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 PROGRAM NOTES
Your bathroom is a very private place. Besides using it for the obvious reasons, you start every day there, getting showered, shaved, and coifed for the day. Later, you go back to get ready for bed. You spend a lot of time there, but most visitors to your home don’t. They use the other bathroom—the public one, or the one the kids use. That means your bathroom is your very own place to treat as you wish.
Here’s the problem: if a space in your house isn’t seen by the public, then it tends to get neglected. I’m always surprised that we’re motivated to clean a room when others will see it, but we have no energy for the spaces we use the most often. And we’re the ones who have to live with the mess …[Read more]
A complaint I hear all the time from my organizing clients and prospective clients is, “I don’t know where to start!” People look at the decluttering to be done and become immobilized by the magnitude of the tasks in front of them. Here are some ideas to help you get unstuck when the project seems too large and you don’t know where to start.
Use a kitchen timer to limit the scope of an intimidating organizing task.
Break down your organizing project into finite, measurable chunks. Let’s say you have a room that’s spilling over with junk. Instead of setting a goal of clearing out the whole space, break off a manageable piece. For example, take a garbage bag and wander through your space picking up 10 things that you’re willing to throw away. Put the bag in the garbage can. Pat yourself on the back for making a start!
Or grab an empty cardboard box, and gather 10 items that you’re ready to donate to a thrift store or put in a garage sale. If you’re making a donation, take the box straight to the car so you can drop it off the next time you run errands. If you’re planning a garage sale, place the box in the space you’ve set aside for storing items …[Read more]
PROGRAM NOTES
Our bedroom is our sanctuary. It’s where we go to sleep and get restorative rest. It’s where we go for naps—when we can spare the time for one! It’s where we share intimate moments with our partners.
Clutter can put a damper on everything that takes place in your house, especially in your inner sanctum. It creates a bunch of negative noise in your mind, and all that racket prevents restful sleep.
I once worked for a tall young man who piled all his clothes—clean and dirty—on the bed. When he was ready for bed, he slept crosswise on the bed …[Read more]
PROGRAM NOTES
If you’ve made progress clearing paper piles in March, then cleaning up your home office is a great next step, because it’s not just the papers in the office that are out of control—the supplies and the equipment are, too! Removing the paper from the desktop and other surfaces uncovers what’s buried beneath. Now it’s time to deal with the rest of the office.
Here’s a strategy for putting your office area in order.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
7:00–8:30 p.m.
Gayle Goddard facilitates the monthly meeting of the Houston Clutter Coaching Meetup Group.
At the May meetup, we’ll follow up on the project we introduced in April: The Garage Is Also a Place to Park Your Car. Come tell the group about your progress and we’ll share hints about how to keep rolling.
Your bedroom can be a sanctuary.
We’ll also introduce our focus for June: Refuge or Rat’s Nest?: The Master Bedroom. You spend a third of your life there, so wouldn’t it be great if your bedroom were a place of sanctuary? We’ll talk about what needs to be in your inner sanctum and what doesn’t, and we’ll discuss how to craft a floor plan that fits your lifestyle.
[See the Program Notes for this meetup.]
As usual, we’ll also open the floor to your questions, success stories, and tales of trouble spots. And don’t forget the drawing for a door prize or two! (You must be present to win.)
Please note our new location this month:
Henshaw House (Nature Discovery Center)
Russ Pitman Park
7112 Newcastle St.
Bellaire, TX 77401
713-667-6550
…[Read more]
Shopping faster than you manage what you already own is a formula for a cluttered home.
Americans love to shop—it’s practically the national pastime! We’re bargain-hunting, credit-card-maxing, no‑holds-barred shoppers. The thrill of the hunt and the joy of instant gratification make our economy run. But one of the threats of our consumer culture is that it’s created a huge problem of clutter in our homes. The more we buy, the more we have to maintain, clean, store, and retrieve. If you’re a typical American, you shop faster than you can manage what you already own, and that’s a formula for a cluttered home.
Clutter issues cover a broad spectrum, from a few stacks here and there to conditions so bad that you can’t walk through the house. As a professional organizer, the first part of my job is to figure out where you are on the spectrum. Can you handle the piles yourself, or do you need my help? Here are some of the clues I look for …[Read more]
Southern Shred provides secure drop-off bins at locations throughout the Greater Houston area.
The Clutter Fairy gets lots of questions about shredding. Where can I get it done? How much does it cost? Do I know of a free shred day? It used to be that the only people who cared about shredding documents were large law firms. Now everyone wants to destroy sensitive paperwork as protection against identity theft—a new security threat that comes with living in the Information Age. A shredding industry has grown up to handle the needs of big businesses, but how are ordinary consumers and small businesses supposed to tackle a big paper pile problem?
NAPO Houston (of which The Clutter Fairy is a member) has a corporate partner in the shredding business: Southern Shred. Like other shredding companies, Southern Shred offers pickup or on‑site destruction of secure documents either on a regular schedule or as a one-time service. But Southern Shred also looks out for customers who don’t need that level of service …[Read more]
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
7:15–9:00 p.m.
 Gayle Goddard, professional organizer, will be the guest speaker at the May monthly meeting of the Bellaire Area Mothers of Multiples. The topic of the presentation will be “Creatively Coping with Kid‑clutter Chaos.” Gayle will offer ideas for stemming the rising tide of children’s stuff and organizing your home with kid-friendly solutions. There will also be a Q&A session.
Crosspoint Church in the Loft
4601 Bellaire Blvd.
Bellaire, Texas 77401
…[Read more]
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Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, offers one-on-one organizing, workshops, and ongoing support to help clients conquer clutter and focus on what they really want. [MORE]
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