out with the old, in with the new

out with the old and in with the new 
days of gratitude 
notes from maggie's farm

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.

William Morris

I'm grateful for fresh starts.  

It's time to start wrapping up this 2011.  It was a good year.  I appreciate all the lessons it had for me.  It's time to let go of some stuff  I accumulated, however, and I bet it's the same for you, too.


I challenge you to join me in tossing ten items that you no longer feel to be useful, or beautiful, every day until the first of the year.  I started last night, so I'll be tossing 50 useless items away to start the new year.  I think it's cathartic, and I bet I won't stop on the 1st.  I'll build a little momentum and keep at it!  


Last night, I began in my closet.  I tossed...


1.  All the 'underpinnings' that were a mess.  
Anything with holes in it, stretched elastic, or that someone purchased with the thought that I'd somehow decide to hop on the bus with all the other young and slender things that wear those sorts of things.  The bus has left the station.  The thongs are on it.  I am not.

2.  All but my newest pair of running shoes.  
It's really not good for your feet, or knees or legs or body or psyche, to wear your running, or walking shoes literally into the ground.  The general consensus is around 500 miles. However, body type, gait and terrain can all either lengthen or shorten a shoe's life. I'll bet you have a resolution coming around the bend about getting a little more active.  Honor yourself and set the tone for success with decent shoes.

3.  Socks that don't match.  Perfectly.
Just because they're both white, don't mean they match.  If it isn't the sock's sibling, toss them.  Cousins don't make a match.  I may be tossing them towards the cleaning basket for dusting, but ONE, not ALL of them.

4.  Pajamas I hate.
Okay, I put a pair of relatively sizzling sleepers aside, but then I got going on all those that weren't loose enough (I don't want them to CONSTRICT me when I'm dreaming.  I need space. You know.  To fly, and all.), or those that were too loose (pants on the ground, pants on the ground....).  Then I tossed anything that wasn't primarily cotton.  I'm of a certain age that doesn't need the heat that synthetic fibers produces at night, thankyouverymuch.

5.  Colored belts that came with things.
This one is personal, but I'm not much for wearing belted things.  And really not much for wearing those cheapo belts that come with certain things.  If it requires a belt, I like to go with one of my leather belts.  One of my two leather belts.  One black.  One brown.  One mine.  One, actually, my husband's.

6.  Shoes I didn't wear at all last year.  
I'm not going to lie.  This one hurt.  With the rule of Mr Morris, above, in mind, I tossed some shoes that, gasp, I had never worn.  Anything that looks like a Louboutin is really not useful in my life.  BEAUTIFUL, yes, but still.  Gathering dust.  And I just know there is a lady out there who is going to be thrilled to find a steal of a deal on these gorgeous, but unworn, shoes from Goodwill.

7.  Anything that needed mending.
C'mon.  Those few things have been sitting in that mending basket for a good year.  I don't have time for mending.  I'm cutting myself some slack and tossing it all.

8.  Cheap and/or free handbags and totebags.
No judgement here.  If it came free with a purchase, trash it.  My mom will never know that I tossed that totebag from the bank where she worked twenty years ago.  Unless you read this to her.  (TOMMY, do NOT read this to her!)

9.  Uniforms from places I no longer work.
Let GO!  Yes, they may be in perfectly good condition.  So the person who ends up with them will be happy as a lark.  The last time I tossed these, I tossed them into the hands of a former coworker.

10.  Outmoded Patterns of Thought. 
Yep, I tossed them.  I tossed them in the form of anything that wasn't my size, right here, right now.  Anything a size (or two) larger, anything a size smaller.  Gone.  I'm starting this new year with what fits me now, whether in clothes, shoes, emotions, thoughts.

Besides having to be useful and beautiful, I'm asking myself "does it fit me now?" of everything I consider.

So, tell me, what are you tossing out tonight?