The Cleanse: Week 5 - Luggage (or Baggage?)

My haul to the D.I. this week included:

- A big 'ol bag-o-clothes: As much as I'd like 365 pairs of socks so I could wear a new pair every day of the year, I don't really need that many crowding up my top drawer. 27 1/2" t-shirts? No thanks. Two (yes I said 2) pairs of moose-print pants. Buh-bye.

- Soccer gear: I've long since given up playing any type of competitive soccer. As much as I'd like to, my knees just will not cooperate. I had to face reality and let go of the cleats/shinguards/socks that had long been sitting dormant in my closet. Hopefully one or both of my daughters decide to take up the sport and I can live my unfulfilled dreams vicariously through them.

- Urn?: This piece of countertop clutter purchased on a whim with a 20%-off Bed, Bath, & Beyond coupon that looks as if it could be an urn is, I think, designed to hold toothbrushes; at least that's what we've been using it for. Either way, I don't like the looks of it so it had to go.

- Luggage: We are far from world travelers. When we do find time (& money) for a vacation we've got plenty of other bags to hold our stuff. Hopefully these two pieces of luggage will help carry some other person's stuff on a wild adventure.

- Zen fountain: Inside that mesh beachy-looking bag rests a metal orb Zen-like water fountain bubbly thingy purchased from the Z Gallerie years ago in hopes of gaining some Buddhist enlightenment or something. It didn't work. Plus we've decided we're not cool enough to have anything from Z Gallerie in our house.

- Flashlight on steroids: Grandpa Jay (R.I.P.) gave us this combo emergency battery-charger-air pump-radio-flashlight-flair gun-Batman signal thingy years ago for Christmas that has never been taken out of the box. I brushed off the 1/2" of dust it had collected and threw it in the giveaway pile.

- Cooler: We rarely use these type of coolers designed to keep liquids cold or hot while on the go. We've got 2 others, however, so I think we'll be okay.

- Plastic bin: Where did this miscellaneous plastic bin come from? I don't know, but we don't need it.

- Mini ironing board: Underneath this pile sits a 1/2-size ironing board meant for a dorm room or something. I think we bought it when we were first married and lived in a 500 square foot apartment. We've rarely used it over the past 10 years, plus we've now been given a hand-me-down full-size ironing board (thanks Kami) so if we do ever decide to iron we can actually do it standing up like a real grow-up. How great is that?

Those other items in the background that are dirty and worn and look as if they should be given (or thrown) away are actually items we do use so they survived this latest purge.