I hang onto old tennis shoes, even when I get a new pair. My reasoning is this: I’ll wear them at the beach. I’ll wear them doing yard work. I’ll wear them sometime.”

Guess what? It never happens. With daily walking I need new shoes every year. Sometimes twice a year, if they don’t hold up. A collection of worn out shoes with holes on the inside line my closet shoe shelf.

To ring in the New Year, I threw these old puppies out. I looked around my closet and found lots of shoes, dresses, and random clothing that I haven’t worn in years. Or ever. I will clear it out and deliver clothing to the Phoenix Dream Center that helps victims of sex trafficking. They have a clothing closet — which is a room with donated clothing that they can browse through and take whatever they want. The residents of the Dream Center, former sex trafficking victims, rotate working and organizing the inventory. I’ve written about the Phoenix Dream Center “Where Hope Lives” HERE.

The other clearing out I’ve done the last two days has to do with paperwork. Stacks of papers that I didn’t want to file in the moment, but squirreled away in a casita kitchen cabinet. “Out of sight, out of mind.” I don’t think my kids were impressed when they opened the cabinet. Most of it can be thrown out since everything is online these days.

Now that the paperwork is taken care of, I found another category of excess to toss. Cleaning products that I don’t need in Arizona. I moved a ton from Palm Springs, December 2020.

I think because we spend a fortune on these items, like cleaning products, tennis shoes and clothing, it’s hard to get rid of them.

It feels good to start the New Year fresh with the cobwebs of my life cleared out!

What do you you hold onto that you don’t need or use?

What are you doing to start the New Year fresh?