Swedish Death Cleaning for Very Much Alive Guests

 JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: We've all heard about Swedish Death Cleaning, yes? I confess, I'm not sure how it got it's name - I don't suppose Swedes as a group get ready en masse for the end. On the other hand, we've all seen clips of Ingmar Bergen's The Seventh Seal, so maybe they are?

 

The goal is to declutter and organize, not just for you, but to make it easier for your family to deal with your home and possessions when you go toes up. But it's also an absolutely prime way to get your house more ready to put on the market. I'm not planning on either in the immediate future, but I am sick of having a huge house where I still can't comfortably have guests sleeping over because the bedrooms are still crowded with the kids junk precious things.

From Just A Girl and her Blog. My tubs, sadly, don't match...

At any rate, this spring, I decided to combine the traditional seasonal deep clean with a real deep clean, tossing bags and bags of old clutter from the kids' rooms, shoveling out the depths of a closet that went back thirty years (dear reader, I found perfectly preserved baby clothes there!) and finally sorting my Christmas decor by type, giving away ornaments that no longer sparked joy, as Marie Kondo says. It's so perfectly organized now, I plan on including 'The Christmas Closet' as a regular part of the house tour.

 

 If you have a keen eye, you may notice that I'm writing about this as if it's still going on, despite the fact we're in late August and getting perilously close to the Fall cleaning season. Yes! It is, and I am still working on it. But now I've run into a difficult contradiction.

 

This Saturday, my daughter Victoria is getting married! (You can read more on that this weekend.) Some of you may remember I've already referred to my daughter's wife, and mentioned their November trip to city hall in the comments. They're doing this European style, separating the civil service and the religious festivities. 

 

As a result, my house is going to be topped off with guests. Along with Spencer and Virginia returning to the nest, I'm putting up both Victoria's godmothers (plus one godmother-husband.) In addition, I'm having a dinner party Friday night!

 

The issue, of course, is that Swedish Death Cleaning involves careful consideration, organization, and sorting. Here Come The Guests cleaning involves putting everything into boxes or laundry baskets and shoving it all into a closet or unused bedroom where no one will see your shame. 

 

This will VERY MUCH not be me.

But there are no unused bedrooms! Heck, I'm putting myself on the blow-up bed in the family room. And I'll be darned if I'm going to sully those carefully emptied closets with yet more odds and ends. What to do, what to do? 

 

Dear readers, tell us your techniques for in-depth cleaning versus Quick! Guests! cleaning. By the time you read this, I will have hopefully succeeded in prepping for my visitors without disappointing the Swedes. Or Death. If not, I'll let you know in the comments.

Shoes, Leggings and Puzzling Notebook Entries by Pat Kennedy

LUCY BURDETTE: It's always a treat when our friend Pat Kennedy says "I think I have a blog for you!" I bet lots of you will be able to relate to her dilemma. Thanks for visiting Pat!

PAT KENNEDY: I am a reasonably tidy person. Not obnoxiously orderly, but on a scale of 1-10, I’d be a 7.5 – about 70% of the time. There is one major exception – the stubborn piles that sit there day after day never getting much bigger but not diminishing either. They silently taunt me, “When are you ever going to take care of this?”  

Paper piles are the most annoying with “curated collections” all over the floor of my office – all “to be filed.”  I did a major paper discard several years ago but there remain two small notebooks and a yellow-lined pad that have resided on my desk for at least two years. One page reminds me to make a dentist appointment for my late husband – with a check mark and the date Feb 22, 2019.  I can probably discard that now. But a little note at the bottom of that page has “cancel the WSJ online account.”  Did I do that already? I think I better keep that page until I investigate again next week or sometime anyway. Pages have cryptic scribbled notes such as “homestead…Fla…Monroe…property appraisers.”  What does that refer to?  Because it has sat on my desk for so long surely means that it is very important. Right?  Even more compelling is a whole page written in big block letters “GEORGE, roving mike!” 

Another pile is on the floor of my closet which has about 10 pairs of black leggings. I keep promising myself to sort them by season and level of decomposition. Some of them are so worn that they are see-through in all the wrong places. The legging pile has been occupying valuable closet floor space for more than a year – which was when we moved into this house.  

And shoes!  I have plenty of my own which tend to collect in the living room by my reading chair but since I have grandsons in residence for the summer, there is a pile of shoes by the front door which drifts out into the hallway becoming an ever-growing trip hazard. 

I think I’ll add a line to the yellow-lined pad. “Make boys move shoes.”  In about a year, I’ll wonder what that cryptic note meant, of course, and will once again decide to keep the pad on my desk.

And you, dear readers, are you a hoarder of paper, leggings and shoes?  Or are you disciplined about stuff and keep a tidy environment 100% of the time?

Ps from Lucy, I've been to Pat's house and didn't notice any of these issues--but maybe that says more about me than her??

Patricia Kennedy is a retired marketing communications professional who runs a bed and breakfast at Long Pond, Massachusetts and Key West, Florida for grandchildren and other relatives and  friends. Rooms are fully booked for the foreseeable future. 

"See? That's Not So Bad!"

 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING:  I’ve been deliberately turning away from the firehose of news gushing from my radio, computer and phone these days.

 

 

Instead, I’ve been practicing mindfulness, gratitude, and just trying to open my eyes and actually notice the world around me, instead of obsessively doom-scrolling to see the next unbelievable twist the writers have for 2020: The Series.

Anyhow, it’s been easier because recently, I’ve started walking the Maine Millennial’s dog. If you follow her online or read her column, you’ll know the poor thing was struck down with shingles, roughly four decades before most unvaccinated people get it. (Another recent victim; our own Jenn, who fought off a bout last year.) Shingles, which is a reactivation of the chicken pox virus, can be brought on by stress. Stress? Who could possibly be stressed these days? 

Shingles hurts a lot, and since I couldn’t do the first thing I wanted to help, which was to be like the Empath in that Star Trek episode and take her pain into my own body, I’ve been helping out by walking the  

dog. Janey is four years old and full of energy, and she tends to have a startling amount of pull when she lunges after a squirrel, so her two long walks, morning and evening, require a certain level of exertion The Maine Millennial just isn’t up for right now.

Here’s the thing: I started doing it because I had to if I wanted to help my daughter. I have not been yearning for a dog of my own to walk. My last pup, Louie the semi-toothless Shih Tzu, passed away over two years ago, and despite the fact I’m a pretty passionate dog lover, I’ve  

been reveling in the freedom to say yes to spontaneous invitations without worrying who would let the dog out (in the Before Times, of course) and in the joy of snuggling into my pillow for an extra half hour of sleep instead of having to get up and out because some species never learned to use a toilet. (I think it may have something to do with not having opposable thumbs.)

 

But I’m finding I actually enjoy the task I backed into. I like the fact I’m getting a brisk walk a couple times a day - something I kept saying I was going to do for myself, but never did. I like getting to see the beautiful sights in my neighborhood - the Saco River, graceful old houses decorated for fall, the fruits and flowers of autumn. I like hiking on the trails through our local park, immersed in nature (and it’s exactly the sort of thing that’s great for my Achilles tendinitis.) 

Reds: Have you ever had a job or a task you dreaded, only to unexpectedly enjoy?

LUCY BURDETTE: I’m having a hard time coming up with tasks I dread, except for scooping the kitty litter. It would be a stretch to say that it can become a zen task to get every granule clean:). So I won’t.

However we are on the same path with doggie responsibilities, except mine is a puppy and I asked for it! It was good not to have to worry about taking an animal out early and late and many times in between, but actually both times of day are gorgeous (if it’s not raining.) The moon has been beautiful and the sky clear and many planets in plain view. And although puppy training is HARD, it’s also very gratifying. And she’s such fun to watch!

RHYS BOWEN:  Julia, I can tell you tasks that I didn’t want to do and still don’t enjoy. One is house cleaning, since I can’t invite my cleaning lady back at this moment. Another is cooking. I’m so bored with my own food and never eating out. We’ve done take out but it loses appeal if it’s half cold by the time we get it home.

 

One task I did enjoy: son and daughter were coming for socially distanced outdoor dinner. I dug out an old table and chairs— probably from the 1980s and had to scrub off years of grime. I was sweating and panting by the end but it was surprisingly satisfying.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I cleaned out my top two dresser drawers. Mainly because I realized  I had no idea what was in them, and even though daunting, it was easier than writing. It was amazing. I tossed a billion little scraps or notes and receipts and things I don’t know what were or couldn’t even read. I found a disposable camera full of undeveloped photos, which, I figure, is a terrific clue for a mystery, right?  I found a wonderful note from my Mom (note circa 1999), five or six unexpired Barnes & Noble gift cards, a bracelet I thought was long gone, about 7 charging cords (to what, I have no idea), two nice camisole tops still in their plastic wrappers, PEZ in a MIcky Mouse dispenser, and a 100 dollar bill. Pretty nice!    

HALLIE EPHRON: Drawer straightening is surprisingly pleasant for me, too, though I’ve never found anything particularly valuable among my underpants. But there’s something so satisfying, going from disorder to order and ending up with a pile of stuff whose use-by date as expired or that you really don’t need any longer. Straightening my office is like that, too. And washing curtains -- the satisfying part is hanging them back up and standing back and admiring how fresh they look. I’ve been surprised by how little I miss eating out. 

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Well, I won't say I've ever dreaded walking the dogs. But, there are days when I'd rather not, especially in the height of summer. Now, however, our older dog has developed severe arthritis, so I have to walk them every day, and I am always glad when I do.

And, like Rhys, we are doing without our housekeeper for the duration, and as much as I dread those things like scrubbing the tub and mopping the floors, I always feel very satisfied with myself once those tasks are done.

 

JULIA: There you have it. Proof that my mother was right when she told me to do the hardest thing first. How about you, dear readers? Do you have a task, chore or endeavor that turned out to be much better than anticipated?