Elimination 2011

Have you ever had an epiphany…when you realize that the way you are living your life is not the way you want to live? When Mr. C. and I moved to Germany we assumed we did not have much stuff…we were wrong.

Imagine having a group of strangers come in to your house, pack everything up and then give you a weight… a weight that declares to the world just how much crap you own. It went something like this,

“Mrs. C. we have weighed all of your household belongings and you have 9,000 pounds of household goods".”

I was shocked! How had two people and a tiny little dog accumulated so much stuff? Then friends who had moved overseas told me,

“Only 9,000 pounds? That’s barely anything! My household goods weighed over 18,000 pounds”

This made me compare 18,000 pounds to 9,000 pounds and my feeling of embarrassment and shock about the amount of stuff Mr. C. and I owned turned into a feeling of being comfortable, satisfied, self righteousness,

…“I only have 9,000 pounds, I am doing great!”…

until my reality check when they dropped all 9,000 pounds of goods in my German house.

The true horror of all of this stuff did not really hit me until my parents came to visit. We had this big, beautiful house and no where to put anything! Before the dust had settled on their suitcases I had a plan…

Elimination 2011

I have to say after only a week of Elimination 2011 Mr. C. and I are doing great. We now run around the house declaring loudly, “eliminate!” as we add another item for removal to our foyer. This declaration prompts much laughter and encouragement because we each know how hard eliminating really is.

The best part of Elimination 2011? That we are eliminating the things from our life that hold us back, the unorganized pieces of our past that we think hold the keys to our memories, rather than realizing that this 9,000 pounds of stuff is really preventing us from making new memories in our lovely new home. I am not saying it is easy…but it is liberating…and eliminating with your best friend? Simply amazing.

So here is to the future, a future where a moving man looks at me in shock when he loads my items and tells me how much it weighs…a future where I know each and every box that is loaded into the moving van and can say that I  truly need and want every item in those boxes…and I look the moving man (or girl) in the eye and respond proudly, “it’s called elimination buddy!”

Do you have items in your home that are keeping you from living life and experiencing your adventures? Remember this phrase,

“Eliminate 2011 , You Can Do It!”

- Katie