Brian Lair on WNYC, and during this membership drive, you know, we've been doing a series at the end of the show that we've called spring cleaning, organizing your stuff and your life in six different ways over six different

days. And for day six, our final day in the series here, we're talking about one of the

hardest kinds of cleaning there is, helping a parent downsize or cleaning out a parent's home

after they die. There's a Scandinavian tradition that maybe you've heard of

called Swedish death cleaning, which sounds a little morbid, but is actually meant as an act of

love from people who are alive. The idea is that as people get older, they slowly declutter

and organize their belongings, so their loved ones won't be left with that burden later on.

And of course, stuff is never just stuff, right?

Letting go of it can feel to a lot of people, including certainly aging parents, like losing part of their identity,

but it can also bring tremendous relief and freedom.

Dr. Regina Lark is the founder of the organizing company A Clear Path and the author of

Psychic Debris, Crowded Closets, The Relationship Between the Stuff in Your Head and What's

Under Your Bed.

And last year she went through this process with her own mother.

Regina, thanks so much for joining us for this. Welcome to WNYC.

Thank you so much for bringing me in. My sister's a huge fan of your show.

That's great. And maybe after this, you'll even be.

And after this, I will be. I'm a L.A. List supporter.

You're out there.

But last year, as I said,

you had to help your own mother downsized after her partner

died. After years of

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