Hectic Life

My life is hectic. Who's isn't? Here is a quick rundown of my life: I'm a young stay at home mom to a very busy amazing little toddler whom was diagnosed with Leukemia this past March. She is doing absolutly fantastic with her treatments but we have had weekly or near weekly Dr appointments for her, plus medications at home and things like going out can be dictated by her count levels, plus being extremely careful about time spent outside because she's a redhead on chemo that makes her more sensitive to the sun. Luckily, a few months ago my husband got a new job with better pay, less stress and he is home at a regular time everyday. When Ann was diagnosed I ended up quitting my part time job to do some occasional daycare here and there for a friend because I needed the more flexible schedule. Money is still very much tighter than what it was, so I kinda traded one stress for the other. I'm also trying to slowly but surely get my little business off the ground, I'm a seamstress and crafter who does quite a bit of custom work for renaissance faire performers but I'm trying to get an Etsy shop up and running and eventually start going to faires as a vendor. So I'm busy trying to be super woman and then lets throw on pregnancy hormones and getting prepared for our new family member coming our way February to the mix. So there is the state of my current life in a nut shell. Needless to say, I'm busy and exhausted.

So you're probably asking, okay... What does any of this have to do with anything? Simple. I'm taking some action to changing my life to a more simple and peaceful life. Some things I can not change. I can't change the fact that my daughter has cancer or the many Dr's appointments. I can't change my hormonal state, my pregnancy brain and the extra amount of tired that comes with it. I can only do so much to help the money situation out at the moment. But what I can change is our home. We live in a pretty great rental house at the moment. 2 bedroom, 1 bath, mostly open floor plan with a office/ spare bedroom, a craft room, storage room and garage. Sounds like we have plenty of space for small family like ours. But here I am feeling like I'm drowning in full closets and tables piled high and housework that feels overwhelming and I have to work around so many things. The state of our house and housework gives me more stress than anything else as of late.

A very small taste of some of the clutter that our house is filled with. You don't want to see our dinning room table. 

Okay... now that's all well and good, but how do I plan on changing my home to make it more manageable and less stressful? I completely believe that the state of your home reflects the state of your mind and that changing your home will help change the state of your mind. I've tried organizing a million times but It never goes very far. I get stuck with normal delema of not having anywhere to put things. So I've decided I want to make our home minimalist. My plan is that we are going to get rid of most of our stuff, to not only help with the stress of too much clutter but to help clear some mental clutter as well. Most people seem to have heard of the decorating rule of only having things that are beautiful, useful or sentimental. Well I'm taking that idea and going a step further. Because frankly, we have lots of things that are useful, we just don't use them. We have lots of beautiful things, that are in boxes with nowhere to go. And we I have lots of sentimental things that are in boxes, that I don't even remember I have until I see them, but just haven't been able to let go of yet. My husband and I have talked about downsizing our things so many times and we just haven't done it. Well it's time! And I'm so very ready for this! Thank you pregnancy nesting for finally kicking me in the butt to get this done!