November 15, 2017
My take on Swedish "death cleaning"
This last month I saw many references to "The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning," a book to be published in the U.S. January written by Margareta Magnusson. The link made the rounds of social media and several people emailed it to me, knowing I'd be interested. (Here's a link to a Washington Post article about it.)
The premise of the book is that people, starting at about the age of 65, should declutter their homes with their own death in mind, so that they don't leave stuff that's a burden to their heirs.
I haven't read the book yet, because it's not available in English, but reading about it left me feeling uncomfortable. I think that while it's great to think of your heirs and making their lives easier after your death, decluttering and organizing is for the living. You do it to help make your own life easier and to give yourself freedom to live. A side benefit for your heirs is that if you don't accumulate clutter while you're alive, you don't leave behind a mess for them to deal with.
One suggestion made in the book did intrigue me. The author suggests that you keep a separate box of things that only matter to you (that you don't think anyone else would care about) and label it to be tossed after you die. I'd be willing to bet that's the first box that gets looked at!
Thinking about what will happen after you die might motivate you to declutter and that's great. But I urge you not to think about it as death cleaning, but rather think about how letting go of items that don't serve you can help you enjoy your life and the stuff that you do love.
Check out Minted for beautiful cards
If you're someone who sends out holiday cards, now's the time to buy yours, if you haven't already. (If you don't send out cards, feel free to skip this article and please don't feel guilty about not sending them.) For the last five or more years, I've been using Minted for my holiday cards. I purchase a flat card and I personalize it with my name but leave plenty of space for writing a handwritten note. I send out two sets: business and personal. I put a photo of our very photogenic dog, Bix, on our personal cards. (This year I let a Minted designer help me decide which card was best for my photo, using their "text us your photo" service.)
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Storing tea bags my way
I enjoy drinking tea in the winter but I don't enjoy the cabinet clutter that a bunch of boxes of teas can create. For years I've been storing my tea in a 3" x 9" x 2" Linus drawer organizer. I take the tea bags out of their boxes and line them up in the little organizer. It takes up only three inches of space in my cabinet! I recently accidentally purchased tea bags that aren't individually wrapped, so I just put the box in the back of the organizer. (I'm so glad it fit.) This solution pleases me so much every time I use it that I just had to share!
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Blog posts of the month
Here are my favorite posts from my blog in the last month:
Thanks for reading. Please get in touch with comments or feedback.
