March 19, 2026
I am struggling with my stress threshold at the moment. I have been sore which hasn't helped. I have had other stresses that have affected my thinking and sleeping. I hit the wall with a "get rid of it all" attitude. I was mentally miserable.
I decided to deal with it all as I need to feel calm internally. I did some self talking and realized I needed to deal with a few things immediately. What was upsetting me and why was it upsetting me.
Some of the mentally miserable mess only needed me to ask some questions to get full answers. Once I got that done, I felt somewhat better. Having it off my plate allowed me do more thinking as to what else was making me feeling like I was.
The upstairs has some hot spots that I am working on taking care of. It can all be done in a morning. A stop at the little library will take care of 2 books. Putting a few things away will get rid of some piles I have been neglecting. I just need to remember to deal with the piles sooner rather than later so they don't become a stress point in my life.
The basement as a whole is upsetting me. I know that as I clean up the mess will get worse before it gets better. I looked at what was bothering me right now. It was the items that I had ready to go to the thrift store. I got the bags and boxes gone yesterday. That was 3 weeks of decluttering gone and I felt much better after I did it. The feelings of guilt when I looked at what I was donating is gone. I have a space where I can box and bag more items for the garage sale in May or for the thrift store.
My next step is to look at the recycling I have in the basement. I have a box to sort through plus the boxes the blinds came in to break down and get rid of. I will keep looking for small things to clean up which does help make things look less cluttered.
I need to look at what I have put into the storage/maintenance room and go through all of it. I did start and then stopped. I have more to look at and decide if I will sell it or donate it. I also need to look at the craft bazaar items I have stored in there. Most items are organized but some aren't. I also need to do more crafting as I do enjoy it.
I know I am cleaning the sewing room over many months. I need to do some extra cleaning right now as it is bothering me to look at some of the furniture that needs a good wiping down. This alone is affecting me more than I let on. I need to schedule the cleaning so it happens on a regular basis rather than when I get overwhelmed by it.
I know that more "to do" will emerge as I look around the basement. I have to act on doing it rather than acknowledging it and not doing it. A little bit each day will make a big difference. I have to remember that when I look at my house as a whole.
March 16, 2026
I have the shelving unit that holds my stash organized for now. I pulled it out from the wall to sweep behind it. I will pull it out again when I mop the floor. I also cleaned up the cutting table and only have immediate projects on it. One still needs to go into a tub for April but the rest should be sewn up by the end of the month.
I have found one item for the bathroom which I will order sometime today or tomorrow. The rest of the items I need to go into stores and look at/for. I need to price the vanity counter top and order it so it can be installed.
I did buy a black out blind for my bedroom and will be buying the hangers I need to hang pictures. Once that is done, I will done in that room.
My goal is to have both rooms done by the end of April.
Downstairs continues to be messier than I like. The family room is a dumping ground for bags and boxes to go to the thrift store. I will have one big load gone on Wednesday. I have a box of stuff to sort into my recycling bins before Wednesday night. Recycling is picked up on Thursday.
I have slowed down on cleaning the sewing room. I am going to follow a person who will have us take a year to declutter and clean our sewing spaces. I need the slower pace as I take time to process the information and decide on my plan of action. I will do bits here and there that I know I need to deal with as I have a plan of action in place. This Friday we are going to do the cutting table. I am looking forward to this video and know I will be incorporating cleaning my cutting table top. It is dirty from using a temporary adhesive spray. I want to eliminate the two tubs I have on the a shelf ?? under the table. They do not need to be there and should not be a catch all for junk. I am not dealing with any of it until after I watch the video.
I am off to start cleaning the upstairs. It isn't dirty but I want to make sure it is really clean so I can do maintenance cleaning for three weeks.
March 11, 2026
I am still working on the shelving unit that hold my fabric. I have put almost 48 meters of fabric into bags for the thrift store. I have sorted through my quilting fabric and have them spread out over two shelves so I can see what I have. Fabric is no longer hidden and ideas are floating around in my head. I may work on the cottons a bit more. What I want to sew is changing from what it was a year ago. I am being more selective on what I will make.
The upstairs is easy to maintain. I can keep up easily which is nice. The upstairs feels sterile and I now need to decide how I want to decorate it. It won't be fussy but I need some colour and items on the walls. The areas where I have put up pictures are really nice. I want to keep it simple so I can enjoy each piece as I wander around the house. I need to buy the pieces to put on the wall so I can hang pictures. I will be starting in my bedroom as all that needs to be done is have two or three pictures hung along with a black out blind bought for the window.
I have not done much in the bathroom other than keep it clean and to hang up a tension curtain rod. I need to spend some time in the hardware store looking for the towel bars, clothes hooks, etc I want. I see something and then I change my mind. I am down to 2 and both are similar in style. I will need to see how they attach to the wall. Once that is done, I will turn my attention to finding pictures and curtains. I am thinking of buying a semi sheer curtain and cutting it down to size for the bathroom window. Then it will be the counter top and I may call the room done.
I am not allowing myself to think about the other rooms until I get these two rooms done. I struggle with colour in rooms as I haven't used much colour in many years except for Christmas. I am at a stage where I want to introduce colour into the house one room at a time.
March 3, 2026
The little set of drawers has been cleaned out. I did the drawers that held the fusible fleece and interfacing. All the scraps are gone and I took stock of what I have. I have enough fusible fleece for quite a few projects which is great. I have enough interfacing for a few projects and am at a place where I will be buying only to have enough on hand for projects. The fabric left over from my bedroom quilt is progressing from a UFO to bedside toppers for my bedroom. I have picked the project apart and have 18 blocks to cut from 2.5" to 2".
The shelving unit is coming along. The bottom shelf had 3 pieces of fabric on it which has since been moved up a shelf. The next shelf up was dealt with. I sorted through all the garment and quilting patterns and have gone from 2 fabric boxes to 1. I put the doll's patterns that I had cut out in Oct/Nov into page protectors and put them into their tub. I got rid of an old worn out sleeve ironing board and kept my newer one. The bottom two shelves are done.
The next shelf will be the top one. I will need to put two tubs of embroidery stabilizer into the closet and then deal with the fabric I bought to reupholster the dining room chairs. There is also a small amount of stuffing to put away. Once that is done, it will be to deal with the garment and quilting/craft fabric.
The shelving unit will not be empty as I still have fabric to sew up. It should be more organized and have a lot of empty space on the shelves. I am getting there slowly but surely. I work on it for a bit and leave when I get to the point where I am just moving stuff around and not dealing with it.
Upstairs is looking great. I am cleaning the hot spots on a regular basis. Upstairs is very easy to keep clean and I even get a day off now and again. I am finding that I am cleaning up behind myself more often than not. Habits are forming which is good. I am making plans on what I need to do upstairs to update some of the rooms. What I bring in for that, the old items have to leave the house.
My focus this month is the bathroom. I need to look at towel bars, hooks, and a toilet paper holder. I know I can do most of it myself. I may have to order them in but that is fine with me. I start looking as soon as I can get to the store. I will be really happy when I can get everything I want for that room and have it looking less bare and sterile.
February 28, 2026
I spent some time in the sewing room yesterday morning. I didn't look at the room as a whole just the fabric shelf and the little set of drawers I have along one wall. I needed to focus on that spot only so I wouldn't become overwhelmed.
I had spent some time with the little set of drawers and knew I had one empty drawer. I got all the dog quilt fabrics together and put it in there. I can do projects from it as time goes on. I will sort the bottom 2 drawers which hold fusible fleece and interfacing.
I looked at the bottom shelf of the shelving unit and threw the foam interfacing away. It was useless scraps that were gathering dust. There is a roll of children's drawing paper to go into the donation box. I looked at the fabric and three pieces need me to buy some fabric so I can make items. I am thinking of using one piece to make placemats and potholders for gifts for daughter. The other two pieces are not talking to me yet. There is another pile of fabric that is orange and I am not liking it either. I have decided to sit on it and make a decision to donate it.
In the midst of all this thinking I discovered a doll's quilt I was making using the left over Morris fabric from my quilt. I hated it so I stuffed it away and forgot about it. There was some Morris fabric, a lot of white fabric, and the quilt top. I have started to pick it apart to cut down and make toppers for the bedside tables in the bedroom. The white fabric will be used in another project. I am quite excited to use this expensive fabric for something other than a doll's quilt.
I think I did a lot in a short time (90 minutes) and a plan is evolving in my head. Like everything else, I need to look at one area at a time in the sewing room. I don't need to rush as rushing makes me put things back that sit for another year or two. I need to make hard decisions which take time. I do know I will be reviewing the bottom shelf very soon in hopes that I will have it empty of all the fabric whether it will be sewn or donated.
In the sewing room, the goal is to have the bottom shelf of fabric emptied and the bottom 2 drawers in the little unit sorted out and scraps thrown away.
February 27, 2026
The spare bedroom has been cleaned and I have a small bag of garbage from it. I put the Christmas quilts from the closet into a tub and stored it under the stairs. I also sorted through the tub of Christmas decorations. I have not taken the box of items to the thrift store as I have not been out to that area this month.
I went in to my bedroom to purge and was shocked at how much I had gotten rid of when I did it last fall. Virtually nothing left to purge. I am down to having to vacuum and mop the floors which I put off and will get at immediately. When that is done, I will have the upstairs done and ready for me to keep up.
I am a bit more enthusiastic about downstairs. I think part is that I found a few pictures of my stash from three years ago. Between donating and sewing, I have a lot less fabric/stuff in my sewing room. It makes me want to clean up the whole basement and keep the items I have to a minimum.
I have set a goal of what I want to upgrade in the house. The focus is the bathroom. I want new towel bars, hooks, and toilet paper holder. I think I install those myself. I will price out a new counter top and taps and see when I can get that done by the person who painted the upstairs. I need to look for pictures to hang in the bathroom and I may make my own. I did the downstairs bathroom so I know I can do the upstairs one. This update will probably take me into April due to the costs and the time needed to look at items and make decisions.
February 14, 2025
I am still purging my way through the house. The front hall closet was done and I will have to say that I found a lot of stuff in it that went into the garbage or to be donated. I was ashamed of how much I had put in to that closet and ignored. It is now done and I am trying to keep it purged.
I also did the steps and the front door area. I had paint languishing in that area and I put it all away. I also put away mitts and a toque which I still need. I hung up my coats that hang on the stair posts. I got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed the stairs and floor. It was filthy as we use the front and garage doors all the time.
I have checked one of the little jobs off my to-do list. I put the matching door knobs onto the linen and pantry closet doors. I also fixed the broken ball catches on the top of the doors that have dummy door handles. All of the interior doors are done and I have 4 exterior doors to do which is another bullet on my to-do list. That is a warm weather job.
I was in need of a box to put items into for the thrift store. All my boxes are full so I decided to look at what I had stored in the maintenance room. I found a box that had items in it for the garage sale. I sorted through those items and put over 50% back into the box for the thrift store. The rest will go into another box for the garage sale. I now have a box to put more thrift store items into. A big win for me. Though I hate to go through the boxes in the maintenance room, I have decided to spend only 20-30 minutes a day working on it. It doesn't feel as overwhelming as trying to do it all at once.
Upstairs, I am ready to start purging the spare bedroom. This means dealing with the Christmas quilts and blankets in the closet. It will take me a bit of time as I decide on what I want to do with it all. I may have to sort through my Christmas tub and buy a bigger one to store what I have. It means letting go of some items. I know I will be struggling for a few days as I make decisions on what to let go of and what to keep.
February 9, 2025
I have decided not to put a date on when to sell my house and move into an apartment. It wasn't a hard decision to make as everyone is saying I need to make sure I have enough room for my sewing. The reality is a bit more than that.
As I looked around the house, there is more that I think about than just the sewing stuff. I have to think about a lot more than that.
Purging each room of any extra items I seem to have forgotten to get rid of. That was a theme last year.
Decide on what furniture I want to sell, donate, trash. I can't move a lot of my furniture into an apartment and I need to deal with that.
Do some upgrading in the house. I want new countertops in the bathroom and kitchen. I would like a new kitchen tap. There are other things I would like to do in the house.
Make some hard decisions on sewing, knitting, and crafting. I know where ever I move, I will need to downsize what I have. I need to work on that doing more than what I did last fall. I need to take off my rose coloured glasses and give up the "future me" or the "fantasy me". What do I want to do right now.
Clear out the shed and garage and keep only what I actually need. That is going to be a hard one as I am always thinking about "I may need that". I don't need a lot of it.
Enjoy my house for as long as I possibly can. Hire someone to clear the driveway when we have heavy snowfalls. I have the lawns looked after which is a life saver for me.
Moving is back to a future plan. As long as I can live here, I will live here. So onwards to having less to look after in this house.
February 7, 2026
I have started to think in a new way about how much is too much. My plans are changing as I am thinking about moving from living in my house and to living in an apartment. The size of the apartment is about the same as the upstairs of my house. My reason for moving is that I want less property responsibilities due to my age.
I am going to be doing a lot more purging over the next months as I make my decision. I won't move until fall as I need time to sell things, get a few things done to the house, and look for items I will need. I also need the time to purge more of my belongings. I do see that I store items I think I will need in the future. I can sort through them and discard what I don't need.
Will my place sell? Yes it will as there are no houses in our subdivision for sale at the moment. The last house sold in the fall and nothing has come onto the market since then. My biggest fear is it selling too fast and I will be moving faster than I had thought.
Anyways, I have a journey as I declutter, purge, and decide on my future. What ever happens, I will be living a minimal life.
February 5, 2026
The main living areas and bathroom is now painted and I am loving it. I am in the process of cleaning it once again. The kitchen is done except for degreasing the cupboard doors. I will work on it a bit at a time. I have to buy a door handle for the pantry and look for a picture for the wall by the back door. The major purchase will be a new counter top. I will buy a new updated tap for the sink and new handles for the cupboard doors and drawers. That comes second on my to do list.
I am ready to clean the bathroom and it has an to do list. I will be replacing the counter top, and updating taps, towel bars, hooks and cabinet handles in there. My goal is to buy the items over time and so some of the work myself and hire someone to do what I can't do. What I am taking out of that room will be taken to the thrift store. My first purchase will be a door handle for the linen closet which I can install. I will also look at new handles for the vanity. I can install those by myself.
As I look at the freshly painted areas, I am figuring out what I need to do. The spaces are calling for less in them. They are also calling for one colour throughout. Soft furnishings will be a navy blue and I will add a pop of colour here and there. I am still looking for fabrics I like to make items like place mats, potholders, etc. Will I have stripes, floral, gingham or a mix of them all. I am still thinking about that and will have to visit the two quilt shops to make a decision. The only given for what I make is that it will not have lace or ruffles. That is not me.
I am still decluttering as I clean the house. There isn't a lot left but I am working on areas that I tend to ignore. I have to take the curtain rods to the thrift store and put the curtains into the trash. I have hot spots that I need to focus on daily so it doesn't become a big mess.
February 1, 2026
I have the living room cleaned and almost ready for the painters. The curtains and rods are down and the holes filled for the first round. I will be ready for the painters on Tuesday.
I made a big decision to toss the curtains into the trash. They are about 15 years old and have had a lot of sun on them. The curtain rods will be taken to the thrift store asap. I am putting up blinds as soon as the painting is done. I will not be adding curtains to the windows as I am liking the clean minimal look the areas have.
I am really enjoying the plan I made for knitting down the yarn stash. It is keeping me focused on what I am going to knit for the first quarter of the year. With that in mind, I made a plan for the fabric stash. This year I was going to combine both using the stash and buying fabric. I have decided that I will buy a minimal amount of fabric this year and focus on the stash. I made some goals with only one goal not included. That is how much will I donate this year. It is a goal but I have not set an amount to donate or when it will happen. I have also set up what I will make until the end of March and will work on the 2nd quarter mid March. I am finding that this works well for me for both sewing and knitting. I would love to see a substantial decrease in both of these areas.
One of the areas I am working on at the moment is notebooks/journals. I have a lot of them around the house. Some are used occasionally and others remain empty. I want to get my number of notebooks down to 3 with a maximum of 4. Less would even be better. I am doing a course on the One Notebook System that starts tomorrow. I will evaluate the course and make my decisions based on what I learn. The given is to get rid of the notebooks/journals I will never use and have only those that I use on a daily basis.
I had a low spend month and am pleased to say that I bought very little extra. My biggest expense was food. I had to restock when we got home from Montevideo as I had very little in the fridge/freezer.
My biggest disappointment was gaining weight. Some of the food I bought in January wasn't healthy choices. I caught myself a few days ago and have since lost a bit of what I gained. I see the doctor on February 10 and hope to be back to where I was when I arrived home from Montevideo. I have set a goal to loose weight this year. My goal is to loose 20 lbs which is not what the dietitian likes but my joints feel the best when I hit this weight. I know that where I am at now is too much for my body.
January 30, 2026
January is almost gone and I have had a bit of a rough month. Getting back into the groove of winter was hard. Most of my time was spent with a shovel and resting after my work outs.
I am still cleaning the house and going through things in each room. I am almost done the living room and it will be done by Jan 31. I am in the area where I sit and knit. It is a mess with accumulated stuff. My job is to sort through it and get rid of what I don't need. When I can finish the living room I can move on to the next room. I am still working on keeping the kitchen, bathroom, and dining area clean either on a daily basis or every other day. It is working quite well.
I am still struggling with too much in certain areas of my life. I know my fabric stash is too big and I am trying to work through it. It is very overwhelming to tackle some days when I am tired and feeling slightly depressed. I ignore it and come back to it when I am in a better frame of mind. I need to think and put together a more detailed plan for the year. I have done well sewing in January though the yardage sewn has been small. But the projects I made used small amounts of fabric. I have a couple of clear goals for this year. I need to get some more goals set for the year so I can get more of my fabric sewn.
I did get my yarn inventoried and I am ashamed of how much I have. I have 93 balls of yarn, some of which are not full balls. When I look at the totals amount of weight (16.7 lbs) and yardage (12.86 miles), I knew I needed a plan to knit this down to a more reasonable amount in 2026. I came up with a several goals which includes only buying 1 ball of yarn to make a project. The rest of the year should be spent on knitting down what I have. With January almost over, I did finish knitting the socks I started in Uruguay and will have another pair finished tonight. I have knit 1 sock in a child's size and am ready to cast on the 2nd sock. Did I meet my goal for January? Yes and exceeded it by knitting one child's sock. I will be ready to start my goal for February.
I look at my garage and shudder at how much is stored in there. I know it will be gone in May after the big garage sale in our community. That also means a lot of stuff will be hauled out of the basement. When the garage sale is done, what is left goes to the thrift store. I am not having it hang out in the garage for another year.
January 23, 2026
I have been home for 3 weeks and I have been busy. My first job was to clean the thick ice off my driveway. That took me almost a week to do. I have since cleaned snow off my driveway and will be doing that again Monday.
I have been cleaning the inside of the house slowly and have done the kitchen and bathroom. I haven't got rid of anything but I have looked and know what will go next. I will replace a couple of things that are going with items I want. I am trying to get rid of the western themed items in the kitchen and replacing them with more neutral items.
I am in the process of cleaning the dining area and have the server to go through today. I am sure I will find things that need to be tossed and some items that need to be reorganized. It is part of living a more minimal lifestyle.
While we were in Uruguay, I bought enough yarn to knit 3 pair of socks. I was okay with that as I was supporting rural women keep their traditions alive and have a better life. Their yarn is beautiful and cheaper than what I pay for yarn dyed in Canada. I knew I had hit my limit of sock yarn. But what I didn't realize was that it was the top of my limit. How did I know that?
I watch a YouTuber who knits and crochets a lot. She decided to inventory her yarn and put up a spreadsheet for people with no cost attached. I downloaded it and started inventorying my sock yarn plus 2 balls of a heavier weight I got for Christmas. Here is the shocker. I have enough yarn to knit 8 pair of adult socks plus 2 pairs of infant socks. With the two balls I was gifted I have:
17 skeins of yarn
1220 grams or 43 ounces or 2.7 lbs of yarn
4825 yards or 2.7 miles of yarn
I was shocked at this amount and I have a lot more yarn to inventory. What did I learn?
The amount of yarn I have is a lot. The sock yarn I have is close to 9 months of knitting. I don't want to knit only socks this year so I am not allowed to buy any more sock yarn until late fall. I can then restock for only 4 pairs of socks.
I have 5 more tubs of yarn to inventory. I do know some of the yarn will be knit into scarves which I will donate to a charity. It is open to for others to use to knit for charity. Some of the yarn will be used to make doll clothes. I do not need to buy yarn for them for a while. Some expensive yarn I was gifted will be used to make items for family. I cannot buy much yarn in those weights this year. I will be on a yarn fast until I get the yarn I have knit down to next to nothing.
Inventorying my yarn has made me realize that I do not need to have a lot of inventory for sewing and crafting. I can buy it as I need it. I find that the less I have, the more creative I am.
I am working on having less not only in my upstairs but in my downstairs where I store fabric, yarn, and some crafting supplies.
January 1, 2026
I spent a lot of time in 2025 getting the house decluttered to a level that is below my clutter and stress thresholds. I want to now work on having my house feel calm and enjoyable to live in.
I have worked hard to bring calmness to my house. But it still needs tweaking in areas. Being away for 7 weeks gave me time away from the house and left me with a fresh outlook at my house and my life.
I have mulled over several things that have been on my mind even when on holidays. What do I want to do about certain things in the house. How will I accomplish it without breaking the bank? When will I do it? There are a few knowns and a few unknowns at this time.
Knowns:
The upstairs will be painted in early February. The painters will finish the areas I can't do. The whole house will be the light grey I chose back in 2019 when we had to have the basement done due to the flooding.
The blinds will be hung in the kitchen, dining, and living room.
Pictures will be hung.
Unknowns:
Will I have the kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanity painted.
When will I have the counters replaced in those areas and a back splash put up in the kitchen.
Will I hang curtains on the living and dining room windows. I like the idea of having black out curtains on the windows to help keep out the cold and heat.
Ideas I have in my mind:
I would love to make some placemats and other small items to use in the kitchen and dining area. I am thinking blue to start with. I have a couple of patterns I would like to use for the placemats and then make a couple of matching items for the kitchen. I don't want a lot as they have to be stored when I am not using them.
Changing the hardware on the kitchen and both bathroom vanities. Go for a sleek look that will be easy to clean.
Making a simple curtain to hang on the back door as it is mainly glass. I will need to see if I need to get another (or two) magnetic curtain rod to hold the curtain secure at the top and bottom. I do have grey blackout fabric I can use for until I find something I like.
At this time, I am still doing a lot of thinking while I clean both upstairs and the sewing room.
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