Death Cleaning

What does death cleaning mean?

Cleaning your home so others don't have to after you die

Death cleaning is when a person cleans out his home so it's not a burden for his loved ones to clean after he dies. It's a very considerate thing to do because the family members or friends have to figure out a lot of other things, such as the funeral service and hospital bills.

Death cleaning is typically done by elderly people who know the end is coming and have collected a lot of things over their lifetime. It is also helpful to avoid family disputes by taking stock of what you have and who it goes to instead of leaving everything to be fought over. It comes from the Swedish word, dostadning, which is a combination of "death" and "cleaning." It was popularized by The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Swedish author Margareta Magnusson.

Example

Where's grandma?
She's death cleaning her house
Death cleaning old records
Death cleaning old records

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Updated April 24, 2019

Death cleaning definition by Slang.net

This page explains what the slang term "Death cleaning" means. The definition, example, and related terms listed above have been written and compiled by the Slang.net team.

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