A humorous and heartfelt exploration of the difficulties of decluttering a lifetime of possessions. The author reflects on her parents' hoarding habits and the inevitable burden their belongings will place on their family after their death. Drawing inspiration from the Swedish concept of döstädning ('death cleaning'), the author urges her parents to start downsizing now, highlighting the emotional and practical benefits of letting go of unnecessary items.
The corrugated wall panels are lined with cardboard boxes, plastic tubs, odds and ends, disused electronics and things they claim: “might come in handy one day”.
The series is based on a sensible and surprisingly not-so-sad book by Swedish author Margareta Magnusson who writes one shouldn’t “ever imagine that anyone will wish or be able to schedule time off to take care of what you didn’t bother to take care of yourself”.As an expat who returns to Australia once or twice a year, it strikes me how visibly older my parents appear – greying hair, age spots, creaking bones and a growing list of minor ailments.
My father briefly had a jolt of decluttering motivation during a cancer scare years ago. He organised his shed and 30 years of paperwork, and found joy flogging a vintage motorbike, a heater, filing cabinets and antique lamps on Gumtree.I was locked out of the country for 18 months, and when I finally made it home, I discovered the folks had acquired the shipping container for storage. Now there was extra space inside the house for more clutter.
Edith Cowan University psychology associate professor Natalie Gately says people’s relationship to their possessions is complex and can be heavily influenced by their upbringing. My folks grew up in working-class families in the 1960s/70s and inherited an aversion to being wasteful from my grandparents – Italian migrant farmers who weathered the Depression after sailing to Australia with nothing but a suitcase.
DEATH CLEANING DOWNSIZING HOARDING FAMILY ELDERLY
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