The art of death cleaning: ‘When my father died, it cost thousands to get his stuff removed. When I go, I don’t want my kids to have to do the same’

In Sweden, there’s a kind of decluttering called döstädning — ‘dö’ meaning “death” and ‘städning’ meaning “cleaning”. The idea is that clearing out unnecessary belongings can be undertaken at any age or life stage but should be done sooner than later, before others have to do it for you. In her book, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning , artist Margareta Magnusson instructs readers to embrace minimalism and says putting things in order helps families broach sensitive conversations, and makes the process uplifting rather than overwhelming.

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