Have you done your Swedish death clean yet?

I can see what you mean but to get rid of too much stuff and live minimally feels so miserable. I like to have books, music, pictures and fabric.
However I can see the other side. Mentioning no names or places - a friend who was very creative had an enormous amount of items which were in every conceivable place, in a bag or cupboard, on top of cupboards, bags or boxes behind yet more boxes/bags. Her DH had no interest in these so a gang of friends got together to remove them. It took months as there was so much stuff. It was a salutary lesson for we hoarders.

We declutter quite a lot over the year. Not ones for hanging onto much. Just what we like and need.

pauline42 the things that upset me most when clearing my parent's home were their spectacles. We found a charity in the end who sent them to Africa. Our 'stuff' can often be used elsewhere

If any of you have had to go through the heart wrenching process of doing the final clear out of the house that your parents lived in for the last 60+ years of their lives, then you will know the pain of opening wardrobes, drawers, medicine cabinets and looking at "stuff" - no use to anyone yet it makes you feel so intensely sad to have to pitch it! After doing "due diligence" in my parents home after they died, I vowed I would never let the build up of life long possessions cause my children the heartbreak I felt when they have to do take on this task. So we downsized and threw out so much of our unwanted/not needed possession three years ago - and every year take a very critical look at what we have and turn out more stuff. I look at it as a way to "pay it forward" to my kids for when it's their turn - and I know they feel relieved we aren't leaving this awful task to them !

It’s a great idea! Having sorted out 4 adults possessions after their death, it’s a lot to deal with. My MIL was a terrible hoarder but my mum, thankfully, wasn’t. She always had just enough. Couldn’t bear more than she needed! My husband has got several boxes of his dads to sort out still and he died three years ago.

No, but it is at the back of my mind. But you never know when you might need that little gift from that really expensive box of Christmas crackers that no one bothered to take home.....

I have downsized twice in 6 years, each time to a much smaller property. Charities have done well from these moves. I try to have a clear out every couple of months, especially sentimental items. Books, with rare exceptions go to Charity shop or passed on to friends once read. Not much room for hoarding in my home & little storage

My DD has made it clear that she will sell my collections books & ornaments. She will probably sell my furniture as well if she can or give to charity.

My DD doesn't believe in throwing much away if it has a value.

My DM is 88 & she has parted with some bits & pieces but has 3 double wardrobes full of clothes, Charity Shops will do well.

When DH died I cleared his clothes out just after the Funeral, I kept a few treasured possessions & our wedding photo is on display.

From the title, I thought it was some kind of drastic colon cleanse!

We are both 74 and need to be thinking of our demise but my DH just won’t get rid of things without a struggleo. To balance things out I have started to dispose of things I am not attached to and will not use/need again. As I have a Kindle I have got rid of a lot of books except a few with sentimental value. All costume jewellery from the 80s and 90s has gone as have all my knitting patterns, needles and wool. Excess Christmas decorations will be next and DH has promised to go through the garage and get rid of a lot of things he has hung on to ‘in case they come in useful’. My clothes have beeen drastically pruned down and I have stoppped buying things in sales; I stop now and think it’s not a bargain unless you need it and would have bought it anyway.

As we have two sons and only two of our four granddaughters knew my Mum, and sadly we are estranged from them, I have passed on what little jewellery she had to my brother for him to decide what to give to his two Daughters.

I have given some photos to our sons, organised remaining photos into albums and have written details on the back of most of them so it will be easy for our sons to decide what they want to keep. DH scanned all our photos last year and a lot of our music is on computer. All our CDs are now in alphabetical order and the few that are listed at a Amazon at high prices have yellow stickers on with a message to check the value before disposing of.

I have written down what jewellery of mine I want to go to grandchildren and daughters in law.

We do have some china and cystal glassware that was so popular way back but it is in a cupboard.

I have disposed of my old phones and laptops, DH won’t but I have done my bit.

We did our wills some time ago but as yet haven’t done anything about our funerals.

Because my Mum (87) won’t throw anything away, we know it will take weeks to clear her house when she dies. So with that thought in mind, I do have regular assessments of what I want/need and the rest goes to Charity shops. I keep on top of paperwork too so when I die, my kids will have it as easy as poss.

What a depressing thought. I like what I have, if my family don't then they could sell it or take it to charity/tip.

Iam; yes, I can't resist things like that in charity shops. I also buy things that I really should sell on, but can't because I bought them because I liked them...

Thinking about our loft- quite a lot of stuff doesn’t even belong to us. My children leafy stuff when then they left for their first jobs!

Minniesmum haha? love the new handle bit.Why not try and have the diaries published? I would buy them.

I think here in the UK it is called a spring clean.
I seem to toss things out daily. I have a charity clothes bag and a large box for items.

When the adult children come to visit they are invited to look through the box before it goes to the charity shop. My neighbour was here yesterday, took home some items.

I hate clutter!
We have been removing stuff for a few years. We became empty nesters.
Have moved house to a much nicer location. De cluttered the mortgage.

I think just hanging on to stuff we no longer need just takes up our living space. For example - yesterday in the charity box went x4 children's story DVD's. I use to play them in the car. I do not own a DVD player now.

Scented candles x box full also went. I now think lighted candles are a fire hazard.

I no longer have crammed full cupboards and drawers. Love it!
Very happy to hear the complements of my rooms when people come round.

I decided that if my children were going to inherit my house which is worth an awful lot more than we paid for it, they can work for it by clearly it out!!!!

Don't ever, ever, get rid of old diaries. I always thought that life in the 1920s in rural Devon was rather boring but reading through FIL's diaries, they had a very varied and active social life. It brought him to life almost like knowing him when he was a young man. My husband's birth is recorded with delight and I found out that he thought I was too young (21) when we got married. Later in the diaries he commented that DH had landed one of the best!
The one which made me cry with laughter was the entry when the King died in 1952. He wrote in black ink, "His Majesty King George VI died at Sandringham early this morning". Underneath, scribbled in pencil "Bought a new handle for my spade". I will never part with those diaries and my son has started reading through them so I hope he will keep them.

Never heard the term before but have been endeavouring to do this for a couple of years so that only son doesn't have the job at a future date. Problem is DH is a hoarder and does not see the point of getting rid of stuff when it's sitting somewhere out of the way. Having moved around a lot and had stuff in store in various countries we have accumulated duplicates of all sorts of stuff which really needs to go. Recently a whole van load went off to the local hospice and DH sulked for a good while.

Having cleared 3 homes of elderly re.atives In as many years, we have been decluttering. It is a long slow process, but I find we become more ruthless as we go along. We have also asked our children for things like museum subscriptions and food gifts rather than things that add to our possessions.

We downsized 10 years ago and got rid of loads, we don’t have space to keep things that don’t get used anymore. My Mum died earlier in the year and I know that she had been clearing things out for about a year because she would tell me that someone had called round and whilst the were chatting they had cleared a cupboard or drawers. My Mum died on a Saturday and Monday was a Bank Holiday, my sister arrived on The Tuesday afternoon and the first thing my Dad said to us was that we needed to clear all Mums clothes. They were at the charity shop by 4pm. We spent the rest of the week clearing more stuff.

I take loads of stuff to charity shops. I've realised I don't need so much stuff and others may be able to make use of it.

For some reason my brother once said to me ''if anything happens me will you look through everything and not just chuck it all in a skip''. So I promised to do that. Sadly he died suddenly early this year. It took me nearly 4 months to clear out as there were things going back to his teens. But I felt I couldn't do anything else but carry out his wishes.
Its made me realise how much stuff I had, though I wouldn't go to extreme lengths and get rid of everything, I've slowly gone through a lot of my things and took to charity shops etc, but just things that I don't want to keep. It will make things easier (as long as I don't accumulate another load of stuff in the meantime!)

After having to empty my MiLs property when she went into a care, we had the mammoth task of emptying her property which she had lived in for over 55 years and barely got rid of anything. She was allowed some of her things (small furniture etc) into her own room but we had to decide what as she had severe dementia. Every cupboard available was crammed full of all sorts of things. My late FiL was a bit of a squirrel so it was quite an eye opener having to dispose of all this amount of stuff. A local hospice charity took most of the furniture to sell in their shop, and we donated other items in good condition to a couple more charities. The rest included several trips to the local tip. After this experience we decided to be a bit more ruthless with our own things and now regularly have a sort out and donate to local charity shops. Also we try not to buy as much .....do we need it.. as opposed to ...do we just want it. Would"nt like to be minimalist but a bit more streamlined is easier to keep clean and tidy than a cluttered home.

I am still trying to sort through the mountains of stuff my parents hoarded. They put loads of things from their parents' homes in the loft, garage and shed. I am determined not to leave such a task for my children, but I have to finish their things first. On the plus side I am reading old letters and documents and finding out lots of things I never knew about my family!

Did a fair bit of "down sizing" for our last move...
had expected to stay in that house forever but circumstances changed... hence an enormous amount to sift through ...
New house doesn't even have a decent loft so storage is very limited (that can be good and bad!) ... just under eaves cupboards...
Tried to go a bit "scandi" at the last re decoration and get rid of rubbish etc...
but don't like the effect... too bare... too stark ... obviously i like a bit of clutter...
Now enjoying wandering round junk / antique markets...
new hobby...
Will still leave most of our rubbish for kids/ g-kids to sort when we pop our clogs ... (in another 20+ years i hope!!)

I am at the time in my life when I am downsizing. The house I am in has a huge loft, and I think there is as much stuff up there as there is in the whole house.

So now it starts.

I began by asking my daughters what they would like me NOT to get rid of and that leaves me with the Ebay/Charity shop choice for everything else. I'm doing it gradually as I have until next spring but it is a daunting prospect.

I'm sure I will feel better when the boxes of stock left over from my business, racks of clothes I don't wear or craft projects I didn't get inspired to complete, are all gone.