Minimalism, Meaningfulism, and Death Cleaning

It’s the last day of August.

When I got up this morning, late on a Saturday, and saw my younger son at the computer, I half expected to see Allen still in bed as he often is on summer Saturday mornings. It’s as if some muscle memory in my brain hasn’t yet adjusted to the fact that he is away at college.

Incidentally, the last day of August this year is also the last day my daughter is in her teens, which means I suppose it’s the last day my parenting is in its teens. As of tomorrow, I will have been a mother for 20 years, coinciding with my daughter’s 20th birthday. (Funny how that works.) 

This time of year, the first week or two of September, always feels like a contest between summer and fall. The autumn equinox is not for another three weeks although it’s already starting to cool down in some regions. Here in California’s San Joaquin Valley, summer makes it clear that it is not ready to surrender dominance.

Once school has started, it feels like the temperature should be dropping. But then I look at the weather forecast and the days next week hitting 105, 106, 107. This happens every year, and I should be used to it by now, but I still begrudge the summer these last few weeks of unnecessary heat. 

(Although I did find a cute mushroom in one of my potted plants yesterday.)

I want to jump into some fall cleaning and decluttering—including cleaning the garage—but it’s way too hot and will be for another couple of weeks.

Speaking of decluttering, let’s talk about books …

On Instagram, a former classmate of mine posted that she was reading a book titled The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning. The word for “death cleaning” in Swedish is dostadning. The author, a woman in her eighties, explains the reason behind this activity in a few ways.

• Removing “unnecessary things and make your home nice and orderly when you think the time is coming closer for you to leave the planet.”

• “…going through all my belongings and deciding how to get rid of the things I do not want anymore.”

• Doing a “good, thorough cleaning and getting rid of things to make life easier and less crowded.”