Organization Coach Ella Engström On Where To Start When It Comes To Swedish Death Cleaning - Exclusive

If you've been feeling overwhelmed by all of the items in your home, now is probably the best time to start Swedish death cleaning. Now, we know what you're thinking — no, you don't need to be dying to do it. It's simply a "gentle art" of sorting through your belongings and keeping only what you need to help you develop a fresh outlook on life.

While the idea may sound inspiring, it can be difficult to know exactly where to begin — and that's organization coach Ella Engström's expertise. As a Swedish death cleaner on Peacock's new reality series "The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning," she's seen the insides of multiple Americans' closets, where there are loads of items to sort through. Many of these items have strong memories attached to them too. "Every item reflects some time in your life," Ella Engström said during an exclusive interview with House Digest. However, "you change during your life, and so does your need," she added.

Engström is accustomed to helping people sort through some of their most sentimental possessions. However, those are certainly not the things you should attempt to death clean in your home if you're just in the beginning stages. "You shouldn't start with the things that you are most attached to, the most emotional stuff," Engström advised.

Here's where she says you should start instead.

Just because someone on an episode of "The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning" begins by death cleaning their closet doesn't mean that's where you should start too. When it comes to deciding where a client should begin sorting through their belongings, "it's very different for different people," Ella Engström told us. "[For] someone, it can be very hard to go through their clothes, where someone else thinks that that's an easy thing."

To figure out where you should start to death clean your home, think about which space may be the easiest place to begin. "The best thing is to start small," Engström suggested, "and build up that muscle so you get the momentum, so you feel the light, the unburdening of those things."

Once you get started and get yourself into a groove, death cleaning the rest of your home won't feel like such a daunting task.

Another trick that Ella Engström has up her sleeve is to create a space where you can lay out all of your belongings to look at. It's something she often suggests to clients on her Peacock series, and it only makes sense when it comes to deciding what you should keep. "Sometimes, when you have a lot of duplicates, it's very good also to do it by taking a category so you see everything displayed together," she explained.

Too often, we forget about everything we store away in our closets. Only by laying it all out will we be able to realize how many wooden spoons or throw pillows we actually own. "Then you see, 'Ah! This is crazy,'" Engström said. "Then, choose the one you really love and donate the rest or give away the rest."

Once you begin death cleaning your home, that's when you'll start feeling like you can truly live. "You can live more free and be lighter," she told us.

"The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning" is available to stream now exclusively on Peacock.