Swedish Travel Cleaning

An unexpected side effect of long-term travel is an overpowering need to declutter my life. It’s like nesting when you’re pregnant, but the opposite. Or really it’s more like Swedish Death Cleaning, I think. (My mom will have to read this and let me know, because she’s been reading a book on that topic.)

Overall we’re a pretty minimalist family anyway, with Mike being an extreme anti-stuff guy who would love to just wear the same neutral outfit for every day of his life and Story being the hoardiest of the hoarders. But Sagan and I meet a bit left of the middle, so our average for the family still works out toward the tidy end.

But I’m finding myself ready and even eager to part with so much stuff right now. I visited my high school BFF and brought her a couple bags’ worth of clothes. These were clothes that I like just fine, but I realized between seasons changing and us being gone for 14 months, these items probably wouldn’t be worn for over two years. By then the elastic could be shot, or they could be completely out of style, or I could have gained 50 pounds in yummy European foods. And mainly I just hate waste. I hate the thought of these clothes sitting unused in some box for two years when they could be helping someone else out.

The other factor at play is laziness. We’ll be renting our home out furnished while we’re gone, but furnished doesn’t mean the renters are going to want all our random crap filling drawers and shelves. We need to be reasonable about that for them, so that will mean putting toys, photographs, knick-knacks, etc. into storage to be out of the way. And guess who doesn’t want to move a ton of stuff? This guy.

So, I’m finding myself viewing every item with different eyes this year. “Do I need to take that down?” “Should we donate those?” “Let’s just get a new one of that thing when we get back.”

I have this running list in the back of my mind, of things to get rid of in one way or another between now and May. One friend will get our plants. Another might take our pet fish. A third has offered to take our pet rats if they’re still alive then, bless her. We’ll have a party one night to use up our liquor. I’ll donate the little kid books to teachers. And even our random art supplies that have gathered over the years will be used up or passed along to someone who will use them.

This last one came into play one night when Story had a slumber party at our house. I decided to give each girl a blank notebook and unfettered access to our box of random stickers. Each girl was instructed to go nuts and decorate her own notebook with stickers. (Side note: This can keep four girls entertained for HOURS.)

Pro: free entertainment for hours, Con: They went to bed sooo late.

All this decluttering does somehow feel a tiny bit morbid, as if I’m saying goodbye in a more permanent way. But those Swedes know what they’re doing - it also feels good to let go when you take stock of all the collections in your life and determine which ones really matter to you after all. And it’s even better when you get to do this while you’re still alive to see how your items might help out someone else. Maybe that’s donating clothes to a charity, selling your cars, or emptying your pantry and liquor cabinet while partying with your neighbors. Whatever it is, I’m embracing it. Everything must go!