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Thursday 16 November 2017

Not quite Swedish death-cleaning but -

At the moment we are busy chucking out masses of household clutter. Some of it goes to the charity shop, particularly large items of furniture, a few bits go to the auction and a fair bit goes to the tip. 

A particular pain has been reams and reams of old paperwork such as bills, receipts and financial info we need not have saved in the first place. In fact we've been really radical this time - we've dumped the filing cabinet. 

Altogether we've spent many happy hours clearing out the junk and still haven't finished although I'd rather not compare it with Swedish death-cleaning which achieved media prominence back in October.

Swedish debut author Margareta Magnusson wants you to tidy your house and think about death.

It might sound like a rather gloomy way to spend a weekend, but Magnusson – who describes herself as "between 80 and 100 years old", says she has spent the last 40 years cleaning her home in preparation for her death, and that she has "got a lot of pleasure out of it".

The uniquely Swedish practice of 'Döstädning' (death-cleaning) is a method of decluttering based on which objects will be of value to loved ones after your death.

Crikey - we certainly haven't spent the last 40 years cleaning our home in preparation for death. What a ghastly idea. A few days maybe, but this comment rings a bell.

"Today, people have enough jackets for a Siberian winter, and more shoes than a centipede could wear. When I was young it was completely different," Magnusson told The Local. "When I grew up we didn't really have brands, we didn't have logos, we had, if we were lucky, just what we needed. People today, in developed countries, have much more than they need, and that becomes a problem in the end."

Indeed - that's the real problem - we have more than we need which is why we find ourselves chucking lots of it away every now and then. Oh well - time to throw some more paperwork on the fire.

6 comments:

Sam Vega said...

In my experience, it's the women who do the collecting, and the men do the chucking out. I hate clutter and never hoard things. Except old jam-jars, of course - they're useful for keeping stuff in. And lengths of string. And you should never throw a screw or washer away, in case it comes in useful. And yogurt pots. And bike bits. And bits of old cloth for cleaning.

Demetrius said...

We have had to throw out some old swedes from the vegetable trays.

wiggiatlarge said...

"between 80 and 100 years old", says she has spent the last 40 years cleaning her home in preparation for her death, and that she has "got a lot of pleasure out of it".

Blimey that's what my wife has been doing all these years with my gear.................worrying times

James Higham said...

Therefore, removing clutter is a deathwish. All right, that’s fine.

Clacket said...

It's fair to say that Swedes, unlike us Anglo-Saxons, have never been noted for irony or indeed much communicable sense of fun. They've never had to politely palm off the pain and confusion of relatively recently losing an empire, never having had much of one to begin with...and in truth there's actually a lot to be said for sailing under the global radar.

Nevertheless, they have a way more interesting and vivid history than they are credited with. Fearsome blond warriors, once upon a time. Some (and they just might have had different outcomes) neighbourly wars. Fearsome blond porn stars. Volvos. Currently, a weird sort of self harming idealistic but nihilistic androgyny.

Reports of Swedes tidily preparing for death for half of their lives may just be compounding a self serving prejudice. Got to say it does seem bonkers to the Anglo Saxon who would inconsiderately say let the squabbling heirs Sort it out for good or ill, I know I won't be around, so not my business...

And yet...the good lady's observations are very well made and to the point. These are the vexing but recent problems of apparent 'plenty'. The supposedly unattainable but aspirational dream which was for millennia supposed to make us so happy. But clearly, at least en-masse or generally, hasn't.

A K Haart said...

Sam - it's amazing how many odd screws we find when we have no idea where they came from. I used to keep them but nothing ever falls apart because of the lack of them so now I chuck them out.

Demetrius - I can never remember what swedes look like.

Wiggia - I bet your gear is sometimes moved and you never remember where.

James - that's just an excuse :)

Clacket - the problems of apparent 'plenty' are more than apparent in our house. We really do have too much stuff and I'm sure millions are on the same situation. Maybe times will change.