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What is Swedish Death Cleaning or Döstädning? It sounds awful!

Ha! Don't worry, it's not nearly as bad as it sounds.

Have you ever inherited the belongings of a family member? How much stuff did they own? How long did it take you to sift through their items? No doubt you gave some to family members, recycled some, donated a lot of it, repaired a few items and threw out the rest.

Did anyone help you? Did you rather wish that your deceased loved one had tried to declutter their own stuff first? 

It can be hard to tell what is valuable and what isn’t. You might see a printed document and think, “Hmmm…is this important? Or can I just throw it away? That might mean you need to put it to one side and ask someone else about it later - drawing out and complicating the whole process. 

And of course, some of it can lead to terrible family arguments. Perhaps you donate a piece of jewellery to the local charity shop and then your sister says, “But, Granny promised that to me.” You’re left thinking, “Well, how was I supposed to know that? I’m just doing my best.” 

"it was popularised by Margareta Magnusson"

You might be on a tight deadline to get an entire home sifted through and all the items dealt with. Sometimes there are tens of thousands of pieces and it’s really hard to know what to do with them all. Other times you live miles away from the house where the belongings are and you have to spend your precious weekends and holiday time visiting the house to deal with all its contents. It can be a burden as well as a chore.

Swedish Death Cleaning is about trying to avoid this chaotic and difficult situation occurring. Rather than leaving the burden of all your possessions on the shoulders of your children, you deal with them whilst you still have the energy and motivation to go through it all. The Swedes have been doing this since it was popularised by Margareta Magnusson.

Instead of your loved ones having to guess who to give your paintings, ornaments and pieces of furniture to - you do it yourself. Perhaps you bring your children and grandchildren into your home and say, “What would you actually like to take and keep?” Sometimes they are keen on one or two pieces, but often your large items of furniture just won’t have a place in their already fully furnished homes. Plus, they may have a completely different style and taste to yours.

"it’s important not to wait until you are too elderly and infirm to manage the process"

This takes you to the next stage, which is to see what is left and then decide - what do I actually need and love and what is just taking up space? You may be thinking about downsizing, e.g. out of a large family home and into a retirement flat. You’ll have to think, what is going to work in the new flat? Maybe the bedroom can’t handle your King size bed, for example. 

For this part of the process, you may want the assistance of a professional declutter and organiser. They can help you make good, unbiased decisions so that you don’t need to fork out a fortune for a storage container or some such like, i.e. for all the pieces you couldn’t decide upon. They can also be an emotional support system as you declutter several decades worth of family possessions. On top of this, they’ll know exactly how to remove the clutter from your home and send it to the best place - whether that’s to sell, donate to a homeless charity, give to a recycling centre or just to throw it away.

So, when is the best time to start the process of Swedish Death Cleaning? Well, it’s important not to wait until you are too elderly and infirm to manage the process. Some of my clients want to do it before retirement. Why? Well, they have plans to sell the family home, move to a flat, lock it up and go travelling for a long stint. Others are already retired, but are finding that the family home is becoming burdensome - lots of cleaning, gardening and general maintenance, for example. They know that they’ll be downsizing to a smaller bungalow or flat in the next couple of years, but want to start the big declutter process long beforehand, so that they’re fully prepared to go when the time is right. Obviously, it’s best to do it when you are fully able. You don’t want to suddenly find that you are really rather elderly and infirm and you’ve left it too late and your family members have to do the majority of it for you. That would negate the whole idea of getting ahead of the problem.

Apparently many Swedes start the process in their mid-to-late 60s – when they are still mentally and physically fit. What you don’t want to find is that age has suddenly crept up on you. By then you may realise, e.g. you’ve sadly lost your spouse, become ill or you’re finding it increasingly hard to make decisions. In other words, you've left it too late. This could reduce your options for how to spend the final years of your life.  

"Swedish Death Cleaning is not about dying; it’s not at all morbid"

Speaking of adult children – how much of their stuff remains in your house? How long ago did they move out? For how long have they been promising to come and deal with it? Even if you don’t want to Death Clean right now, there is no harm in setting a firm deadline about getting other people’s clutter out of your space. Tell them a date, e.g. 3 months from now. Explain that any of their possessions which are still in your cupboard, loft or garage are going to be sent to the local charity shop on that day, so they’d better come and take want they’re keeping right away.

Then if you want to proceed with the big downsize and you’d like some help, do get in touch and I’ll help you systemise the whole process so that it doesn’t have to be an ordeal, but instead feels refreshing, fun and like a trip down memory lane.

So, in conclusion, Swedish Death Cleaning is not about dying; it’s not at all morbid. In fact for some, it gives them way more options and a whole new lease on life, i.e. once they have been freed from the shackles of too much stuff. 

© Proper Declutter, FEBRUARY 2026

Is it true that decluttering saves you money? The answer is, yes, it almost always does. But how? I hear you cry! Well, there are several ways:

1.  You stop buying doubles:

When you start decluttering your home you find doubles of things - two spatulas, two boxes of plasters, two tape measures, three packs of headache pills, six screwdrivers of the same size, eight pairs of scissors etc. You get the idea. 

 Once you declutter you discover what it is that you actually own. I recently had another kitchen declutter myself. This is when I found I had two jars of pickled onions and 3 bottles of toilet cleaner - and I’m a professional declutterer. So what I’m saying is that this misunderstanding of our own inventory happens to everyone. It’s only when you declutter that you find out much more about what you own at that moment in time. This means that the next time you are in the shops you won’t be tempted to buy, e.g. yet another roll of sellotape, because you know you already have plenty at home. Plus, because you’ve reorganised your belongings, you even know where to locate it at that moment you need to quickly wrap a birthday present. 

2.  You rediscover items that you’d forgotten about:

This follows on from the previous point, because once you declutter you find lots of items that you had totally forgotten about. Perhaps you bought them weeks, months or years ago. Maybe they were given as gifts. But the point is that if you rediscover, e.g. a set of drill bits at the back of your shed, then you don’t need to waste twelve pounds buying another whole set. Of course, this also cuts down on wasted resources, thereby helping our environment too.

3.  You stop wasting money on storage fees:

Perhaps you’ve already got a lot of items in a storage container and you’re forking out a fortune every month to cover the cost. If you’ve had it for years, it might have already cost you hundreds, or even thousands of pounds. But when you declutter your home, you find you’ve got more space for some of those items to move into. 

The next logical stage is to declutter the storage container too. It’s best just to keep the items you need, love, use and want. When you empty a storage container, it’s always a big relief and gets one giant worry off your mind. Many people put it off for years and years. By then, of course, you haven’t used the items for ages and you’ll probably find you don’t want to keep nearly as much of it as you thought you would.

4.  You sell unused items:

As you declutter you are bound to find items that you no longer need or use. Perhaps you’ve got some name brand jeans in excellent condition, but they haven’t fitted you for a decade. Many of us plan to lose weight and wear them again one day, but the reality is that you keep looking in your wardrobe and feeling depressed when you see them. When you get them out of your house, e.g. by selling them, you actually feel so much better when you next open your wardrobe. Why? Well you haven’t got ten pairs of jeans saying, “When are you going to lose weight and wear me?” Plus, you get to make a decent profit and someone else benefits from your unwanted items.

5.  You reduce your impulse buying habit: 

Sorting through items you bought, but have never used, quickly teaches us to be far more mindful when out shopping. How many of us have bought a kitchen gadget, item of clothing or greetings card that has simply never been used? Whether it’s a cheap or expensive item, it’s basically a waste of money. How many things in your house still have a price tag on them or remain packaged in a box, if bought online?

Often when decluttering we decide to sell or donate these perfectly good possessions, so at least someone gets some benefit from them. But either way, you almost never get back the full value that you spent on them. This, therefore, makes it much easier to be sensible about what it is you’re purchasing in future. It makes you consider, “Do I actually need this? Where am I going to put it? Is it worth this amount of money?” More often than not, you’ll end up deciding that you’ve got enough items in your home and that this one can be left for now. It might save you £30 next time you’re wandering through the aisles of the garden centre - most of which sell a lot more than just garden related items these days - and certainly not items you set out to buy in the first place.

6.  You lower maintenance costs:

Everything we own has to be cared for and maintained. When you multiply this by the thousands of items in your house - it works out as a lot. This may include cleaning, repairing and storing all those bits and pieces. Every time you do this it costs you money - whether for e.g. furniture to house the item, cleaning materials or repair bills. Take books for example - how many bookshelves have you had to buy to store them all? If you had half the number of books, you’d only need half the number of shelves for them.

Think! How many items in your home need repairing at this very moment? Not only does this take up mental space, but it can potentially cost you a fortune. However, when you declutter you have fewer items to maintain. For example, do you really need both lawn mowers? Better to just keep the one you prefer using and that works best. If the other one needs repairing - maybe just give it away on Freecycle and tell the new potential owner that it needs fixing, if they’re up for it. This all saves your precious pennies.

7.  You reduce the amount of food you waste:

How often do you throw away food? Do you have a cluttered kitchen? Do you find rotten items from time to time?

Sometimes we forget about those garlic cloves and half loaves of bread in the back of a cupboard that we have trouble accessing - all due to the amount of clutter. 

If you open your kitchen cabinets and bits regularly fall out, this is a good sign that you’ve got far too much stuff in them. Once you declutter you find sensible places for all your teas, herbs and vinegars etc. This means it’s easy to see and find what you need when you need it. Plus, if you make a shopping list before going to the supermarket, it’s much easier to then have a quick look in the fridge, bread bin, pantry and vegetable rack to see what is actually required - and stops you buying more than you can eat in the next week. This all saves you overspending.

8.  You stop you buying a house that you don’t need:

How many times have you wished to move out of your current house in order to buy a bigger place? When I help my clients declutter their homes, they almost always end up with far more space than they ever expected to get back. If you think about it, just decluttering a Junk Room can provide your youngest child with their own much needed bedroom. Obviously that’s an extreme example, but this is a far, far cheaper option than selling up and buying a house with a whole extra room. 

Sometimes it's a matter of decluttering a sunroom, a utility room, an under stair cupboard or a study. Suddenly your home seems brighter, more spacious and more airy. Whereas before you found it impossible to find a spot to practice yoga, there are now several options. It helps you fall back in love with your home and can prevent a very unnecessary and costly house move. 

9.  You prevent costly accidents:

I’ve been into homes where there are piles and piles of things which are just an accident waiting to happen. Perhaps it’s an elderly client with books, papers and magazines all neatly stored to the left hand side of every step up to the first floor. To me this is a hazard. What if they slip on a magazine and fall to the bottom of the stairs? Or perhaps it’s a home with a young toddler and there are piles of possessions balanced on every surface, just waiting to fall off and hit the youngster. 

These accidents can work out very costly - especially if someone needs to take time off work for numerous doctor’s visits or for a bone to heal etc. Surely it’s much better to declutter and reorganise the home to have all your possessions living in a sensible, safe place?

So, in conclusion, yes, decluttering can save you a fortune. And if you are able to maintain the lower inventory, it can save you money for years to come. It actually makes your life much simpler, because your home becomes more manageable. So the benefits are far more than just economic in scope.

 Proper Declutter, JANUARY 2026

People sometimes ask me, "Why did you want to be a professional declutterer and organiser?" And the fact is that I just love organising! It's just the way my brain works; it likes to put things in the "right" place. Some people are great at languages (not me) and wild swimming (not me), but I can declutter and organise really well.

For example, when I’m working in someone's kitchen, I might say, "I feel like the coffee making station is meant to be in this corner and the microwave is meant to be over there." And we'll swap them around and take a look and very often the home owner tells me that, yes, in fact that's going to work better for them.

Even when I’m out walking my dog in the countryside, I can’t help but declutter the place. I often take an old plastic bag with me and pick up litter as I go. 

"the average American home is said to contain more than 300,000 items"

I used to move around a lot in a job that took me to different countries. I’d live there for 2 – 4 years and before I knew it, I was moving somewhere new. Well, rather than paying to ship a lot of belongings, I quickly learned to downsize my stuff. I discovered that we don’t actually need too much stuff around us for a good and happy life. In fact, having space is really valuable in itself. As I became better and better at downsizing, friends would ask me to help them in their homes. I learned that I was actually quite good at helping people to declutter and reorganise their belongings and I massively enjoyed it too.

Sometimes people worry that I’m going to judge them based on their house being messy. But I know that they’re in this situation because they are struggling right now. My real motivation is to help people live an easier and calmer life. I really want to be of service to them. For example, some of my clients come to me because they are ADHD and organising their home is really hard for them. Some of my clients have been pretty organised until recently, but suddenly a new baby has come into the house and they’ve not been able to keep up. Or their elderly parent needs extra care and before they know it the house gets out of control. I get a lot of satisfaction from being able to help people and make their lives easier, especially at tricky times.

The process itself is super interesting to me. I enjoy meeting new clients and getting to know their situation and needs – I find people fascinating. We usually meet in a virtual consultation call and it’s normally quite informal and friendly. I’ll ask them questions and they’ll ask me some too. Then when I actually go into their home I’ll get a further understanding of what’s going on for them. I have to ask some questions about their lives and what they need from their space – and this depends on their own priorities – it’s not something that I can just guess at. Then it’s fun for me to figure out some great ways of organising their rooms so that they’ll provide them with everything that they and their household need and want from the different spaces.

So even after we have decluttered, and I’ve gone home, I produce a Project Log for them. This describes each problem and my ideas for solutions. I’ll also include links to different products they can buy. Clients tend to really like this. Next time I come to their house it’s brilliant to see the new systems in place and hearing about the difference it’s making to their everyday life.

"once your house is decluttered it’s just so much easier to keep it clean and tidy"

It’s funny though, because as useful as the different products are, it’s the actual decluttering that always has the biggest impact. We don’t actually have any figures for UK homes, but the average American home is said to contain more than 300,000 items. That’s an enormous number when you think about it. 

When you declutter you can give each of the things you want to keep its own place – a place where you can both find and access it. This means that it’s never a huge problem to find your keys, a pair of scissors, a stapler or a screwdriver, because you know exactly where it is at any time. This saves so much wasted time, and even family arguments, looking for things. So when we can get our number of belongings down, they become far more manageable. Suddenly there is space to move around in and surfaces to work on. It’s such a feeling of relief and my clients find their homes far more relaxing and pleasant to be in.

Plus, once your house is decluttered it’s just so much easier to keep it clean and tidy. If you think about each of your belongings, not only did you need to pay for it, bring it home, find a place for it, clean it, tidy it away, perhaps repair it and generally look after it – this is all time, effort and cost to you. With fewer items you spend way less of your time having to do all this care and maintenance. For example, if you declutter your garage, then you might not have to spend so many weekends tidying and organising it – moving items around – cleaning things etc. That’s time that can surely be better spent, e.g. time with friends and family. And the same goes for every area of your house.

So, why do I love to declutter and organise? Well the simple answer is, that I love seeing the impact it has on my clients; seeing relief replace overwhelm; seeing a calm, bright space replace the dark, cluttered and confusing mess of stuff. It makes such a deep difference to them. What could be more satisfying?   

© Proper Declutter, DECEMBER 2025