Now unburdened by (emotional and actual!) baggage and able to focus on what makes each day worth living, Margareta Magnusson shares her discoveries about becoming older – some difficult to accept, many rather wondrous. She offers useful tips as well as stories of growing up in Sweden and raising her family around the world. And because death-cleaning never really ends until you yourself do, here she includes more suggestions about perfecting the process, as well as answers to a few of the most often asked questions.

Title: The Swedish Art of Aging Exuberantly: Life Wisdom from Someone Who Will (Probably) Due Before YouMagnusson uses a dry, unsentimental and sometimes dark Scandinavian sense of humor, and writes with an older set (and their younger relatives) in mind. . . . like a conversation over tea with a friend." — Associated Press If I end up following the footsteps of my great-grandmother, I might possibly have more than a decade of life still left to fill, so I began to look around me to see what remained, what I had in fact actually kept after all my death cleaning. I found I’d kept my memories and I now lived in a smaller, simpler way. I could actually see my life, now that there was less mental and physical clutter; I could enjoy my life more fully, even though of course there are other difficulties that come with aging. My body has borne five children, plus one who didn’t live. This body has died and awakened. This body has sheltered me in storms and baked an unholy number of cakes. This body has laughed and planted gardens. I will never put a knife to my skin for being wrinkled. She gives advice to younger people with older parents, to suggest they themselves might like items, how to do do this senstitively if their parents are not ready.

This is something I appreciate,” Magnusson says of spending time with those who are much younger than her. “It’s just wonderful. [Young people] look at things in different ways. They are open-minded, really. You have to listen to them. Even if you don’t think just like they do, it’s good to know what they think and what they appreciate.”Like having a sensible, cheerful aunt sit you down to tell you hard truths that your mother is too nice to say.” — Laurie Hertzel, Minneapolis Star Tribune A humorous book of insights and stories about growing old in today’s world by the NYT bestselling author of The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning. As with death-cleaning, it's never too early to begin and The Swedish Art of Aging Well shows us how to prepare for and understand the aging process, and the joys and sorrows it can bring. While Margareta still recommends ongoing downsizing and decluttering (your loved ones will thank you!) her ultimate message is that we should all be less afraid of the idea of death. Later she became godmother to my second son, Jan (pronounced “yohn”), something the other four kids were deeply envious of. Somehow, Lola was more of a movie star than my other friends who got to be godmothers for the rest of the brood. Lola always wore the latest fashions, had a loud voice with a special international accent, loved to dance, had amazing hair, and looked great in a party hat.

I'd heard of this author's hugely successful The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter (though I hadn't read it), so when this latest release became available through my library I thought I'd give it a shot. Unfortunately, I was left very underwhelmed. Truth is, I decided to request this one simply because her other best-selling book, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, sounded so right-on-the-money (I don't know about you, but my potential heirs are way less than thrilled at the thought of having to get rid of all the things my husband and I have collected over the years). To me, they're all precious memories; but to them, almost all of it is George Carlin "stuff." Anyway, I identified with the author's take on that subject, so I wanted to see what she has to say in this one. My mother-in-law used to say, ‘Lord, I look completely exhumed!’ She who had been one of the prettiest girls in Gothenburg, with boys lining up to ask for her hand. As she’d aged, in her eyes, my mother-in-law had come to think that she had become unattractive – when in reality she hadn’t. To the rest of us, a patina of warmth and a well-loved life shone visible in her face. Hinging your life on looking young is such a bad idea. There are other ways to feel young. Laugh and try to have as much fun as possible each day. To laugh is probably more effective than taking pills that might make us happy. Delivery with Standard Australia Post usually happens within 2-10 business days from time of dispatch. Please be aware that the delivery time frame may vary according to the area of delivery and due to various reasons, the delivery may take longer than the original estimated timeframe.

International orders

The following essays are discoveries I have made about becoming very old—some of the discoveries were hard to accept, but many of them have been rather wondrous. In thinking and writing about them, my mind wandered to often pleasant and funny memories—and some not so pleasant or fun—that I hope will entertain you and take you to places and times you may never have experienced. Her wisdom advocates things like surrounding yourself with young people, volunteering, hair care, avoiding falls, keeping an open mind, eat chocolate, wear stripes and she shares anecdotes from her own childhood and her days of parenting young children and teenagers. The idea is that we should not leave a mountain of crap behind for our loved ones to clean up when we die. Why would your family and friends want to take time out of their busy lives to clean up your mess when you clearly could have taken care of it yourself? Remember, your kids and your other loved ones may want some of your stuff when you are gone—not all of your stuff. So, we can help them narrow down the selection. In writing this book I have tried to include advice I myself needed as time marched forward, as history flapped by, as I stood in the middle of my own strange life and sometimes felt like a lonely pioneer, sometimes the happiest woman on earth, sometimes just completely clueless. When I am gone I want to have helped clean up the world. I understood much too late in life that this is important. But I am not dead yet and will spend every spare minute I have to live up to my friend Birgitta’s motto –‘Don’t leave empty-handed.’ I think the principle of not leaving empty-handed can be applied to everywhere you go in life. If there are dirty clothes on your bedroom floor and you pass the laundry basket empty-handed that is not clever. The pile will only get bigger. Don’t leave empty-handed. When heading out the front door, take the garbage with you. Don’t leave empty-handed.