The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter
What a ghastly title! Only for you dear readers would I read this one since I know many of you are managing the downsizing of a relative’s home or your own.
The TGASDC is the latest book in the wildly popular decluttering genre, which started with the international best seller The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. (I’m not sure that the Japanese or Swedes possess more meaningful insights into decluttering than Americans, but perhaps common-sense advice sounds more sophisticated in translation.)
Happily, TGASDC is not as grim as the title suggests. Margareta Magnusson, a Swede “between eighty and one hundred years old,” doesn’t offer any new advice, but her book is refreshing in its simplicity. No complicated techniques or pricey purchases from The Container Store are necessary to get the job done the Magnusson way.
The sum total of Magnusson’s practical advice could be written on a postage stamp, but her musings about her parents, children, and marriage are charming nonetheless.
“A loved one wishes to inherit nice things from you. Not all things from you.”