The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning

Exactly what is clutter.

I don't think it means you have a lot of stuff, just lots of stuff that is no longer relevant/of use to you.

The clutter in my house is the piles of stuff we will probably never use again but have never got rid of - books we will never read again, papers that never got thrown out, old hairdryers/tongs/curlers not used in years, clothes that no longer suit or fit, broken things. I've been decluttering for a year and still not got to the bottom of it.

A Goblin Teasmade would be in the shed waiting for the next antiques fair. They fetch good money in good condition.

Saw a really sad post on facebook today. Someone was throwing out a small ornament of her MIL’s that had a note written on the bottom saying it had ‘been in her bedroom since childhood’. I found it terribly sad that no one in the family would want to keep something that was treasured by a mother/grandmother. It made me think of things that I have. My dad’s snap tin. The yellow jar that was for dripping but then became the jar in which I saved three penny bits till I had enough to make a pound. I hate the thought of them not meaning anything to anyone else

M0nica

A Goblin Teasmade would be in the shed waiting for the next antiques fair. They fetch good money in good condition.

Really? It's not an original, it's c1970.

A friend of ours had 20 x 1 kg bags of papers to take to the shredding company after her dh died. He’d kept everything, inc. e.g. electricity bills going back to the early 1970s.

Mountains of other stuff, too - multiple gadgets, inc. half a dozen blood pressure monitors. I asked why on earth he’d needed 6 - answer was that when he couldn’t find the first, because of all the stuff, he’d go and buy another - rinse and repeat.
Needless to say, he was a hoarder, and a compulsive shopper on top. He once asked dh to go through all his coats and jackets with him, to see which could go to charity shops.
There were over 40 - some with labels still attached.

Many of the gadgets he bought were never even used - among others there was a boxed rice cooker sitting there gathering dust for several years.
Talk about the awful warning!

Maybe70 - I have an old sweet tin with a photo of a white fluffy kitten on it. It must be at least 60 years old. I have never been able to bring myself to throw it away. It means nothing to anyone else so no doubt it will be thrown away when I die.

I suppose the consolation is that I won't know anything about it then.

On the other hand, when I was young my mum had a plaque in the bathroom with a Mabel Lucie Atwell poem on it - 'Please remember, don't forget, never leave the bathroom wet etc.'. I could always remember the poem but the plaque vanished years ago. Anyway, whilst on holiday we went in a charity shop and they had the exact same plaque for £2. I just had to buy it and it now has pride of place in my bathroom. I doubt my children will want it when I die, but you never know

PinkCosmos, when I was a child, neighbours of ours had an identical one!

I mentioned being bothered by my beloved ‘clutter’ remaining to someone whilst shopping (also a widow) She said:
‘Are you leaving a house to them?”
‘Yes”
‘Is it worth something/a lot?”
‘Yes”
‘Well let them get on with it”.

We don’t have a lot of clutter, but obviously clearing a house can be a major headache - not to mention very sad for those left to do it.

I’ve done it (with others) twice, once after a death, and once after my mother had to move into a care home. That was even worse, IMO - the person’s still there - you feel as if you’re throwing their life away.

I’m going to make a list for dds of anything valuable that shouldn’t be dumped or given away, They’ll already know about anything they’re sentimentally attached do.

Apart from all those, please just get the house clearance people in!

I’m going to make a list for dds of anything valuable that shouldn’t be dumped or given away
I have a commemorative china cup and saucer from MIL's house; inside is a tiny, carefully written note that one the same had been valued at £275 on a TV antiques programme.
I checked on the internet the other day and found it's now worth about £25 - if anyone should want it.

So many things have their fashionable day, don’t they? I’ve got a commemorative plate from Queen Victoria’s 1887 Jubilee - inherited from a GM, and I dare say she inherited it from my GGPs. GM was 6 when QV died and remembered the day well.
I doubt it’s worth more than about £10 now though - TBH it’s not very beautiful! I doubt dds would want it, so probably one for the charity shop.
Among other things, I’m more concerned with two massive wooden hippos - Hip and Hop - that dh brought back from his African business trips. I would really like them to go to a loving home!

Hip and Hop
Great names!

And they live under the Hippo Tree, Callistemon, aka a big Swiss cheese plant in the bay window.

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GN is being bombarded by spam today!!

I do my best to dispose of things I no longer want but paper work is never ending, so much for a paperless society. I have more paperwork now than ever and I've recently had a major sort out.

I see this thread has been resurrected and on reading through it I came across mention of a Goblin Teasmaid and thought I would post the tale I told on GN a few years ago. It was spring of 1976 and I had gone down with a mystery illness - I was so weak, I couldn’t pull the skin off of rice pudding and could barely get out of bed.
DH was leaving me in bed with a cup of tea and coming home at lunchtime to make sure I was OK. My in-laws who weren’t hard up (but mean) were the owners of said gizmo, so DH asked if there was any chance we could borrow it whilst I was laid up. MiL - not a nice person - turned him down flat.
Later, after DH’s parents died, it felt to me to clear out the house and of course, I came across the Teasmaid! Naturally, DH assumed I would just throw it out, as a useless piece of last century tat?
He had to be joking! I’ve never used it and wouldn’t as it’s probably unsafe - but it’s in my garage and now and again when I’m in there and it catches my eye, I say ‘well Aileen, who’s got the bloody Teasmade now?

Bitter?? Moi??

Two things which should be done by everyone:

1. Go through your old photos and write the names of the people and date if known on the back.

2. Make a list of any family heirlooms with photos, or label them, otherwise they will be thrown out.

Georgesgran ?

I'd have lent you ours

Chestnut I have a whole plastic wallet full of photos from MIL's house labelled by me 'Who Are We?'

I just hope that one day someone may go through them and know.

Having cleared out mums house when she went into a care home, I decided to get my own life and house in order.

I updated my will and set up Power of Attorney for my children then set about sorting out my cupboards room by room. I thought I had done a good job as loads went to the tip then I had my whole house redecorated in one go and realised that my wardrobes and drawers were still crammed. But I struggled to identify things to throw away this time, apart from some clothes, so I gave up!

Now I just throw things away if I replace somethings rather than store it “ just in case” so when I bought a new food processor, I went through all my kitchen appliances, pans etc and tidied up a few cupboards.

I did not put back all my ornaments after the decorating and have kept some in a box so I can swap things over if I feel like a change. That box might be culled if I don’t open it for a couple of years.

Most importantly, I have told my children where my paperwork is stored and shared the password for my iPad and lap top so they can fine important files online. I’ve moved important documents into a fire proof box as well.

My mum had been clearing out for a year or so when she died. But it still took 6 weeks to go through all her stuff. A lot that I'd otherwise have kept got binned because it was too hard to sort out and make decisions while grieving.

Because she was tidy, it was deceiving how much stuff she had. Every space was filled.

Thats another term I have never heard of.. i get the gist of it. I am a very tidy,tidy person and very organised and so I wholeheartedly agree with this, can't say I like the expression but I like its meaning.

Yes, why should we leave piles and piles of rubbish for our loved ones to shift through ! Things will be bad enough without all that, thats my view anyway.

I did the family book so everyone has the important information and family history. Husband did the photos and everyone got a full cd. I went through widowhood and did probate etc. You don`t need the death clearing book to appreciate the sheer amount of information that is needed.

Since then I did an updated will and POA, with a solicitor so all done correctly. Everything is filed neatly and all in a small suitcase, insurances, the lot. Re stuff, well I do try and keep that sorted as much as I can. A bit at a time really, something to do on a rainy day in winter without impacting too much on me