Should You Be “Death Cleaning”?

It may be more helpful than you think

Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash

I’m currently reading The Swedish Art of Death Cleaning, and I was at first struck by how morbid the title was.

I, after all, am not looking to die for at least another fifty years. Usually, when someone starts cleaning out their things “just in case,” it can be alarming.

Then again, I love cleaning advice. I took all of Marie Kondo’s tips to heart — even the one about keeping your sponge outside.

Naturally, I couldn’t resist borrowing this book from the library.

The author, Margareta Margusson, explains early on that her idea of death cleaning is not sad, but a “permanent form of organization that makes your everyday life run more smoothly.” The goal of “death cleaning” is to have as little junk as possible. Keep only the essentials for your stage of life, she explains.

We like to save stuff, but our stuff usually isn’t as valuable as we think it is. For example, I’m taking a class in medical terminology. I remembered I had some CD-Roms that were helpful when I took a similar class ten years ago. You know where this is going, right?

I went into the basement, found the boxes, brought them to my laptop, and looked for the button to open the CD-Rom drive ... and realized my new…