My Experience With Swedish Death Cleaning

Hi folks and welcome back! I was debating whether to put this blog under organization & productivity, Who I Am, or personal development. Personal development won, because even though this method is aiming to help me become more of a minimalist, (i.e. more organized), I’ve had to work on myself during this process.

I am not a hoarder, by any means, but I carry about 2 households worth of stuff with me every time I move, and I have been doing that since my dad died. I feel like by holding on to his stuff, I can keep part of him with me, but I know that material things are just that - things. His memory lives on inside my heart, and I don’t need things to remember him.

Along with my Dad’s stuff, is years and years worth of accumulation of various things - from planner supplies and crafts, to computer bits and pieces. Add the clothes and toys from two kids, and you have yourself a basement-ful. The other day, my mother-in-law asked me what we were planning on getting rid of, and for the life of me, I couldn’t tell her. I could name a few individual things, but not the majority of it. I mean, this “stuff” has been sitting in my basement for years and years, from house to house and I don’t even look at it anymore.

I was watching a video by Kallie, from ‘But First, Coffee’ on Youtube, and in one of her many decluttering idea videos, she said “Do you really want to be the owner and keeper of all that stuff?” That stuck with me, because after thinking about it, I really don't . It makes me feel rather exhausted. She said that when you own things, the items seem to “ask” you to do things with them. For example, I have wool and knitting needles and crochet hooks. At one point, I did crochet and knit a lot. Now that I have started my business and have two kids, I no longer have the time and it’s not like it’s a huge love or passion of mine anyway. But, whenever I think of my container of wool, I feel guilty, like I should be knitting. However, that’s just not my reality right now. The same with many other things that I plan on giving away. Why keep it if it’s never going to be used?

The thought that “maybe one day” I’ll get to it is not a very good phrase to use either. The general rule (unless the item is a seasonal item like Christmas decorations), is if you haven’t used it in the last year, throw it out or give it away.

Our goal in April was to clean out the basement and sort what we would be selling in our garage sale, giving away or throwing out. The throwing out part seemed easy, because anything that was used or broken, obviously nobody would want. That included my old planners that I had written in, and will probably include some old letters that my best friend and I always used to write back and forth when we were younger.

When it came to the “good” stuff, I had a lot more trouble because as I was going through it, I remembered the time I bought it and how much money I had spent on it. I think the reason most people keep stuff is they’ll say it’s still good, I’ll use it one day. Or, I need a backup for when the one I’m using breaks. I honestly mostly feel guilty about how much money I wasted over the years on all the stuff I plan to sell. Yes, it took many years to accumulate, but thousands and thousands of dollars were spent over the last 20 years for what? For me to have a garage sale that will amount to a lot of work over a weekend and hardly the money to show for it.

The personal development came from the leap I had to take. I had to forgive myself first for buying all the things in the first place, and then for feeling guilt over not using it and then more guilt for potentially selling it to someone else. I think I will have a follow up blog to this one once we have had our garage sale and have had time to clean everything up and I will tell you how free I feel.

I think that’s the lesson in this story: First, I feel like I’m punishing myself by watching my stuff being sold, but the happy ending is that I will feel lighter, free, more at ease with myself and have less anxiety because less of my stuff will be calling to me to use it.

Let me know down in the comments if you have been through this situation. What did you do, and how did you feel after you let go?

Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next time!

Cheers,

Sandra