, best decluttering, best decluttering methods, best decluttering hacks

Id: TED9GXg8WGg

Length: 12min 19sec (739 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 05 2021