(Sorry for the delayed publishing due to traveling and internet issues)
I have personally cleaned, or helped clean out many homes after a death or inability of the person living there to continue to stay. Sorting through a persons life is one of the hardest things to take on. There are so many possessions that we carry through life that at one time meant a great deal to us; there are so many things that we carry through life that mean nothing to us but we simply never throw them away. There are so many things that mean something to us, but will never mean anything to anyone else.
In Sweden they practice an exercise called “Death Cleaning.” Death cleaning is not about keeping your house clean, the dusting, the floors, the toilet, so that in the event of your death your friends and family will not know what a slob you really were. Instead, is about periodically going through your possessions and clearing out what is no longer useful or meaningful so that after your death your family has a little less burden to deal with. It is a gift to those you will leave behind.
Most start it in middle age, and may revisit the practice every few years. It is human nature to accumulate. We just do. But what happens to all that stuff after we are gone. No one wants it. Walking into a house that has been occupied by the same person or persons for 20, 30, or maybe 60 years is daunting. And when that house, and that stuff belongs to someone you care about and love, it is overwhelming. The guilt of throwing away stuff that belonged to someone else a heavy weight to bear. Doing a favor of getting rid of it yourself is a kindness to your loved ones.
Death cleaning can also be beneficial to you. We weigh ourselves down in our possessions. Getting rid of that load can make our lives happier, less stressful, and more resourceful. It allows us to focus better on what is important to us now. It also may help us prepare for what is to come, in a sense, to deal with our own mortality. It could even help us to take better care of ourselves when we need it. My dad was very reluctant to move to a better situation for him and his health after the death of my mom. Part of that was because of the amount of stuff they had accumulated over 60 years of being together. He would look around his house and the thought of going through it all and sorting what would need to go and what he would need to take with him was just too much to think about. He was drowning in his own things. He couldn’t come up for air. It was killing him. He could not see a way out.
Tom and I had lived in our house for a good many years when we decided to move. We culled a great deal of our belongings at the time. Even so, having now been in the new place only a short time, I see that we have managed to regain a lot of the detritus that seems to gather around us. We, and those we would leave to clean up the mess would benefit greatly from a three to five year cycle of our own Death Cleaning.
On it 👍😆