Julie Morgenstern's No-Brainer Toss List for the Kitchen

Many of us imagine ourselves whipping up wonderful gourmet meals for the family night after night. If only we had the time to become that great chef we feel we could and should be! That's why we've kept all those barely used bread makers, exotic pots and pans, juicers, soufflé dishes, sprout makers, strange spices with stranger sounding names, and weird cookbooks we wishfully bought. Face it, if you haven't found the time yet, that's because you prefer investing it in other quality of life interests that are more important to you. Accept that fact and give away or donate all your Wolfgang Puck paraphernalia to someone who'll use it. Here's what you should look to toss:

• Chipped or broken dishes, glasses or mugs
• Duplicate sets of items, especially if they're missing parts or pieces
• Pots, pans, utensils and bakeware that are burnt or rusty
• Ugly serving pieces, even if they were wedding gifts; save the thought instead.
• Excess stemware. How many glasses have you actually used in the last 5 years
• Excess plastic containers, bags and jars. Keep about 5 to 6 of each. Let the rest go
• Ugly souvenir glasses and mugs
• Plastic tumblers, if your kids are all grown. Save a couple for memories or visiting grandchildren
• Broken or never-used appliances and gadgets
• Pantry items that you haven't used in one year or more. Give them to a shelter for the homeless or housebound

We all inherit flatware, dishes, silverware or stemware that for emotional reasons, we want to hang on to even though we never use it. That's fine. But you won't be dishonoring any memories if you store those things away in a box in your attic or closet rather than keeping them front and center in cabinets where frequently used items belong.