I’m 47 and I’m already preparing my home for death: Healthy woman reveals why she’s decluttered 60 bags’ worth of belongings

A healthy 47-year-old woman who calls herself a ‘total maximalist’ is already preparing for death by decluttering 60 bags’ worth of belongings, and says she’s just getting started.

Jade King is taking part in the Swedish art of ‘death cleaning’, which encourages people to get rid of possessions that no longer serve them, to make the clearing out process easier for loved ones after they pass.

The nurse from Bristol has already gotten rid of old certificates, spices and gadgets – but says she still has ‘quite a lot to get through’.

‘I was doing a course on conscious dying and it made me think I should be doing “conscious living”,’ she explained.

‘Death is one thing no one wants to think about. It’s a fact that it’s going to happen to all of us.’

Jade was grieving the loss of her mother when she had learned about the Scandinavian practice in December – and realised lots of her purchasing habits were inherited from her.

She decided to have a go at the ritual after Christmas, going lightly through the whole house first and then deeply decluttering everything room by room.

And the process, Jade found, has given her insights into what makes her happy.

‘Over Christmas I started questioning why time is going so fast. I realised how much stuff I accumulated,’ she shared.

‘We’re living paycheck to paycheck and repeating the pattern of buying things. I realised it’s not really making us happy. It all unravelled from that.’

However, it hasn’t been entirely easy – as she has found it hard to get rid of certain nostalgic items which carry sentimental value, like jewellery or old photographs.

‘I found it really hard to let go,’ Jade admitted. ‘I found myself asking “why have I kept this? I haven’t used it!”

‘It related to money. I had to have the best of the best – multiples of everything. I can’t remember the last time I sat and looked through my bills.’

In the past, Jade explained, she was ‘spending without thinking’, but has now completely changed how she views the importance of physical items.

‘I’m leaking money, putting things on credit cards,’ she continued. ‘I can tell the difference now because I’ve not spent any money. I’ve not missed anything. I’ve not had any regrets!’

When she does struggle to throw things away, Jade has learnt to get support from her friends to take the plunge and let things go.

‘If I find something difficult to throw away, I call up my friend,’ she said. ‘If it’s something that my mum gave me, she straight up tells me that mum won’t mind.’

The idea, written about by Margareta Magnusson in her book ‘The Gentle Art of Death Cleaning’, encourages people to pare down their belongings to just the very essentials.

The author also says for people to only keep items with significant meaning to help loved ones avoid clearing ‘a lifetime of clutter’ after their death.

Jade also adopted feng shui, and has found a ‘new energy’ in her home by removing items that were bringing ‘stagnant energy’.

Overall, the Swedish philosophy has helped clear up ‘mental space’ for Jade, who has found the ritual ‘therapeutic’ and says it’s made her space feel ‘so much calmer’.

Despite her relief, some of Jade’s friends have been shocked by the drastic difference in Jade’s home.

‘Some of my friends think it’s a bit extreme but they’re the ones who don’t like to think about death,’ she said.

‘I’ve got other people who think it’s really proactive and it’s got a lot of them thinking.’

Jade, who runs the TikTok account @jadygaga123, also donates her unwanted belongings to charity to avoid landfill waste.

She said: ‘I have a local charity shop who pick up and they have been four times.

‘I keep going back over areas to trim them down. Now I’m looking at the TV in the front room as I don’t watch it very much.’