wondering how to add left hand sidebar widget…

…and possibly get rid of standard sidebar navigation menu. My blog is very long (lots of vertical reading) and I would like to possibly widen the middle content “box,” and also bring some of the videos from the bottom up to the top. I seem to have an increasing bounce rate and I am not sure what is attributing to that, but want to try a few things. Thank you in advance. My site is READ.eat.DEW.write.

ALSO: If I upgrade to the paid template, will I lose all the customizations that I have made? It’s the only thing holding me back.