I call it my chaos threshold; when too many things are cluttering countertops, chairs; too many things misplaced/out of place; too many projects going on at one time. That’s where I am today.

Understand, I’m not an “A-type” personality. I’m no Adrian Monk. But, I do reach a point when all the little things that didn’t get put away, or all the projects that are started or just not quite finished, and the boxes or bags or odds and ends cleaned out from a car, but never sorted through in the house, get on my nerves. Consequently, I start to feel like I can’t find anything or every task requires a family circus route to accomplish it.

That’s where I am this morning, friends. It’s not a peaceful feeling. And I don’t have any answers, except to take steps forward and breathe.

I don’t want to spend an entire day cleaning and tidying my house. There are a lot of moving parts right now. My son’s college dorm room ended up on the closest chairs/floor/couch to the front door when he moved back home. It’s like the dorm room flew by and puked in my living room and no one wants to clean up that big a pile of puke. In the garage, the big shelving unit we moved, looks great because it’s pretty empty except for my hubs’ tools that he left there after moving it. And, all the stuff that was on the shelves, is in piles to sort through and put back. There are 3 little boxes in the dining room, with…stuff…from cleaning out a car. Stuff, stuff, stuff. It’s a beautiful sunny day, and I’ll get really grumpy if I put my head down and start cleaning inside. Really grumpy. You might know the grumpy I’m talking about; irrational slamming cupboard doors, huffing and puffing, snapping at my family for their contributions to the chaos. Let’s just say, I’d rather not act that way…again…which is why I’m writing about it, obviously.

The projects currently going on in our house, also contribute to this unsettling feeling. I’m moving my sewing room to a studio space off the back of the garage. But, I can’t really move everything out there, because we still have to insulate the ceiling and paint the rest of the floor that isn’t painted because in a brilliant move 3 years ago, we painted all of the floor except where the home gym was. We thought it would always be in that part of the garage, so why move all our mats and paint and put them back? Why indeed? We moved the home gym to a different, smaller corner. It’s perfect. But now there’s concrete to clean, etch, and paint. Part of me thinks that may never happen!

I’m not trying to get pity here! I’m just using my writing this morning, my stream of consciousness, to weed through my personal environment chaos.

I think the floor situation in my studio is a good example of something we, as a married couple, have struggled with for 35 years; taking shortcuts to get something done, then having way more work, possibly expense, in undoing and redoing later on; garden plots, rock piles, home remodels; you name it, we’ve “made it work for now” so we could get something done, then regretted months or years later that we didn’t take the extra time to do it right the first time.

That’s my stream of consciousness blog today. And here is what I am going to do so I don’t get into an ugly grumpy state where the other 2 humans living with me, have to walk on pins and needles.

I’m going to pick 3 areas of low hanging fruit to sort through, that will give me peace when done.

1. 3 little Amazon boxes that have gathered bits and pieces of stuff out of the cars

2. Put the grey shelf stuff back on the shelves in the garage (this will bring a huge space of relief in my garage and prepare for the insulation of the ceiling in my studio.)

3. Match the receipts to the sons’ clothes that have to go back to the store and put them in my car

4. Clean off the top of the dryer

I’m also typing up a complete list of all the little areas in my home that need these 10-30 minute sort/toss/put away “episodes” and maybe make a game out of it.

My niece does this fun game that she shares on Instagram, “Tap to Tidy.” She’ll either do a time lapse and post that, or take a picture of the room or area she’s cleaning, before and after. It’s always inspiring and fun to see. You can find her on Instagram @thestrollermom if you are looking for an inspiring young mom to follow!

Well, it’s time to start the waffles for Sunday “church and sourdough waffles” at home. I hope you are doing well. Feel free to comment below how you manage the clutter in your home.

Your friend,
Anne Dovel - The Fit Quilter