Week 11 Theme

It’s that time of year again – time to take a waltz through the house and clean out all the unused or unwanted items and donate them. I’ve been on the bad side of family economics so I know what a trial it is, especially this time of year, to find cheap gifts. Goodwill and Salvation Army were often my saving grace. So now that I was on the other side of things, although not so far on the other side that I had any extra money to give away, I found this was my best opportunity to do something nice for a total stranger.

First I looked through our board games, trying to pick out one’s we hadn’t played in a while. Risk went into the box as well as one of the two Monopoly games we somehow acquired last year. A card game we never found the time to learn to play, a puzzle I had finished during the last snowstorm, and Twister, which my back could not fathom anymore as much as I’d like it to, all found a place in the giveaway box. I probably could have put more in there but maybe this year we’d have more time for some much needed family game nights.

Walking through the kitchen I grabbed a teapot that I never used, a set of cloth napkins and napkin rings that we never used because I never remembered their existence, a set of baby dishes that my daughter had grown out of, and a small blender that was replaced by the one I got last Christmas. There were plenty of other gadgets that I hadn’t had the opportunity to use in the last year but my culinary training wouldn’t allow me to part with them. Someday I’d get the chance to cook more and how awkward would it be to need a melon baller or quiche dish only to find that I’d given them away.

Heading for my closet I knew I’d be hitting the jackpot, there were a lot of items there I didn’t wear anymore. I pulled out the black and white dress I had worn to court for my divorce six years ago. Why I hadn’t gotten rid of this sooner I’ll never know. A couple of shirts that looked great on the hanger in the store but didn’t fit right when I got them home, a pair of jeans I no longer felt ‘comfortable’ in, and a pair of boots that looked great but killed my feet, landed on top of the pile. I pulled a ratty green sweatshirt out of a basket and almost threw it in with the rest before I remembered I had worn that sweatshirt when I was pregnant with three of my kids. I guess that one will stick around a bit longer. There were other items I didn’t wear but couldn’t part with because if I could lose the few extra pounds I had gained they would once again look great on me.

I took one look at my sets of bookshelves, reading quickly through the titles, and then shook my head and turned away. Books were my thing and I didn’t see any that I thought wouldn’t bring me some sort of insight in the coming year, more than half I hadn’t even finished. Lifting up the box to take it out to the car I couldn’t help but think it was lighter than it was last year. Either I was getting good at this giving thing and had little left to give or I was being more difficult about parting with things I didn’t need. I also realized that I didn’t need to do any shopping for myself for quite some time. If I could lose a little weight, lighten up my schedule, and read instead of watch television, I’d be all set.