How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter

This was a quick read, too short for the price in my opinion. I heard plenty of negative comments on this book before reading it but kept an open mind. I agree with most everything written, although I would have handled the decision about one dog differently, I feel there is much food for thought here for a consumerist society such as the one we live in. I would have given this a higher rating if the length of the book was better reflected in the price.

I thoroughly enjoyed this little treasure of a book. I bought this book when I was getting ready to sell my home of 26 years & hardly knew where to start. This author helped to guide me through the sorting process & made me laugh out loud! Just what I needed! Highly recommended!

The author, Margareta Magnusson, addresses items I haven't thought about before, like the kids & my (!) Stuffed animals. Also, she relates the story of her son's pet rodent who dies suddenly & spectacularly! The author has a unique outlook on life & death. The book, "The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning", sheds an unusual light on downsizing. I needed this book, it's so unlike any other I've read on the subject. Mrs. Magnusson, I would very much enjoy another one of your books! Maybe??
I only gave 4 stars because of the occasional curse word.

I thoroughly enjoyed this little treasure of a book. I bought this book when I was getting ready to sell my home of 26 years & hardly knew where to start. This author helped to guide me through the sorting process & made me laugh out loud! Just what I needed! Highly recommended!

The author, Margareta Magnusson, addresses items I haven't thought about before, like the kids & my (!) Stuffed animals. Also, she relates the story of her son's pet rodent who dies suddenly & spectacularly! The author has a unique outlook on life & death. The book, "The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning", sheds an unusual light on downsizing. I needed this book, it's so unlike any other I've read on the subject. Mrs. Magnusson, I would very much enjoy another one of your books! Maybe??
I only gave 4 stars because of the occasional curse word.

I do not understand the hype about this book. There was little content which could be boiled down to one sentence “clean out your clutter so others don’t have to when you’re gone”. It was poorly organized and clearly needed a good editor. Every chapter made the same point over and over but just talking about a different item type. So sorry I spent money on this book.

Really liked this book notwithstanding it could use some editing. Concepts solid to get rid of your stuff so you aren't burdened with it and neither are others when you die. Best idea? Quit buying so much unnecessary stuff!

I really liked this book. Don't let the title scare you away its not sad. It really put things into perspective for me, I have a tendency to hold onto stuff & this book gave me a great starting point to get uncluttered guilt free. In the true spirit of the book after I was done reading it, I passed it along to a friend.

I found this book to be a total waste of my money. The author could have skipped all the trips down memory lane and simply said "Throw your stuff out before you die" and summed the entire book up in one paragraph. I was extremely disappointed!

After reading a brief summary in the paper, I couldn't wait to read the book. And frankly, since I've never Marie Kondo'd, this charming little book changed my life. I have spent the past 3 weeks death cleaning my home and storage areas, reducing my clutter by carloads. Ms. Magnusson, who repeatedly reminds us that she is between 80 and 100 years old, stresses that death cleaning is not so much about pre-death cleaning as it is about streamlining your life, downsizing your possessions (especially the unused or unwanted ones), and coincidentally making the mess we all leave behind a little less messy, and a little more organized, than if we just let it slide. Four co-workers have already purchased for family gifts, based on my excitement and endorsement. And really, who doesn't like the sound of "Swedish Death Cleaning!"

This lovely book was not what I expected, but the encouragement and permission to rid my home of many things came through in a gentle and persuasive way. I realize now I have "death cleaned" several times. The first was after my mother died. Flying home after cleaning out and selling her home, I promised I would not leave this task to my children in the same way she had! So yes, the author says much more than the few words on the pages in her tidy book portray.. If one wants a manual about how to clean out and throw out, I suggest Clutters Last Stand; oherwise, I recommend a second reading of The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning.

I want to give this book to everybody I know. I wish my mother, my uncle, and my aunt had read it. I wish my mother-in-law had read it. And I am grateful that it came into my hands while I am still young enough to put its wisdom to good use. It is not a sad or depressing book. Quite the opposite. I can’t wait to get started with my own death cleaning. In fact I have already begun.

I adored this book! It was so very helpful in getting your life and things in order, how to declutter your things and how to prepare for old age declutter and yes, even dying. An excellent author and parts of this book did make me cry! It was reality and it was even more all about life! I learned some wonderful Swedish words too. I recommend this book highly and I will probably read it again as it was that good!

Thought I was going to get helpful hints with humor in them. No humor really. Good to encourage people to take care of their own stuff. Very quick read, disappointing to have been on pre order list. Other books out there are better if you need help on how to do and get started, and you won't have to read so much about how old this author is. Her family should appreciate all her hard work. At least I am not dusting and moving a book around with my Kindle version.

At my age (which is similar to the author's) there is very little I find "awesome" or "amazing"; I found it "comforting" knowing I am in good company fighting the downsizing dilemma. This is a good, little book full of truisms. I didn't pick up many new tricks, but I did find myself nodding my head in agreement a lot. I will continue to de-junk.

A sweetly written book urging us to recognize we all die via spending time reflecting on our lives while doing the important and responsible work of caring for all the stuff we drag along with us through our lives. Would love to have heard more of the authors thoughts about the many decisions tone made, feelings encountered, and relationship issues traversed. Enjoyed her voice, wisdom and lovely drawings sprinkled throughout.

I bought this for my father who read it along with my wife. The consensus was that the book is utterly useless; in fact my father wanted to contact the publisher and tell them they should be ashamed for putting out such trash. I skimmed through the pamphlet - you can't really call it a book - and had to agree it seemed to just be a lot of drivel. I checked the store's return policy to see if you could return a book because it was godawful but that doesn't seem to be valid reason for returning it. The best I can do is warn others: DO NOT BUY THIS LOSER.

The author's personal story and bits of wisdom have energized me for the task of reviewing all my possessions. I also feel relieved of some of the guilt I always feel when I contemplate donating or selling things I have received from family members. Most importantly, this book has shown me a manageable process for approaching what would otherwise be an overwhelming task. I am not nearing death but, like many people, I sometimes feel trapped by all my stuff. I have already begun my death cleaning, which will ultimately make me freer to enjoy my life.

I have read many books on downsizing and organizing and have found myself helping relatives and friends accomplish this a number of times. I have this skill. This book is a breath of fresh air because it underscores that downsizing isn't a chore, it can be a joy. All of her writing indicates that the task of reducing is an activity that you want to do!

Also, unlike other books which encourage disposing/"throwing away" everything, Magnusson encourages repurposing, recycling, reusing. She emphasizes that filling our landfills with our stuff takes a toll on the planet. Amen!!! Her undertone of an environmental minded Swede is a welcome voice in our consumer based culture.

I want to thank the Publisher, Simon & schuster and Netgalley for provincia me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a lovely book, that is very thought provoking by addresssing an isssue that none of want to face or discuss with our love ones. Some of us have thought about this wreath cleaning when we visit our parents and see the amount of things they have in their home. Some that may have lost their parents or one parent, have had the burden to deal with this issue of cleaning out the home and find a place for all these belongings, or help the surviving parent downsize and move.
Ms Magnusson, teaches us about dear cleaning by telling us about her own experience when her parents past away and het in laws and then her own husband. Now as a single women, she has gone through the process of her own.
The book is very charming and very practical,as she provides many ideas of how to deal with death cleaning, the emotions we will experience and possible questions that we may have while going through the process.
Many ideas you may have read in other book about de-cluttering and minimalism.
The difference with this book, is that it is really geared toward preparing for our end of life which is inevitable. We have to deal with the amount of stuff we have amassed over time, so that we do not leave the burden for our children and other loved ones. She clearly shows us how the process of death cleaning process provides you with the peace of mind that your things find a new home where they can be useful to someone else or another family. She provides great ideas of how to rid ourselves of our stuff in a way that will be satisfying.

The book provides a great step by step description for reaching this goal. I really like her observation of how removing staples are very difficult when death cleaning as they are hard to remove and can not be place in your shredder and we difficult to remove especially as we are getting older. She advises to start using tape instead. I also like the tip of using a little book with all your passwords, so that your children will be able to find what they need when the time comes.

I think that this book is a great read with tons of practical advice and easy to read. I read it in one day. And will revisit it again. I think it makes a great gift and even as a coffee table book, for other to stumble upon.

Although the books offers sound advice - declutter, simplify your life to promote your own and loved ones well-being - most of this is common sense, and I found the tone to be condescending at times. If your house is a mess, it's your fault; that there is almost no excuse for mess. The author herself has five children, and recommend putting a color-coded cubby in your entryway so each child can locate their backpacks, hats, gloves, etc. This presumes of course that I have SPACE in my entryway for such a thing. Obviously it's much easier to have a neat and orderly home if you have a big house with plenty of space. Oh, I should put a basket at the bottom of the stairs on each level to eliminate trips up and down...do most homes have more than 2-3 levels? She seemed rather out of touch with reality.

Mostly a rambling book about getting rid of belongings and too many other topics. Nothing new here, you just throw out, give away or in the case of pets, apparently euthanize them.

The book also seems to assume that everyone wants to move from their home to some small place which is not true.

The best practical advice is to carefully measure the place you are moving into, draw on graph paper the rooms, and measure and label all the pieces of furniture you are considering. Cut them out and then figure out what fits, and where it will go. I might add it is far better to not cut the furniture out of the same graph paper but to use index cards in colors so they stand out on the graph paper. She mentions most floor plans that establishments furnish are not correct. I have found that to be quite true also.

Odd bits are calling in auctioneer to remove stuff, prior to her having removed what items she wished to keep and then not caring that they have removed more than they were supposed to! What?

One bad piece of advice was to make pictures into digital and throw out originals. We have no way of knowing what our grandchildren's world will be like. Already most people have files and photos in a digital format they can no longer access. Things on paper will be visible, at a glance, generations from now. No one can see a memory stick without the right technology, so future generations will not have a clue what might be on it. To them, it will be useless junk.

She might not find the constant mention of death depressing but her book is depressing. The suggestions about how to broach getting rid of things to parents are bizarre. "You have many nice things, have you thought about what you want to do with it all later on?" "Do you enjoy having all this stuff?", "Could life be easier and less tiring if we got rid of some of this stuff that you have collected over the years?", "Is there anything we can do together in a slow way so that there won't be too many things to handle later?"

Somehow she feels saying things like this is using tact!
Most people DO enjoy their stuff! What business is it of anyone, what others plan to do with their stuff? WHO ASKS THAT?

Getting old is full of upsetting, demeaning, limiting events and moments. Looking nice is still on the minds of old people. Paring your wardrobe to FIVE dresses? For most people, limiting their possessions to a drastic degree would be like dying before actually dying. HER children might not instantly want certain items, but that does not mean her grandchildren might not be thrilled to have them several years down the road! They however will not have that chance.

While certainly everyone could do some disposing, the ideas here are mostly odd. Her table holds 6, so she no longer needs more than 6 plates or forks, knives and spoons. WHAT? Are there not times when such things are being washed, or plates in the fridge, or utensils used in cooking or someone drops something?

Spartan to the max is not logical for everyone.

I have read many books on decluttering and downsizing. If you are looking for truly practical information about how to deal with belongings, including the crucial aspect of how to address the complex emotions that make it difficult to face this task and let go of things, you cannot do better than the superb book, Making Peace with the Things in Your Life, by Cindy Glovinsky. Just trust me on that one. This Swedish Death Cleaning book might be good for someone who is completely new to the whole idea of downsizing, and who wants a little humor in the mix. But the author's suggestions about how to go about this process are ridiculously simplistic, and her superior attitude about people who let things pile up in their houses is exactly the opposite of what clutterers need to hear. I am clearly in the minority in comparison to other readers/listeners who found it absolutely charming. Unlike other listeners of the audiobook, I found the narrator's voice irritating, a snooty British accent, although it was an appropriate choice to match the attitude of the author.

Why oh why so low ratings for such a gentle, soothing, thought-provoking and darn right lovely book? I am reading as well as practicing this Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning as a favor to myself, my husband, and my children. You see...it is really not about death, is it?

I know firsthand what it's like to clean up a lifetime of accumulated stuff. I thought I'd learned the lesson Margareta Magnusson is teaching here, but ten years after I moved into a new apartment, this place still looks like I just moved in. It's filled with boxes, and is stuffed not only with my own things, but all the things that had belonged to my parents which I couldn't bring myself to get rid of. Then I heard about Swedish Death Cleaning, and realized that it was time... past time, to start again, and get serious about all the things cluttering my life.

When I read this book, many of the ideas and situations were familiar to me, many of the conundrums of uncluttering my life were things I'd begun to deal with. As I read, I thought, "Well I already have done this. That as well." But what I was also getting from this book was a deeper message that came with Magnusson's personal reminiscences about her life, her husband and children, the happy times: The things we cling to are just tools. Everything that is important to us we carry with us inside our heads and hearts.

It takes some time to assimilate the idea, we don't necessarily trust our memories to hang on to the good times and let go of the bad ones, (assuming you want to let go of them, and I, like Magnusson, really recommend that you let them go. They serve no purpose.) But to stockpile hundreds, or in my case, thousands of old photos, every possible knick knack, tool, book, or cookie sheet (Yes, I have a very old cookie sheet I never use.) doesn't make it easier to remember the things you want to remember. One thing will do that, one well-chosen item that brings back a flood of memories is good to have. A houseful is not.

Much of what Magnusson says is geared toward downsizing to move from a large house or apartment into a smaller one. And I can attest to the fact that she's absolutely right about everything she says. But you don't have to be about to move house to appreciate the importance of decluttering. You just have to be tired of the mess, and the work it takes to maintain it.

There are two reasons to death clean.  The first is you. Make your life easier, neater.  Arrange it so that there's less weighing on you, and you may find you feel better, freer. The second is the people who will be stuck cleaning up your stuff after you die. Don't torture them. Love them enough to deal with this stuff while you're alive.  And that is the essence of Magnusson's book.  Do it for you, do it for others. Lighten the load for everyone.

This is a wonderful, thoughtful book that can help almost anyone simplify their life. She covers all the bases, even the embarrassing (Grandpa's collection of frilly lingerie) or dangerous (The lump of arsenic her father obtained during WWII, just in case.) Magnusson's advice? Keep your favorite sex toys, get rid of the rest.

She's a wise woman. And a funny one.

 

I really want to thank this author....she discusses an important topic with such candor and practicality that it touches one's heart as well as their thoughts. She begins by saying she is somewhere between 80 and 110....so that sets the tone that she is at a point in her life where she is just anxious to share and help others.

So many of her stories of her own past cleanings of relatives homes and eventually her own the reader can relate to. She describes a small boat she owned and the many memories of her children in it, yet no one wanted it...you feel her pain yet her practical nature of understanding that what is important to her may not be important to her children or grandchildren.

Her writing is simple - she states her thoughts briefly and clearly, which I find refreshing. But more importantly is that she shares a message we in a society focused on accumulation should consider as we age...we do not want to burden our children at a busy time of their lives with our museums...pass down some important memories and items for them to remember you by, but don't burden them with the job of finding them in the accumulations of a life time. Clean out and clean out often, at each life phase...so everything you own is cherished and not just owned.

If I could give this little gem of a book 10 stars I would....and I thank Margareta Magnusson for writing it.

After having to clear out my mother's house, and my own, in just two years, I found this little book very sweet and insightful. Sure, it's light on details but there are plenty of other places you can get those. Enjoy the book for its "grandmotherly" advice and balance of common sense and humor. If you didn't want to spend the money, you should have borrowed it from your library! Then, if you liked it, you could have bought it.

(An aside... I can never understand why people gripe about spending money on books. If you want to read something, borrow it from your library! In many cases, you can get regular print, Large Print, e-book, audiobook, etc.). If you MUST have the book and MUST have it NOW, then shop around for the best deal. But surely people have better things to do than complain about spending money on a book when they CHOSE to buy it. We are blessed with CHOICES, so make a choice that suits you. Full disclosure, I'm a librarian and sometimes I DO choose to buy the book.)

There, you have the best reason to read this book. A bit of humor, from a lady with five kids. :)

You would think that a woman who moved her family several times the book would have more practical information.

If you enjoy her meandering through her life story with a few tips for filler, by all means read it -- but check it out of the library and don't waste your money.

After my wife died, I decided to down size and sold several properties, leaving the house she built for last. We filled two 35 dumpsters with all kinds of things -- building materials from Queens for example that had journeyed from Queens to the Catskills to our house in Glen Rock and finally to another house in Franklin Lakes -- "They might come in handy someday" -- and maybe they would, but we always ended up buying new to have the right quantity and quality for the job at hand.

"Gentle" -- forget that word.

Things have a way of becoming part of you and your essence -- you start to belong to them even if you never look at them.

Be ruthless -- they cling to you in the most remarkable way -- and when you die, someone else has to come along and get rid of them. That is not a gentle process, believe you me.

So, remember the quoted line -- and forget all about "gentle".

Robert C. Ross
August 2018

This is an odd book to have become a best seller. It's not quite what I expected, but it still turned out to be a delightful read.

It's a short book, and the typeface is large. You can read the book in one sitting, or you can read it in smaller doses and make it last longer.

While I was expecting a history of the Swedish cultural experience of death cleaning with some concrete tips on how to DIY, the book is more of a short autobiography of Margareta Magnusson.

When you finish the book, you'll feel like you know the opinionated (she's not always gentle) author. And you'll also learn helpful tips and advice on death cleaning. In other words, you'll learn why the author believes strongly in the concept, mostly because if you don't do it you're creating an unnecessary burden on the living, and you'll get specific advice on how to dispose of your material things.

I enjoyed the book, and I suspect I'll be thinking about it for a long time.

Death cleaning is a good & unselfish thing to do. As people get older they start thinking about what will happen to their stuff.They also think about what they want people to see when they are gone (personal stuff?). The reality is that lots of kids don't want their parent's old stuff. They want cash and a few sentimental items. It's better to downsize and find a home for your stuff yourself. Otherwise it may end up in the trash or going to a person who does estate sales. This book will give you some ideas on how to handle this problem if you haven't a clue; however, if you are already an organized person there won't be much to keep your interest. The author is a nice and charming lady, but I wasn't interested in her family stories. I got three quarters of the way through. Her overall message is good: clean and organize. In a perfect world, something we should practice every day. That would make death cleaning easier.

Save your money and your time. Short book but still sorry I spent the time reading it as it was not worth it. Essentially, you need to clear out things so you don't leave them for others to deal with. Same thing said in many other books. Can be depressing as author refers to "death cleaning" at least once on every page, sometimes once in every paragraph on a page. Marry an Army man and move alot and you get the same sentiment - if not using, throw it out!

I am sure Margareta is a lovely person and she shared some nice anecdotes in this book. However, for me the book did not have a lot of value in approaching the decluttering process.

Wanted to love it because of the title but end up being disappointed.

I guess I was looking for a more practical guide and less story telling

What will happen to all your stuff when you die? Will your spouse have to spend years mucking out all the junk in the house? Will your kids send it all off to a dump?

Margareta Magnusson suggests a better way: take your own stuff into your own hands. Don't keep stuff you don't use anymore. Find good homes for the things you don't need. Make it easier for your family after you're gone.

The author starts out by describing the cleaning she does after loved ones' deaths, and then outlines what she has done to make it easier on her family one day. If you've read [book:The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up|22318578], this book is another, more practical, take on the same idea.

I'm not planning on dying for quite some time, but what Magnusson says still makes sense. Keep your life in order. Write down your passwords. Make a will. Pare down your belongings as your life phases change. Preserve the memories you want to pass on, and destroy the ones you don't. Not just because you'll die one day, but because you'll have a better life meanwhile if you keep things in order and you aren't drowning in excess objects.

I received an ecopy for review from Netgalley.

'The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter' by Margareta Magnusson is a short book about a kind of dark subject. It is handled with charm and gentleness.

The author, who is aged somewhere between 80 and 100, proposes that we all die and we shouldn't leave our mess behind for the next generation. In a practical approach that made me smile, the author talks about what to keep, what to toss and what to give away, perhaps to your children or someone else who might appreciate it. Emphasis is made that things given away should be actually wanted by the recipient.

The author writes with such warmth about a topic that can be uncomfortable. There is a level of humor that is completely appropriate for the book. I'm glad I got to read this ebook.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Scribner and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

Save your money. The Gentle Art of Death Cleaning is the same thing as "down sizing" here in the states. Anybody with half a brain should be able to figure out how to downsize by giving away goods to family first then charity. The tips weren't linear and spelled out (nor innovative).

The woman states she moved 17 times if I remember correctly. Especially as a world traveler, she should have been used to living a decluttered lifestyle. I know every time I move (roughly every 4 years) I drag along less and less.

The autobiographical stories weren't terribly interesting, especially the part of about how she handled their pets at the end of a stay in another country. She knew about the 4 month quarantine. Get a freakin' hamster or mice with a 2 year life span.

The best piece of advice (and again, not a novel concept) is start early before you get sick,weak or die.

I got my copy from the local library.

Death cleaning will not be a best seller I imagine. I’m not as old as the author, in my seventies, while she says that she is between eighty and one hundred. Nevertheless I am concerned that my children not to burdened by disposing of all of our stuff. Rather than a handbook of exactly how to do this, the book is a relaxed, personal conversation with the author about what she did, and what you might think about doing. It’s a gentle, unthreatening way of talking about dying and planning for it. It’s one last gift you can give your family and friends, knowing exactly how much you cared for them.

The subtitle of this book is "How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter" -- this is a misnomer. While the book is entertaining and a quick read (one-sitting), this isn't a how-to book. When you finish, you will have a bit better understanding of the main message which is to get rid of your stuff so those left behind won't have to. How to actually go about it is much less clear. If you are looking for a how-to book with any sort of detailed steps, this book isn't for you. A very slim volume at only 116 pages, it is an enjoyable read but doesn't contain much substance.

What a ridiculous little book this is. Surely she has an amazing marketing team to have generated so much hype. The book is poorly written in a simple, childish style. It wanders off on self-indulgent tangents that bear no relation to the main theme. If you are looking for a book that deals brilliantly with the emotional and practical issues involved in down-sizing, read Let It Go by Peter Walsh.

THIS is the original book, not the very poor knockoff under the same title. This is the origianl author, the other says it is by Margaret Smith and the ISBN number is different too.
I found a copy of this at my local library and have really enjoyed it, AND it inspired me to get started sorting. And I laughed out loud at some of the stories she shared! The ideas are simple, but easy to follow, practical, and I really liked that she let me feel likes it's ok to take my time....this does not have to be done in a week!

I really didn't know what to expect from this book, but it is a short read. Like a nice suggestion on how to handle your items before you die. I am always interested in ways to pair down that don't hurt that much. I get attached to items and come from a family that likes to save things. I totally recommend this read to anyone looking to begin a plan to get rid or stuff whether you are old or young, dying or even if you think you have a long life in front of you. I do not recommend buying book.

Please save your money and don't buy this. As the other one star reviews note, it's just a poorly written, not very useful book. I am also surprised it actually got published (but I am assuming it did so do to the whole "Swedish" theme of it). It's hard to believe it's 146 pages as it's a quick skim with basically useless personal stories that aren't really applicable to most folks.

This is the third book about decluttering that I have read and it's my second favorite. It's a short book with quite a bit of reminiscing, but also practical advice on how to get started with "cleaning out" and "downsizing".
My favorite was "ClutterFree Revolution" by Evan Zislis. Did not feel that "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up" by Marie Kondo was all that inspiring.

This was an easy, short read. At times, I laughed at the author’s humor. I didn’t learn anything new, practically speaking, but did learn a little about the culture of Sweden. This was a library book. Fun to read, but I wouldn’t purchase it.

I'm sorry, I really wanted to like this book. It is the 4th "de-cluttering" type book I've read this year, and it has by far the least helpful advice. It is more of a pep-talk than an actual method. I guess I thought it had more step-by-step methodology, but it does not.

The simple content would serve for a short article, but not for a whole book. This book is repetitious, disorganized (for a book about getting organized!), and disjoint. Even the table of contents shows no discernible plan. And why are there recipes at the back???

I don't think this book has much practical advice about cleaning out your house, but is more like meeting a wise and interesting senior with whom you have an interesting conversation about her reasons for cleaning out her house. That conversation plays in your head as motivation for you to do the same. A short book, but one that may stick with me longer than many other books I've read.

This is a sweet book. It's a lot short on details about cleaning out your possessions but she has a few worthwhile recommendations. It's also interesting and sometimes touching learning about her perspective as an older Swedish woman. The Marie Kondo book is what you want if you're serious about downsizing.

This book is a gem! If you’re over 50 you should read it. It can be used as a bridge to a sometimes difficult topic to discuss with aging family members. Decluttering your possessions so as not to leave the task for someone else to do after you leave this earth is a gift to them. Living more simply, with intention, and surrounded by the things that enrich your life at any age is a gift to yourself.

You already know most of what is in the book. It is made somewhat more interesting since the writer is Swedish, but doesn't hold a candle to "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up" which was both entertaining and helpful.

"The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning" shows the success of advertising. I read about it months before it was published and it sounded like an interesting book. After reading the the store reviews, I decided to get it out of the library. The price is high for such a slim volume.

The book is a puff piece. The author goes on for the first 50 pages, with one major hint: provide individual cubbyholes for your children to put their coats and mittens. Then she gets into weirder examples, such as euthanizing a pet when one is moving. She describes how she had her old dog put to sleep before she moved back to Sweden. She boasts of the homemade food she gave the dog: brown rice, chopped hard boiled eggs, and boiled vegetables. It was so tasty that her teenaged children would snack on the dog's food when they came home from school! Then she discusses what to do with "secret" items that one might not want found. She conjectures that grandpa may have ladies' underwear in his drawer, and grandma may have a dildo. Reminiscent of Hillary Clinton, the author asks, What does it matter? She suggests throwing out 15 dildos and saving "your favorite" one!

I found Marie Kondo's book more helpful and am glad I did not lay out $12 for "The Gentle Art ...." Thanks, fellow the store reviewers.

This is a sweet little book about tackling all that stuff we've gathered over a lifetime. Since I've had to go through both of my parents stuff after they passed away, I'm determined to not burden my daughters when my time comes. The author has some good tips, and cute stories.

What a disappointment. Admittedly, I’m only on page 24, but so far this is such a dumb book. She’s just prattling on about this and that, and hasn’t offered any specifics. I’m so sorry I bought it—now I have to death-clean it out of here.

It’s a 30-minute read. I did not find it insightful or original. I’ve had to “death clean” 3 times, and I think I could have written a funnier, more inspiring book. It was like listening to my husband’s ancient grandmother ramble on.

Loved this little book. I fully expect to put a copy of this book in my "throw out" box with a little note to the person that takes care of my things in hopes that it will be useful to them. Written with kindness, and that knowing, of inevitable things, we chose to pass on, or not. I loved it.

Having just read another book from Japan on clearing out the clutter, I was attracted to this title. Being of Swedish descent added to the attraction. I thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Magnusson's humor, honesty, and gentleness in discussing this topic. Very practical and to the point, she used wonderful examples from her interesting life.

Not a review of the book...that I still haven't read. I requested a sample of the book but when I went to read it, there was no sample of the actual content. It contained only a list of chapters, the dedication page and that was it before it said the sample had ended. Poor formatting on the store's part.

I enjoyed reading The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning after I was done I shipped it to one of my brothers and suggested when he's finished he pass it on to our oldest sister because I think she would enjoy it too. I think it's a good book to get the conversation started with loved ones about their things and dealing with them before they die rather than them leaving it all behind for us to figure out what to do with it. It gives a few ideas on gentle ways to go through things that may be helpful to some.

While reading this book there was some mild swearing and mention of dildos. The image of a Grandmother saying these things to me made me laugh so loudly my husband woke up and asked what was so funny. After reading him the passage he started laughing too. If you find things like that offensive then this isn't the book for you.

A positive approach to dealing with your “Stuff” for your own benefit and for your family and friends after you have passed. Basically it is about a Mindset to get into in order to begin the decluttering process for your life. I enjoyed the journey though this book.

I adored this book! It was so very helpful in getting your life and things in order, how to declutter your things and how to prepare for old age declutter and yes, even dying. An excellent author and parts of this book did make me cry! It was reality and it was even more all about life! I learned some wonderful Swedish words too. I recommend this book highly and I will probably read it again as it was that good!

I bought this book for my dad. I read it before giving it to him and I thought it was a funny and honest look at preparing for the inevitable.

Personally I had no problems with some things in the book; my dad is a little more sensitive to some things. So there was a paragraph discussing embarassing items (something like, grandpa wearing women's underpants, and, you can keep your favorite dildo, but throw the other fifteen away!), and knowing my father would stop reading there, I used white out and wrote BIBLES in the few sentences with words I knew would disqualify the book in his eyes.

So if this book is for an uptight and religious person with zero tolerance for totally normal things that people do, beware of that one paragraph.

I however found it to be a quick, thought provoking, and lovely read.

Not a review of the book...that I still haven't read. I requested a sample of the book but when I went to read it, there was no sample of the actual content. It contained only a list of chapters, the dedication page and that was it before it said the sample had ended. Poor formatting on the store's part.