MickeyMan, you have to go back to our late Mudcat moderator Katlaughing to find the origins of these declutter and fitness threads. Reading in one swoop might not be great literature, but it is a place where participants and a fair number of lurkers note milestones, share tips, offer encouragement. It was one of these threads where we learned of Lilyfester's cancer diagnosis that spun off into a life-affirming account of her surgeries, chemo, and radiation, adoption of a child, and life of her family as she grew and shared and thrived.

Your sharing of the Swedish Death cleaning has an echo in a private discussion group where it was shared last week, and where we recognized this process, to a large part, is what we have without a name to it been doing here.

The threads were monthly for a while, then quarterly, now it's a yearly amble through our attics, basements, pantries, home repairs, moves, downsizing, and more. Mostly we keep moving them back up to the top of the page, and every so often someone we've never heard from before drops in to tell us how they started reading and got an idea to make changes for themselves. Often those declarations are detailed and complete, the whole project achieved in a few months, accomplished, and now they're sharing in one succinct report. So whether people are regularly checking in or taking inspiration and moving on to other activities, it's all part of a process of getting rid of stuff.

For some of us, the choice to simply discard or replace with smaller and more efficient isn't easy and the value of items needs to be realized through various forms of sale or donation, each move has to be strategic. In the past I donated items and took a tax break for the value, but now mostly I sell a lot of estate items on eBay. I research them, consider how someone in the family must have used or collected, and then, I let it go. I am not a museum, but I didn't know many of these family members whose objects I inherited from a couple of great aunts I met when I was old enough to set out and travel on my own to meet them. My journey has been one of learning, sharing, and letting go. There are people who collect many of the things of which I own only one; things I don't want to start collecting. And after having administered my packrat father's estate and considered my mother's vast sea of books and stuff and leaving most of it in place, I don't want to burden my children with things of no interest to them. If it what I learn is interesting but I can part with it, I am doing so now by choice.

Thanks for the link.