Category: Just me being me

Swedish Death Cleaning

While watching something else on YouTube, a video on Swedish Death Cleaning caught my eye. Which then led to me requesting The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter by Margareta Magnusson from my local library. My library has books available on Overdrive which you can request and download for free, and there wasn’t even a wait for the book… so be sure to try there first!

Here it is on Amazon:

It was a very quick read; it took me probably only an hour or so to read the whole book. I loved the voice of the author though – it was much like following around your granny while she rambled on about her thoughts of letting go of things she doesn’t need. This is certainly not a ‘how to’ book, but more the emotions behind why you’d want to undergo Swedish Death Cleaning.

So, what is Swedish Death Cleaning?

In Sweden there is a kind of decluttering called döstädning, dö meaning “death” and städning meaning “cleaning.” This surprising and invigorating process of 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.

Much like Marie Kondo’s method, Swedish Death Cleaning isn’t about getting rid of things you love or use regularly. More about giving you the permission to get rid of things you don’t actually want or need, but hold onto anyways. Some of her examples are: unworn clothes, unwanted presents, more plates than you would ever use, etc. The idea is that you don’t want to leave the burden of going through all these items to your loved one after you have died.

Having helped my family clean out the homes of both sides of grandparents over the past decade, I feel it in my heart when she talks about all the crap we are leaving behind for family to deal with.

Immediately upon reading the book, I attacked a cabinet in my kitchen that was literally overflowing with cups and water bottles. There were some we used and loved, some that were pricey but we always passed over, and some that were gifts or freebies that we somehow felt bad about discarding. From there, my purging grew to a couple more kitchen cabinets. And then my closet (again) and then an overflowing junk drawer.

I found it especially fun to yell out “SWEDISH DEATH CLEANING” as if it were the name of a heavy metal band throughout my efforts. My husband didn’t find it *quite* as hilarious as I did…

I immediately put the items in the trunk of my SUV so that they were out of the house. I added some more items throughout the week and made a drop off at the local thrift store over the weekend. I’m not done though.

Swedish Death Cleaning is more a long-term state of mind. So as we continue {slowly} working toward the completion of our home renovation project, I plan to keep looking at other cervices of our house that need a good purge.

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2022 Goals: Mid-Year Check-In

Can you believe we are already half-way through 2022? With the year flying by, I thought it was a good time to take a look back at the goals I set for 2022 and how I’ve been doing on them.

My overall word/short phrase for 2022 was: Small Steps. Basically, keeping in mind that it takes many little steps to add up to bigger changes.

I started the year off by making a habit tracker for the back of my day planner and would mark off boxes each day. I did this for the first six months of the year and then I realized that it’s not really helping me stay motivated after all.

Let’s check in on each of my goals for this year:

Use my Peloton app every day

I started this in December 2020 and have successfully kept it up for 85 weeks straight. I do something on the Peloton app every single day, whether it be a cycling class, a stretch or even a 5-minute meditation. I enjoy keeping up with this goal and I’m sticking with it!

Exercise 20+ minutes

This seems redundant to using the Peloton app, but this is actually a separate goal. My goal this year was to do 20 minutes or more of some sort of aerobic exercise at least 4-5 days each week. Unfortunately, I have fallen a bit short of that goal so we will just call it room for improvement.

Track water intake

My doctor told me yet again that I MUST increase my water intake. So, at the end of 2021 I downloaded an app called Waterllama to help track my daily liquids. I’ve stuck with using this tracking app every single day of 2022 so far. While it is still very hard to get up to my daily intake goal, I now begin each day by drinking 10-15 ounces of water rather than going right to coffee… which is a huge improvement for me!

Adding the Mediterranean Diet to my life

I started the year with tracking each time I can incorporate a Mediterranean breakfast or lunch into my meals. I’ve been doing really well with overnight oatmeal and also trying to choose more fruits and vegetables. I will continue to work on this for the rest of 2022.

Starbucks visits

I love a nice Starbucks run on a day that I’m working in Baltimore. It’s a great chance to get up from my desk and walk a few blocks to pick up a delicious drink (and maybe snack). However, it can get out of hand when I’m in Baltimore three days each week so I gave myself the goal of cutting back to just one Starbucks run each week. Well, with my co-worker leaving for another job earlier this year, this goal has been pretty easy to stick with. I’ve reduced my Starbucks runs down to just a couple each month and over the summer when it’s hot outside, it’s pretty easy to want to skip that sweaty walk.

Avoid soda

I’m not a huge soda drinker, but sometimes I tend to get sucked into a soda kick. I tracked my soda intake for the first 6 months of the year and I pretty much average 1-2 sodas a week. I’m pretty happy with that number and plan to stick with it for the rest of the year.

All in all, I’ve done pretty well with my goals but I’m happy I did a half-way check in. Now I know what I need to be sure to focus on for the rest of 2022!

Content Creaters: 3 of My New Favorites

We all spend too much time online. I know, I know. And I try very hard to keep my ‘pleasure’ online perusing to things that make me happy (as opposed to my more regimented ‘work’ or ‘blogging’ online perusing).  Yeah, the internet is a time suck. BUT if you are wandering around the internet, I have 3 Content Creaters to share with you. They aren’t necessarily NEW, but I just recently started following them in 2022 and want to spread the love.

On Instagram: Elyse Myers (IG name: elyse_myers)

Find her here:

I love Elyse. She is so real and down-to-earth and funny. She shares her stories, her struggles and her celebrations. Without a doubt when she pops up in my timeline, I’m going to click on what she has to say because she just makes the world a better place with every post.

On a Blog: Cup of Jo

Find it here: https://cupofjo.com/

Just a few recent posts that I’ve enjoyed:

When a new post from Cup of Jo pops up in my Feedly, I basically click through every time. My favorites are the Home Tour posts and the Beauty Uniforms. I can not come away from one of those post without being inspired for how to rearrange my own life.

On Instagram: Thalia (IG name: polychrom3)

Find her here:

Thalia is a fashion stylist and a self-proclaimed maximalist. I love her sunny personality, her confidence and all her fantastic maximalists looks. She has influenced me to start layering in a more interesting way and I hope that she continues to influence the way I style and re-style my wardrobe moving forward. The video I linked to above is 100% the reason I tracked down the exact same blue dress!