We are in the last quarter of 2025. It is hard to believe as the time has gone by so quickly. I had a good summer. It was time to think of the BER months.
A goal without a plan is just a wish.
October is flying by quickly. I have the upstairs cleaned except for a few windows. Those will be done this week as it is cool enough to do them without leaving streaks. I am now ready to tackle under the stairs.
I am making lists galore and am trying to make and keep good habits for tidying up and keeping the house clean. For me, that is hard. When I clean, I clean everything deeply. It as how I learned to clean when my parent owned a fishing resort. I am working on cleaning daily so the house is maintained. The kitchen and bathroom are easy as I do it al the time but the other rooms get a deep cleaning even if I did it a week ago.
I have the basement cleaned. I left a bit of a mess when I finished the memory book but went down the next day to deal with it. All of the paper crafting I don't need is packed ready to sell or give away. What is left is in a tub and on a shelf in the storage room. I cleaned the paper crafting trolley and got rid of a few things from it. The two trolleys will go under the stairs.
I am ready to start cleaning under the stairs. I hope that I can get it done in a couple of sessions. I will have to watch my SI joint as it could get tight. If it happens, I hope it will be tomorrow as I have physio on Wednesday. I am going to haul out all the stuff and start going through it. The Halloween tub will be sorted by daughter-in-law and I before the end of the month. I will do the rest of it by myself. I have to take some old paint to the recycling depot. I can do that one afternoon when I need to get out of the house. When this job is done, I will start next year with more cleaning in the basement.
Which brings me to next year's tab. I will be starting a tab for 2026 but am not sure what the content will be. I am pretty much done decluttering for now. I have moved to the one in one out rule. That is until we step into the sewing room. I need to come up with a big plan for that room. What do I need to let go of and what do I want to keep. I have lots of time to think about it before I need to tackle that room once again. I have a goal but I need a plan.
A goal without a plan is just a wish.
September was a month of activity and pain. My SI joint tightened up and I spent days dealing with the pain. It really limited me mobility wise though I did push through the pain to get things done. I figured out that I needed to stretch my right leg somehow and played with movements. I found one and did it until my SI joint released and went back into its normal position. I then stretched the muscles as they were starting to shorten up and be sore. My persistence paid off and but I was still stretching the SI joint several times a day at the end of September. I have it in place now and know that if it hurts I need to do my stretches as soon as possible.
I did not get as much done as I had hoped to in September. I did get the deck cleaned off and everything into the shed. I did most of the weeding but couldn't finish due to my SI joint. I was struggling getting up after weeding and didn't want to be stuck outside calling for help.
Inside, I did what I could and I got behind in my cleaning. I started to clean upstairs at the beginning of October and did a room a day with 2 rooms and the entry way left to do on October 7. I started out having to stretch my SI joint two to three times while cleaning to not having to stretch it at all. I do monitor it while cleaning. The last time it hurt, I sat on the bed, turned to lie down and had the release happen when turning. I was up and back to cleaning in 2 minutes.
My plan for the rest of October is to
Clean the two bedrooms -- they mainly need to be dusted and the floors vacuumed and mopped.
Clean the front entry way.
Clean under the stairs - 2 days set aside for that job.
Vacuum and mop the family and sewing rooms
Clean off the cutting table and put fabric and patterns on it so I have a project to work on in January.
Finish a memory book and get it bound for friends. I will ship it when the mail is moving again.
Put all the paper I don't need into donation boxes or recycling.
Make appointments for everything I need before we leave. I have some appointments made and need to make three more.
Continue making lists and packing for our trip. We have a couple of things left to do before we have finished the list of things we need to do before we leave (hotel rooms, travel insurance, etc).
Try to weed around the house on a nice day that isn't too hot or wet. It is all I have left to do outside.
I really want to enjoy October without feeling overwhelmed. Hence why I have lists for everything I need to pack and do. General and detailed lists which I am finding helpful.
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I ended August looking for a statement I had used years ago.
A goal without a plan is just a wish.
I sat, I thought. I wasn't doing a lot. My daily to-do list was non existent in the later half of August. I did manage to accomplish things in early summer. The only reason that happened was I picked a room to work on. It was easy as I as use to the routine for those rooms. I was able to get most of the upstairs decluttered and cleaned. The spare bedroom is not done but I have it on the to-do list.
Late August I my focus turned to the downstairs. It was a disaster zone and I was disgusted with myself for not dealing with it. It was time to have a goal and make a plan.
What was my big goal for September? I wanted a space that was minimal, tidy, and enjoyable to be in.
- Clean up the storage room, family room and under the stairs. The storage and family rooms are done.
- As I looked at each room, I did a list of what I should do and what I wanted the room to look like. The words minimal and organized were the two top ones.
- The list was broken down into areas I could handle easily and not become overwhelmed.
- I also went through every box and sorted it into sell and donate. The sell boxes are neatly stacked in the storage room. The donate boxes were put near the stairs.
- Go through the crafting shelves in the storage room. The goal was to have what I needed on one shelf. The rest was put into sell and donate.
- When done all of that I took the donate to the local thrift store and said goodbye to it.
- Under the stairs has been looked at. As I crawl into that space a plan was forming and I am starting to get it down on paper.
- Paint I no longer need will be taken to recycling.
- Suitcase for sale is with the other for sale items
- An empty box is in the storage room to hold donate or sell items.
- The fall decor needs to be purged and only a couple of items kept.
- Christmas and Halloween tubs need to be condensed.
- What ever else is under there needs to be dealt with. I won't be able to do that until I get everything else out from under the stairs.
- Sewing
- I have decided that I will focus on finishing up the runners for my bedroom and make an outfit for the rabbit.
- I decided to cancel my subscription to Sewing With Cinnamon as I wasn't enjoying the topics this year.
- I need to brainstorm what I want to do in the sewing room. I need to make a goal which I can implement a plan.
- Knitting
- Knit socks for family and a hat for a doll's outfit.
- Clean the spare bedroom.
- I can launder the blankets in late September and have them gone in early October.
- The closet is done as I worked on it a couple of morning when I had some extra time. I think I only spent 15 minutes total getting the closet cleaned out.
- Go through the dresser and eliminate what I no longer need or use.
- Wipe down the walls and clean the window. Mop the floors.
- Clean up the main floor which needs some attention.
- Vacuum and mop all the floors
- Dust all the furniture
- Tidy up hot spots
- Do the stairs and front entry -- mainly sweep and mop.
- Sewing
- This month the only sewing will be what I need for our trip (mainly bags)
- Focus on finishing a memory book for our friends and get rid of what is left.
- Tidy up the sewing room
- Knitting
- Socks for someone.
- Trip planning
- Set up back pack and suitcase towards the end of October.
- Go over the lists I have written and start packing.
November will have the upstairs painted and blinds installed. Packing for our trip will be in full force and it will be time for us to leave before we know it.
I will do no more planning until January 2026. I will be spending a lot of time making goals and to-do lists. I will be starting with the sewing room. I am not going to join in with the 3 week program that Karen Brown does. I am making new goals and plans for my sewing. What I do will not be what she does. This is a big move for me. I will talk more about it in 2026. Right now I am getting my ideas down on paper.
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