Welcome Wednesday: Swedish death cleaning ... of your online accounts!

[Dave LIAO]

🎉 Hej Atlassian Community![1]

Ever heard of Swedish death cleaning?

It may sound morbid (or metal 🤘) to you, but it's a decluttering method where you get rid of stuff you don't need so others don't have to deal with that stuff when that time comes.

I think Swedish death cleaning is meant to refer to physical items, but we can extend it to Trello boards, Jira schemes, or all those weird random online accounts we've accumulated over the years.

Have an account for a grocery store you never really went to that's in a city you no longer live in? Maybe it's time to part ways with it. Now's the time.

Ever perform a Swedish death cleaning of your online accounts? How often? What accounts are you thinking about vaporizing?

For me, I have a bunch related to video games that I sadly don't access. And luckily I have a helper who is expediting my account closures:

📣 Comment with the accounts you're thinking of getting rid of! Or already got rid of. Looking forward to your replies and inspiration.

P.S. Unfamiliar with Welcome Wednesdays? Welcome Wednesday posts like this are a chance for YOU to participate on the forums about topics that aren't necessarily Atlassian-focused. (See past Welcome Wednesdays here.)

[1] "Hej" is hello in Swedish. I hope!

[Amanda Barber]

I know that word from IKEA which means it's either a real or made up Swedish word! 🤪

I recently did some Jira cleanup which felt so good! I have also been spending a bit more time unsubscribing from email subscriptions I no longer care about rather than just deleting them regularly. I don't think I have anything specific in mind, but it's been refreshing to get a few less promotional emails a day. ;)

[Dave LIAO]

@Amanda Barber - that's why it looks familiar! I think I've seen it after logging into their website.

Love trimming down on email subscriptions! As much as I like deleting unused filters and dormant Structure boards.

Earlier today I also started deleting the odd contact in my address book that I have no idea who that person is. Like no clue. 🥲

[Lacy Saute]

Video game cleanup would be a good one for me too @Dave LIAO 

I've also been considering getting rid of a few of my social media accounts. I didn't use them at all for a little over a year and the last sixish months will peek in occasionally but don't miss them, tbh. So, maybe it is time!

@Amanda Barber I've been unsubscribing from emails too!

[Dave LIAO]

@Lacy Saute - thanks for reminding me about social media! Did that in the last few years, got rid of my Twitter, Facebook, and even my Strava.

I SO miss having Strava… 🥲

[Dave LIAO]

Having less social media encouraged me to write this past Welcome Wednesday - how do you keep in touch with friends? 🫠

[Dave LIAO]

Also, I do have a ton of games in Steam, I wonder which I should just hide and shunt away to a place where I’ll never play them 😭

[Jousef]

I'm in the same boat! Games and social media are somewhat of a pain when they gather virtual dust.

I only really "use" Twitter to get informed about some stuff but other than that, I could easily get rid of it without feeling a need to touch that X icon on my phone ever again. Sometimes, when I'm on my PC and someone is linking to a tweet in Discord or whatever, and I click it and I'm asked to log in to view the content/comments... I just don't. :D

For games, @Dave LIAO, yes, me too!!! I'm in the +2k club. Don't ask me how that happened. It just did. And I will never really suffer from not being entertained ever I guess.

One more thing that needs cleaning up to do... Patreon and similar support subscriptions like Twitch subs. I love supporting creators. But sometimes it's okay to go somewhere else. I always have my number 1 that I never stop supporting even though I won't watch much of their content but some others I've kinda moved on from and to other things in life. And I can save some money for either other creators or pamper myself with a new game? lol

[Dave LIAO]

@Jousef - I made the hard decision to leave Twitch a few years ago, was super tough! I was tempted to rejoin today when Niantic offered free Pokemon Go exclusive items for those who watched their Pokemon global Twitch stream today... but you had to be logged into Twitch. 😆😆😆

[Jousef]

Ohh that does sound like a mega hard decision to take. I've been a Twitch watcher since the very early days (JTV, waddup) and that's the platform I just can't live without. It is my TV watching experience, literally running on the second screen or while I'm eating (if I'm not watching actual TV shows :D) or when I need a break from gaming.

Not that I only watch gaming content, there is enough to watch besides that. But yeah, wow, can't imagine going without it at all.

[Magnus Sundset]

Hej Dave! yes, Hej = Hi in Swedish. 
I love your post about "Döstädning" or as you call it in English Swedish death cleaning. My family does it all the time, and I think the most common one at least what we do is seasonal cleaning, refreshing our home before and after a season... now it is summer and vacations... clean out the stuff we don´t need anymore and getting the clothes for the season out... coming back from vacation and our case our summerhouse it is always quite nice to come to a clean tidy house. Feels great to be ready for the next season... and getting ready for work. 

This has been going on for decades, before the digital world, but you are spot on Dave - the concept also work well for any asset that you got, physical and non physical. I think the underpinning thought about death cleaning is to care for the loved ones, now and later on. 

In this video these aspect of life is really easily explained https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gH7iadXOUk 

I am about to move on to a new company - and yes, I need to really clean up my desk, both physical and in my laptop - so when there is something changing in your life - see it as an opportunity to do some good old Swedish death cleaning.

Have a wonderful summer ya´ll!!!

Magnus

Stockholm, Sweden

[Dave LIAO]

Wait whaaaaaaat

LOVE that video, haven't seen it before! The idea of giving context to the items you're leaving behind ensure the process of cleaning isn't purely practical, but sentimental. 🥲

[Jousef]

Yeah, I've never made that connection in my mind. I thought of cleaning up as something very selfish I guess. Thinking about the legacy we leave behind, no matter if physical or digital, it's a pain for those that inherit it when they actually try to move on (or grieve in the worst case.) Great video too! Love it!

[Kristin Lyons]

I do try and delete accounts if I haven't used them and have no intention of using them in the future.  There's a great app that helps - "Permission Slip"

[Lacy Saute]

Ohh interesting! Thanks for sharing about the app. I will have to check it out. 

[Anne Saunders]

I don't, but I certainly need to start. The first step is admitting you need to, right? 😅

[Dave LIAO]

1000%!

In my password manager, I add "can delete anytime" to accounts that offer me the option when I see it. Then I can query by that text and decide if I want to do a purge or not.

[Dave Rosenlund]

I'm first gen Swedich-American, and I've never hear of this 😱

As I get older, I appreciate having fewer physical things. I like purge cleaning my closets and basement at least once every two years (never use it or wear, donate it). 

However, I've never bothered to do the same digitally. I should put on my "rainy day to-do" list!

Thanks for bringing it up, @Dave LIAO  👍 

[Dave Rosenlund]

Crap, I just accidentally created a new Atlassian Community account. Again!

[Jousef]

Speaking of cleaning up accounts... :D

[Dave LIAO]

@Dave Rosenlund _Trundl_ - welcome, again! 🥲

[Barbara Szczesniak]

Every time I get a notification/email from LinkedIn to wish so-and-so a happy birthday, and I think "I have no idea who that is," I think about cleaning up my network. 

I like the idea of cleaning up email subscriptions too, @Amanda Barber. I recently started getting emails from classmates.com after not receiving a word in 10-15 years. I just thought it was defunct, so it makes me suspicious to get emails from them again.

I have company for the next week, but I will set a reminder for myself to clean up such things after they go.

PS I find it amusing that everyone still calls it Twitter. Never used it; never understood the point of it.

[John D Patton]

Excellent analogy. In the physical world, Magnus is right—it's about caring for those left behind. In the digital workspace, it’s more about reducing cognitive load. Every dormant filter or ghost account we leave active is just technical debt for the next person who inherits the system.  My current target: cleaning out the 'Saved for Later' lists that I haven't looked at since 2024. If it's been sitting there that long, it's not a priority; it's a digital archaeological relic.

"All your life has been spent in pursuit of archaeological relics..."

[Dave LIAO]

@John D Patton - I just cleared one of my “Saved for Later” lists!

And it’s not the one on LinkedIn, which is also wild that they’d have one.

[Jason Krewson]

I feel I have a very nice cleanup process, maybe I will write an article one day about it, but it might be a little outside of what most people are using.

Today I’m using Power Automate for quite a bit, Confluence and Jira backups, cleaning up backups older than 6+ months, reviewing inactive users (no logins in 6+ months), flagging issues that are getting close to worklog limits, and pulling portfolio insights so I can see who’s spinning up sites with their company account and clean those up. I also have flows for monthly license reviews, checking user groups for deactivated users that need cleanup, and monitoring marketplace app requests since those notifications like to disappear on me sometimes.

On the manual side once a quarter I’ll go through automation rules, configurations, custom fields, projects, etc. During that time I also double check that all my automation rules are exported and backed up.

As for accounts, I randomly have those days where I get like 5+ emails in a row and immediately think, why am I even subscribed to these when I don’t even shop here? Next thing I know I’m going full unsubscribe rampage through my inbox lol :) .

[Dave LIAO]

@Jason Krewson - I'd love to read it!

A defined process can help make any chore achievable - even with something that's kind of wishy-washy like the KonMari method. 🙃

Of course, we can't look at integrations and Automation rules and ask "does this spark joy?" 😆

[Katie Lai - Seibert]

This is such a good idea, I hate to admit my digital clutter is worse than the physical clutter in my apartment... I would probably start with all of the screenshots and images that I have saved in my Downloads folder. Maybe this is something Claude could help me with! XD

[Dave LIAO]

@Katie Lai - Seibert - Where are your photos stored? (Don't actually answer!)

I love AI applications to de-duplicate photos (different services have different levels of usefulness for that).

[Katie Lai - Seibert]

How did you know I have so many photos of the same thing (my dog) that I need to go through?!?! But in all honestly, I really like that idea. Adding it to the to-do list...

[Kevin Stanley]

I've recently been doing "Curation" of my music backlog.  (looking up the album covers, track numbers, dates and Adding them to the file(s).  I DJ every now and then, and seeing the "Plain CD" icon is really getting to me.  Also, converting from FLAC to mp3 an entire library of Songbook Jazz.

[Dave LIAO]

@Kevin Stanley - back in the day I used a Macintosh app (heh) to find, download, and apply album art to my albums!

I THINK it was SoundJam. Hell, maybe it was WinAmp and I did this in Windows 95? 😆

[Sharon Beck]

Haha, Swedish death cleaning, what a cool name that is. sounds brutal 😆

[Juan Carlos Pin]

Ironically, Swedish Death Cleaning is my way of Life. Can't stand useless or unused stuff around.