The Year of Living Minimally - Week Thirty-seven

This week I gave away more stuff. This time I cleaned out the linen closet. We all have one, right? Towels and sheets and blankets and so many extra pillowcases. All clean, all very usable, all too much for us.We live in a town that has many lower-income residents. All I have to do is drive from the relative sanctuary of our condo, encircled by woods, with a golf course across the street, and head over to the farther side of town, where there are triple-decker tenements, boarded-up businesses, poverty. Many people in this town struggle to get by, as I know there are people like that in virtually every town across America.When I see the need that is so apparent, I want to hurry back home and gather up more. The dinnerware, the linens, clothes and shoes and winter coats, all excess in my eyes but gratefully accepted for those who don't have room for 'extras.'At this point in my year-long journey toward minimalism, I spend each week thinking about what I don't need anymore - can someone else use it? Then donate it. Can it be recycled? Into the bin. Must it be trashed or can it be repurposed somewhere else? And I'm finding I need less and less to be happy.