My first reaction when I heard this term and it was just this past week, I think my first reaction was whoever came up with this name needs to do a little bit better PR on it and they need to come up with a better name. Welcome to the Only Child Diaries podcast. I'm your host, Tracy Wallace. Have you ever felt like you didn't receive the how-to brochure on life? Welcome to the Only Child Diaries podcast. I'm your host, tracy Wallace. Have you ever felt like you didn't receive the how-to brochure on life, that you didn't get enough guidance about major life issues? So did I. You don't have to be an only child to feel this way. In my podcast, we'll explore some of the best ways to better navigate adulting, while doing so with humor and light. Welcome everyone to the Only Child Diaries podcast.

Today, I'm going to talk about stuff, literally stuff. Do you have a lot of stuff? Because I feel like I have a lot of stuff. This is kind of an ongoing discussion in my head or ongoing theme in my thoughts rather maybe that's the right word, I don't know With the recent passing of my friend Neliya, or my friend's mother, however you want to look at it, but she was my friend, even though originally she was my friend's mother. To me that was three weeks ago that she passed. Certain challenges have come to light, and one of those challenges is what to do with all of her stuff. Now, I can relate to this, as can anyone who's lost a parent or parents, or anyone really that has left a household behind. And that is that. What do you do with all the stuff? Because no matter who you are, you leave your stuff right. So the challenge is, especially if you are going to sell the house or the property where the person lived, what are you going to do with all the stuff? Right? Some of it might be valuable, some of it might be art, or maybe it's sentimental, and, in light of the recent loss that you've suffered, going through the stuff is challenging. I originally thought that this was something that I was suffering with because I lost my parents. Right, I lost my dad and then, several years later, I lost my mom, but they both lost their parents Previously. My mom was 90 something, my dad was 86. So they did lose their parents before that.

And we have in the house, we have, some of my grandparents possessions not very many, but we do have one or two pieces of their furniture and some items that were theirs. When she passed her daughters, bill's sisters went through her possessions and divvied up what was left her clothing, some of her memorabilia and sent us some of the things that she had, also the saddle that I had gifted her that she was using when she took up riding. I had a saddle that I wasn't using anymore, and so we sent it over to her, over to Florida. Mailing a saddle is no easy feat, so they sent it back. So we have several boxes of Ellie's things and what to do with that. Right, it's not something that you necessarily want to get rid of, but it's not something that you're necessarily also going to use. So that's the challenge, right?

Okay, in the process of helping my friend deal with the loss of her mother, this concept has become known to me and it's called and maybe you've heard about it, but it's called Swedish death cleaning. That's right, swedish death cleaning. And what it really means is that, while you're still alive, you should go through your things and try to pare down what you have so that when you expire, you're leaving less of a footprint and less of a burden to those who are going to take care of what's left behind right Now. My first reaction when I heard this term and it was just this past week, I think my first reaction was whoever came up with this name needs to do a little bit better PR on it and they need to come up with a better name. Because death cleaning I mean, I get it. It's kind of a good description of the process, like you're cleaning well, you're cleaning for your death. No, you're cleaning for your post-death Well, no, that doesn't seem right either, but it's okay. So maybe it's a translation issue, I'm not sure, but Swedish, death cleaning. I think they could have come up with something better. I'm not sure what that would be, but yeah, I wouldn't be all for that.

Now, the concept isn't new. I have some friends who are maybe about my age, maybe they're a little older, maybe they're a little younger, who have, you know, actively tried to lighten their load in this regard, knowing that someday they will pass and they don't want to be a burden or they want to lessen the burden of their children or whoever is going to settle their estate. Right, and I get that, I really do. I really get that. As I look around at my stuff, our stuff. You start to really wonder did I really need that Snoopy Christmas ornament? I mean, yeah, I really enjoy Snoopy and it gives me a lot of pleasure, but did I really need another Snoopy Christmas ornament? Or the books or the clothes or shoes? Well, I go through shoes. A lot I go through. Yeah, I go through shoes. So, yeah, swedish death cleaning. Look it up, it's a thing, it's a thing.

Anyway, these are some of the challenges, especially if you're an only child, or especially if you're an only child who doesn't have children, like me. Who's going to take care of my stuff? I still haven't quite figured this part out. I haven't picked anyone. Ooh, lucky them, right. And not having children. It's kind of a challenging process to come up with someone, to name someone as my executor. I don't know who would be the best person who would want to do it. It's a burden, it is, it's a burden. So it does take some thought. Not that I haven't thought about it for the last five years or so, since my mom died and I was her executor, and then you pass the baton to someone else, right? Not that I couldn't have died before she did Luckily I didn't, but anyway, that's where that is so Swedish death cleaning. I don't know they don't have a package for that at Ikea, the Swedish death cleaning kit, swedish death cleaning kit. Anyway, I digress, but it's something that's been on my mind this week, so I feel like I should go clean.

I did get a Roomba, which is one of those. They call it a robot, it's a vacuum that goes along the floor. Call it a robot, it's a vacuum that goes along the floor. And we, we tried it out. I tried it out the other day because this week I had to take Bubby, our cat, to the ER. He wasn't feeling good when, uh, one day and I had to take him. So he he's been kind of convalescing, he's been getting special treatment and I got the Roomba, I think, the same day, no, the next day, and I didn't want to freak him out with this thing that moved on its own, made a little bit of noise.

I tried it the other day. He was actually fascinated by it. He was like, wow, what's it doing? Where's it going? But it's a little bit more challenging than I thought it was going to be, because you have to it, doesn't? You don't just, you know, put it on the ground and say go and it cleans, at first it has to map out the rooms At first. It has to map out the rooms, map out the house. So it kind of goes around and I guess while it's going it does move that brush underneath so it was sucking. There was like an errant napkin that was under his water bowl that it's tried to suck up, and then it got stuck and then it knocked over the water and you know. So lesson learned when it says move the things in anticipation of the robot mapping the room right. But um, it did.

It did kind of vacuum up some things, which I could kind of see down the line that this was going to be a good thing, because I have a cordless stick vacuum. We have hardwood floors and stuff has gotten stuck in it and it doesn't really vacuum anymore. I also got a steam mop because my little bubby's asthmatic and I try to clean the floors, to pick up the pollen and whatnot. But this thing. And then it'll talk to you and it'll say returning to home, this thing. And then it'll talk to you and it'll say returning to home, oh, returning to base. But then it doesn't return to base. So I'm sure it's user error, that's me, but we're trying to work out a few kinks. But I think if I can get it to the point where it just goes and cleans on its own, that's a really good thing, because I feel like pet hair, dust, pollen from the outside, things from the outside. I need help and it could be a good thing. We'll see. Oh, and then it goes back to the base and then it automatically supposedly it automatically takes what it picked up and it transfers it into the base, into a bag, I mean. So the idea is pretty nifty. We'll see if we'll see if this works.

I still haven't gotten rid of the box because I don't. I guess I don't fully trust that this is going to work, but and it would be one more thing that someone would have to get rid of after I pass away. But anyway, that's, I digress. I'm going to go try to finish mapping out the house. I might split it into sections, because you could do that, and it also mops, but I think for now that's too complicated for me, so I'll let you know. Next week we're going to tackle another topic together. I hope you'll join me. If you like this episode, please follow the Only Child Diaries podcast on Apple Podcasts or other platforms you might listen on and consider rating Only Child Diaries and writing a review. It helps others to find us. Please share it with a friend you think might like it as well. Visit my Instagram page Only Child Diaries or Facebook Only Child Diaries Podcast. Thanks for listening. I'm Tracy Wallace and these are the Only Child Diaries.