Once I had settled on a seven day cycle for removing extraneous items from my life I knew I would start on a Sunday. Not because of some belief that a new week is a special place to start. No, just because it will be easier to remember which day of the cycle I was at. It is already going to be challenging enough without adding unnecessary mental and emotional overhead.

With the extra time I wanted the item I chose to have some importance or meaning, even though I can’t really explain what that would entail. I just knew that it would be more than an old pair of socks. And this morning I figured out what that item was:

My massage table. Twenty years ago I studied to be a massage therapist. It was something I really enjoyed and would gladly have left my IT job to pursue it if I hadn’t hurt my wrist. But I kept the table. Kept it in a closet, in a storage unit, or under a bed. It has been used perhaps three times in twenty years. The only time it hasn’t been under a bed in the last seven years is when I switched bedrooms five years ago. It meant something to me in the past but it can go to someone who will use it.

But that’s not all. While I was pulling the table out from under the bed I found even more stuff that can go.

These are saddlebags for a motorcycle I had even before I studied massage therapy. I got rid of the bike and never got another one. I’ve used them to haul stuff from one place to another when I moved.

Dog coat and boots purchased in the winter of 2008-2009. It was so cold my dog could not stay on the driveway or street but the snow was too deep for her to walk through, much less go potty. Even though she hated these they kept her safe. They have been in the saddlebags ever since I moved here from Wisconsin.

And there they go. It’s amazing how deciding to remove one thing can lead to the discovery of other things that can go along with it. It is also amazing how removing that one thing can change how you see things – from where I’m sitting I can now see at least ten things taking up space that could make someone else’s life better.