I have this fantasy where a man wearing low slung jeans, a tight T-shirt and a tool belt comes into my house and builds storage closets or shelves in every single room. When he’s done, every item I own has a special place to live where I’ll always be able to find it whenever I need it. And since it’s my fantasy, he does all of this for free and vacuums the entire house before he leaves.

The reality is, I have too much stuff. Every month one charity or another calls and asks if I’d like to make a donation of gently used clothing or household items. They should say, “You know those  jeans hanging in your closet that you couldn’t cram your ass into with a can of Crisco and a crowbar? Give us those. Give up on the dream of fitting into clothing from five years ago, because unless you eliminate the chocolate cookie crumb mocha frappuccino’s from your diet, it’s not going to happen.

And the waffle iron you bought because it was on sale at Kohl’s and you had a 30% off coupon that was about to expire? Give us that. You are never going to take the time to wake up early, whip up a batch of waffle batter and create glorious golden waffles. Not going to happen.

And that weird Bosu balance ball  you used less than a dozen times before resigning it to the basement? Give us that. And while you’re down there, pack up the five-pound kettle ball you stub your toe on monthly and the resistance bands you never took out of the package.”

Giving items to charity is kind of like editing. You know you should do it to reduce word clutter in your manuscript. But you struggled to put those words on the paper, and when they first appeared on the screen you loved each and every one of them. Now, when you read them you realize some of them don’t quite fit. Highlighting and hitting cut can be painful, but streamlining your manuscript is even more important than cleaning out your closet. So cut and paste to another document and then one day, maybe you can donate those words to a new work in progress.