aka "How to pawn your junk off on other people"

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning

It's really mean of me to say this, but this book makes me wonder if the author didn't read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and think, "Wait a minute! We've got a tradition in Sweden called dostadning or Death Cleaning. I need to write a book about this so people don't think the Japanese have a copyright on cleaning."

Tacky of me, right? But really, that's how it felt at first. It turned out to be a sweet little book, part memoir and part advice column; it really made me want to get the job done and not leave it to my loved ones.  But it didn't have the eye-opening whack-on-the-head effect I anticipated after having to wait so long for a copy at the library.

Most of her advice is sensible, but this bit could be cruel if carried too far--

Tell your loved ones and friends what you are up to. They might want to help you and even take things you don't need...
Perhaps a grandchild or someone else you know is about to move into their first apartment. Invite them over ...[and] have some bags and boxes at had that you can fill while you are chatting, so they an take stuff with them right away.

I apologize if I distorted her meaning, but I wish she'd included a strict warning against coercive tactics! Imagine visiting your beloved grandmother and going home with a box of china knicknacks that you're going to have to display, store, and move for your next five years of apartment living. You only took them to make her happy and they're going to make you miserable until you finally get old enough to start your own death cleaning.

She's very sensible with her advice about discards, such as this note:

...sometimes you must just give cherished things away with the wish that they end up with someone who will create new memories of their own.

That wish seems like pure self deception. Why not just say goodbye and send them to the landfill? They've lived a good life and made you happy, just let them go. Of course, she's talking furniture or vintage clothing--that sort of stuff may very will end up with someone to cherish them. My cherished things--acorns, children's "art", tattered paperback books--wouldn't be so lucky.