Swedish Death Cleaning: Preparing Your Exit with Joy and Purpose
Today, a beautiful spring day in Michigan, Douglas and I cleaned the garage and storage shed. We do this annually in the spring, but as we age we are more mindful to keep our home tidy, organized, and clutter-free, not because we just like living this way, but because we are excarnating and don’t want our adult children to have to clean up after us when decease.
Don’t let the name ‘Death Cleaning’ fool you—this isn’t about gloom or doom. Known as döstädning in Swedish (literally “death cleaning”), this tradition is all about simplifying your life by decluttering your possessions. It’s a thoughtful way to live lighter now while ensuring your loved ones aren’t overwhelmed with your stuff later. A few years ago I read Margareta Magnusson’s charming book, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, and saw that this practice was gaining fans worldwide for its practical and thoughtful approach of handling the materialism of too much ‘stuff’.
Why Do a Swedish Death Cleaning Periodically?
Think of the Swedish Death Cleaning as a regular reset for your home and mind. It’s not just for those in their excarnating years—anyone can benefit from decluttering. Marie Kondo: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing is another book I read to get motivated. Here’s why making decluttering a habit is a game-changer:
Keeps Your Life Manageable: Clutter tends to creep up over time. By tackling it periodically, you prevent your home from becoming a chaotic storage unit. It’s like hitting the refresh button on your space.
Reduces Stress Over Time: Research shows that clutter can spike cortisol levels, making you feel frazzled. Regular decluttering keeps your environment calm, which can boost your mood and focus.
Prepares You for the Future: Starting early—whether you’re 30 or 60—means you won’t face a massive decluttering project later when energy or time might be limited. It’s a proactive way to stay organized.
Aligns with Your Values: Each cleanse is a chance to reflect on what matters most. You’ll prioritize meaningful items, like family heirlooms over random knickknacks, and create an environment that is less about the material world as you continue your ascension or begin the excarnating process.
The Joy of Letting Go: Positive Aspects of Decluttering
Letting go of stuff you don’t need isn’t about loss—it’s about gaining freedom, clarity, and even joy. After I learned about the Swedish Death Cleaning, I pulled out the boxes in which I had stored family photos and memorabilia. I did this on a snowy day so that I could spend time savoring each picture before deciding which adult child might want this in their memory box.
But most important, I threw out pictures and art projects that didn’t have names and dates, were not in good condition, or not relevant to family history. This would save my children from having to make the decision to keep or discard, or guessing who was in a picture. Then, one by one, I gave them their memory boxes as they came to visit.
We have a practice in our household of whenever we purchased new clothing, we discard or donate the same amount. By shedding old clothes, unused gadgets, stacks of papers, and useless stuff, we lighten our living environment and ease out of the heaviness of the material world (ahriman), making it easier to pass into kamaloka and devachan after death. (I will be writing more about devachan in the next post.)
Some people find it hard to part with possessions due to sentimental attachment or personality differences, and that’s okay. Be flexible—start small, take breaks, and don’t aim for perfection. If it feels overwhelming, focus on one category, like clothes or a drawer full of tools and kitchen gadgets.
By clearing out the unnecessary, you make room for items that truly spark joy—like a favorite book, a letter from a loved one, or shungite and a double-terminated crystal on your bedside table. Spiritual seekers look for quality over quantity in their living environments.
Donating items you no longer need spreads positivity. Your stuff gets a new life with someone who needs it. For example, I loaded 50+ pounds of oats into my van that were food provisions for the ‘just in case’ apocalypse. Now that things are looking better, it was time to release the oats to the nearby farm for their chickens and horses. A few months ago, I cleaned out my pantries for a similar reason and donated to the local food bank.
Decluttering, all at once or little by little over the years, means you’re consciously leaving behind a home that’s easy to close up. Taking the time to declutter shows you’ve thought about your family’s future. It’s a quiet, powerful way to say, “I love you.”
The art of decluttering and organizing!
Decluttering queen Marie Kondo
BELIEVE IT ALL ! in the last two weekends I cleaned out two sheds and a basement , Then on Easter I was cleaning up the back yard and took a good tumble , luckily not broken only bruised , thank God and that's the reason god basically was telling me take it easy big guy and it became a distraction for my troubles and put me in a new perspective to focus on being simpler in life 🙏❤️🌷...
Growing up learning to keep everything and repurpose makes it hard to let go, but let go we are, slowly. Still, we now have all of my mother's household things to go through. I am really trying to NOT take too many things but my mother's and my interest in cooking and gardening and sewing were the same so there are many useful items that I don't already have. Some days it is easier to purge than others. We keep working on it.