There is a concept which Swedish people embrace as the key to a harmonious life. It is called Lagom – defined as the art of finding perfect balance between too much and too little. (It’s a little foreign to me since I tend to revel in abundance – kinda if some is good, more Is even better mindset. And I’m not real proud to admit this.)
A guiding Swedish principle when de-cluttering is to embrace the idea that every room needs a wow factor – a stand-out piece of art or furniture that immediately grabs our attention. (I am totally off the grid with this concept. In my house, when entering each room, guests’ eyes dance wildly around – not knowing where to focus first. Geez.)
I want to pare down.
I want to create an environment that is less jumbled.
I want my surroundings to have a sense of calm and peacefulness.
For me, starting is tough, so focusing on the easiest space to tackle is a must. Think attic or basement. Unfortunately, I have neither. However, the top shelves of all my closets and the top shelves lining the walls of my two-car garage are filled with excess items: high heels too high to ever safely wear again, strollers dating back to when my college freshmen grandkids were toddlers, solar powered outdoor lights that never worked well and multiple walkers from the period of time when my parents lived with my husband and me. Incidentally, these items also qualify for the next step: choosing items with no emotional attachment.
The next step is to determine what category of non-emotional items we will concentrate on first, such as clothes we never wear or college textbooks we haven’t opened since graduating decades ago or all the partially used make-up and skin care products lurking in our bathroom drawers.
Items interwoven with emotional undertones are much trickier to assess. Thankfully, Christine Carlstrom, author of American Swedish Death Cleaning, has some solid guidelines to help in this process of discovery.
An item rates high in emotional value if:
- It has a rich story behind it
- It frequently comes to mind
- It elicits a warm and comforting physical reaction when we touch it
- It is an item that can’t be physically replaced easily
- It also means something to other family members
- It has been cherished for many years
- It is well maintained
- It has a high potential for regret if we were going to get rid of it and it is linked to key life events.
Another less painful and less labor-intensive way to pare down is simply to start buying less. And when we bring in something new, we automatically donate something already in our home.
Others can help us in our cleansing and purging endeavors. Share the journey with family and encourage them to look around the house and pick out things that they would like to have upon our demise. Or before. (Note to self: try not to get insulted when my kids pass on things I feel they should value and cherish – such as the white ceramic cow my grandmother, and then my mom, used for years to pour cream into their coffee.
I’m hooked. I will be spending the majority of my free time in 2026 discerning what’s keepable, what’s disposable and what is meaningful in regards to my possessions.
And I’ll be internalizing William Morris’s quote:
Have nothing in your house
that you do not know to be useful,
or believe to be beautiful.
Keep Preserving Your Bloom,
JEAN JACKET of the WEEK:
Margo Levy bought this upcycled black jean jacket trimmed with a shear paisley material at the Women’s Expo, where we at Funky Creations had a booth. She chose to wear it recently at an Art Festival and in her words, “got compliments galore.”
