From the WSJ ($), here's an idea executors and heirs should applaud:
If your family doesn’t want your stuff when you’re alive, they sure won’t want it when you’re dead.
That’s the blunt assessment of yet another self-help author from abroad who is trying to get Americans, who have an addiction to collecting and storage units, to clean up their acts.In Sweden, it seems, custom requires senior citizens to declutter before they pass on. Splendid idea, but wicked difficult to execute. Although your obedient blogger knows he's reached decluttering age, progress comes hard. Soon as you get rid of some stuff, more stuff shows up.
The latest volley in the decluttering business comes from Stockholm, where 80-ish artist Margareta Magnusson has just published a slim yet sage volume, “The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning.” The book will be published in America in January.
Out in our garage, we still store containers of miscellaneous nails, miscellaneous screws and miscellaneous odd bits of metal that my thrifty father figured might come in handy some day.
Throw them out? How can I? They might come in handy.
Posts
2 comments:
Yes, I also have old coffee cans of miscellaneous hardware from my father-in-law. And I have found them occasionally useful!
My parents are moving to a retirement condo this week, and so have been doing their death cleaning in anticipation.
Maybe the best part of moving is the decluttering it forces.
Post a Comment