So what is Swedish Death Cleaning all about?

It’s strange how one day you haven’t heard of something, and the next you just keep hearing about it everywhere. It’s a bit like that with Swedish Death Cleaning. Once you hear the phrase it keeps cropping up again and again.

But what on earth is Swedish Death Cleaning all about, and is it something we should all be doing?

What is Swedish Death Cleaning?

The origin of the phrase “death cleaning” is the Swedish word döstädning. 

The idea behind it is to get all your possessions and every other aspect of your life as well-organised and minimalist as you can. This includes clothing, furniture, other items, digital footprint and paperwork.

The main priority of Swedish Death Cleaning is to make your loved ones’ lives easier in the event of your passing. This concept will resonate with anyone who has had to clear the home and/or sort out the affairs of a deceased family member. Imagine how much easier that would have been if everything had been sorted out, streamlined and organised beforehand.

If all this sounds slightly morbid, there are many other benefits to Swedish Death Cleaning. Benefits that you yourself, as well as others close to you, can enjoy for the rest of your life.

Let’s take a look.

The benefits of doing Swedish Death Cleaning

One of the main objectives of Swedish Death Cleaning is to take time to decide what is and is not important to you. And there is great joy to be had in surrounding yourself only with the things that really matter to you, rather than piles of clutter.

Some other benefits of Swedish Death Cleaning are:

• It frees you up to enjoy life more. Being surrounded by less stuff can bring feelings of relief and freedom, and enable you to enjoy more of the other things that life has to offer;
• It lifts the “must get round to” burden. Once all your digital and paper records and documentation are sorted out and organised, it will free you of the niggling feeling of always having forgotten to do something.
• It reduces the amount of cleaning you have to do. With less stuff and less mess, there is less to look after and keep clean.
• It reduces stress. Clutter, mess and dirt can cause you to feel restless and stressed. One of the results of Swedish Death Cleaning is bringing a sense of calm into your home.
• It is a loving service to your family. By putting the time and effort into doing Swedish Death Cleaning now, you will feel reassured that none of your loved ones will have to go through the pain of doing it when you are no longer with them.

Can anyone do Swedish Death Cleaning?

Leading on from the above, it makes sense that anyone can do Swedish Death Cleaning at any stage of their lives. In that sense, Swedish Death Cleaning is another, perhaps more extreme, version of decluttering, Which is always a good thing to do, and the sooner you start the better.

Just think how much better your daily life would be if you had less stuff to worry about, could find everything you wanted easily, and could always close cupboard doors and drawers without struggling. And how much easier your finances and administration would be if all your physical and digital documents were completely up to date, minimised and logically organised.

Put simply, the less stuff you have, the easier your daily life will be. You will take pleasure in the important things that you have around you, and will also have more time and energy to enjoy the best things in life. So even after you have done Swedish Death Cleaning, it’s important to continue to embrace the concept of minimalism and not fall into the trap of letting clutter accumulate again.

How to tackle Swedish Death Cleaning

So if you like the idea of Swedish Death Cleaning, how do you get started? The main guru of Swedish Death Cleaning is Swedish author Margareta Magnusson. In her 2017 book “The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning” she suggests a four step approach to Swedish Death Cleaning.

• Step 1 : Clothing

Clothing is probably the best place to start. Not only do items of clothing tend to be less sentimental than some other items, but it’s also fairly easy to pare down clothing quite dramatically. Be ruthless and get rid of anything that you don’t wear, doesn’t fit, is damaged, or is a duplicate item that you don’t really need. 

Even though you can make a difference quite quickly, sorting out clothing can also be an ongoing process. In fact, you probably need to take a year to do it really thoroughly so that all seasons are covered and you can continue to weed out items that realistically you are not using.

And be mindful of how you dispose of unwanted clothing. If you are being open about your Swedish Death Cleaning journey, you may want to offer items to family and friends first of all. Otherwise consider one of these options to redistribute your clothing:

• Sell items on an online site such as Facebook Marketplace, eBay or Vinted;
• Have a car boot sale;
• Take items to charity shops or charity clothes and shoe banks;
• Give items away on online sites such as Freecycle or Freebay.

• Step 2 : Furniture and other items

Once you have made at least an indent into your clothing, start to decide on furniture and other items around your home. It can help to declutter by size, so that you start with things that take up the most space such as any unused furniture, broken items, or old rugs. 

Then work your way down to smaller items. You may want to set aside a box for personal items such as letters and photographs that will be harder to decide on so you can come back to these later. For now, try to get rid of any other smaller items that you don’t actually use but are taking up space in your cupboards and drawers.

Also be ruthless about the “just in case” items. They are far more likely to gather dust and cause clutter than ever be needed. So get rid of them.

• Step 3 : Digital clutter

As well as paring down our possessions, Swedish Death Cleaning gives attention to your digital footprint. Most of us amass a huge amount of digital clutter, and we need to take time and effort to sort through this so that someone else doesn’t have to. 

A few of the main things to think about here:

• Documents and photos. The first thing to do is to go through documents and photos, deleting anything unwanted and ensuring that everything else is filed in an obvious way. Also ensure that digital items are backed up elsewhere as needed, and that your loved ones can access your devices and back ups. For example, Apple offers a Digital Legacy program that enables you to designate Legacy Contacts who can access your devices and account in the event of death.
• Online financial transactions. In the event of your passing your next of kin will need to inform financial organisations of this, at which point your accounts will be closed until your estate is settled. Even if they have Power of Attorney this no longer applies on your death. So it’s important to make provision for your loved ones at this point, perhaps by setting up a joint account with one of them for this very situation, and ensuring that they have passwords to access it. 
• Passwords. Your digital declutter should close any online accounts you are no longer using and then make sure that passwords for the ones you are using are safely stored so that your loved ones could access them after your death. Many of the top password managers offer either an account sharing or emergency access option. Otherwise you need to plan another way to store passwords ready for others to use. 
• Email account. Your email account is an essential part of your digital life. You may want to give another family member access to it, or just have it cancelled. For example Google’s Inactive Account Manager will automatically notify up to 10 listed confidants if you’ve been inactive for a specified period of time and give them access to personal information such as chats, contacts and photos which may be downloaded within three months.
• Social media accounts. Social media platforms vary in how they deal with the death of a user. For example, Facebook has a Memorialized Accounts setting where you can nominate a Legacy Contact to look after your records after your death. At the time of writing, other platforms such as Instagram and X are not as straightforward, and will require proof of death from a verified family member. Things change frequently, so it’s good to keep up to date with what would be required and whether there are settings that you need to use to make things easier.

• Step 4 : Important paperwork

Even though much of our lives and personal administration is carried out online, most of us also have piles of paperwork tucked away that needs to be tackled. The first thing to do here is to go through it all and get rid of anything that is not absolutely essential. This enables you to then focus on what is important.

One recommendation is that you put together a single “In Case of Death” folder that contains everything of importance. Examples of what to put in this folder are:

• A copy of your will, and details of where the original is;
• Details of any funeral plan you may have;
• A copy of Lasting Power of Attorney documents;
• Personal certificates : birth, marriage, divorce;
• Children’s birth certificates;
• Bank account details;
• Employment and salary details;
• List of monthly payments / bills;
• Details of any credit cards;
• Details of mortgage and/or property deeds or rental agreement;
• Details of any savings or investments;
• Vehicle ownership documents;
• Life insurance policy documents;
• Pension documents;
• List of important contacts eg doctor, solicitor, accountant, insurance broker.

You will notice that we mentioned a will in this list, and this is another important element that would make your loved ones lives a lot easier in the event of your death. It is never too early to make a will. To find out more about why this is important, how to make a will, and what to include in it, check out our article Is it ever too early to think about making a will?

We hope that this article has helped you to learn more about Swedish Death Cleaning and motivate you to start sorting out various aspects of your life to make things easier for both you and your loved ones.

If at any stage you need to boost your finances to get things in order, remember that Munzee offers personal loans online that may be able to help.

Check back here soon for more lifestyle and financial tips from Munzee Loans.