Upcoming Events

The magic touch!
Schedule an appointment now!

Storage Units: The Exorbitant Cost of Holding On

At the February meeting of NAPO Houston, we watched a documentary called Store. It’s about self-storage units and how people use them. The filmmakers interviewed dozens of renters about their stuff and why they pay to keep it in storage. The interviewees offered all the common reasons: they moved to a smaller house, inherited stuff from a parent, or just accumulated too much to keep at home. But there were some less common reasons, too.

Storage units
Your rental payments, like the storage units that clutter our landscape, go on and on forever.

One retired man had been collecting items from garage and estate sales, and he believed that his children’s inheritance was somewhere in his “collection.” Some day they would open his unit, pull out the junk, and find the treasures they’d inherited. Burglars had broken into the unit once, only to walk away empty-handed because the unit was too stuffed full of junk to bother robbing.

Another interview subject, a divorced mother, was storing a huge collection of stuffed animals. She said that she couldn’t throw away “anything with eyes.” …[Read more]

Houston Clutter Coaching November 2009 Meetup

Monday, November 16, 2009
6:30–8:00 p.m.

Gayle Goddard facilitates the monthly meeting of the Houston Clutter Coaching Meetup Group. The topic for November’s meetup will be “Gift-buying Advice.” Ensure that the gifts you buy this holiday season don’t end up stuffed in the recipient’s closet. Gayle will offer some clutter-free gift giving advice.It's not the size of the gift that matters.

Freed-Montrose Library
4100 Montrose Blvd.

Houston, TX 77006
832-393-1800
…[Read more]

Houston Clutter Coaching October 2009 Meetup

Thursday, October 22, 2009
6:30–8:00 p.m.

Gayle Goddard facilitates the monthly meeting of the Houston Clutter Coaching Meetup Group. We start each meeting with a short presentation on a specific organizing-related topic. Then we open the floor to your questions, comments, stories, and suggestions.

The topic for October’s meetup will be “Getting It Gone.” We’ll talk about how to get stuff out of the house once you’ve made up your mind to let go of it. A successful organizing project has to include disposing of the stuff that’s going away, or it turns into just another form of clutter. We’ll talk about where, when, and how to make stuff go away.

We’ll also have a drawing for door prizes! (You must be present to win.)

IMPORTANT NOTE: For October only, we’ve had to schedule the meetup at a different location and move the time earlier by half an hour to accommodate the library’s hours.

Freed-Montrose Library
4100 Montrose Blvd.

Houston, TX 77006
832-393-1800
…[Read more]

Houston Clutter Coaching September 2009 Meetup

Thursday, September 24, 2009
7:00–8:30 p.m.

We start each meeting with a short presentation on a specific organizing-related topic. Then we open the floor to your questions, comments, stories, and suggestions.

The topic for September’s meetup will be the difficult decisions that hang you up in the sorting process. Come prepared to share a story about one thing you’re struggling to let go of.

Note: You may view the program notes from this meeting, Stop Keeping Stuff for the Wrong Reasons.

We’ll also have a drawing for a door prize! (You must be present to win.)

Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research
(Carriage House)
5300 Caroline

Houston, TX 77030
832-393-2600
…[Read more]

Houston Clutter Coaching August 2009 Meetup

Thursday, August 27, 2009
7:00–8:30 p.m.

Gayle Goddard facilitates the monthly meeting of the Houston Clutter Coaching Meetup Group. We start each meeting with a short presentation on a specific organizing-related topic. Then we open the floor to your questions, comments, stories, and suggestions.

We’ll also have a drawing for a door prize! (You must be present to win.)

Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research
(Carriage House)
5300 Caroline

Houston, TX 77030
832-393-2600
…[Read more]