The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: how to free yourself and your family from a lifetime of clutter

Do not forget that you may live for many years to come. That is a good reason to go through your belongings carefully

If you decide to downsize your home, it is a good thing not to be in a hurry. If possible, you should take your time and proceed at a pace that suits you. It will be absorbing but also tiring sometimes, but it is important that you don’t overdo it.

It is hard for me to understand why most people find death so difficult to talk about. It is the only absolutely inevitable thing that will happen to all of us in our future.

The more I have focussed on my cleaning, the braver I have become. I often ask myself: Will anyone I know be happier if I save this? If, after a moment of reflection, I honestly can answer no, then it goes into the hungry shredder, which is always waiting for paper to chew

I have both laughed and cried reading through my old letters. Occasionally, I have regretted saving some of them. There were things I had forgotten, and then suddenly it all came back. Again! But if you want to see the whole picture of your story and your life, even less funny things have to show up.

You cannot know the places your objects may go to after you are gone, and that could be wonderful to contemplate.

If you don’t death clean and show people what is valuable, once you die there will be a big truck that takes all the wonderful things you have to an auction house (at best) or a dump.

If you have no children of your own, you should still be sure to death clean, both for the pleasure it can bring you, and also for all the other children out there that you don’t know. Recycling and donating can both help the planet and also bring things to people who may need them.

One’s own pleasure, and the chance to find meaning and memory, is the most important thing. It is a delight to go through things and remember their worth. And if you don’t remember why a thing has meaning or why you kept it, it has no worth, and it will be easier for you to part with.

When a child is too young to read and write in their own language, and then has to move to another country where they have to learn a new language, writing is a difficult task. Our youngest wanted to write to her friends at home just like her older sister and brothers did. She worked so hard, and I heard how she sighed. Suddenly, she said: ‘Mum, please write to them and say that I have died.’ She was only six years old at the time, but perhaps already knew that dying is a way of being let off the hook.