Gayle Goddard will address the Seabrook United Methodist Church Women’s Group. The topic of her presentation will be “The Five Most Common Organizing Mistakes.”

Seabrook United Methodist Church
David and Mable White Senior Citizens Center
1102 Meyer Road
Seabrook, Texas 77586

Gayle Goddard, professional organizer, will be the guest speaker at the January monthly meeting of the Bay Area Mothers of Multiples. The presentation will address “Five Common Organizing Mistakes” and “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.

Medical Center Professional Building
450 Medical Center Blvd. #420
Webster, Texas 77598

Bay Area Mothers of Multiples (BAMOM) is a nonprofit organization for moms, guardians, and expectant moms of multiple-birth children. BAMOM’s goal is to provide the opportunity for social contact with others who share their interests and problems. BAMOM understands that the challenges of caring for multiples are different from those of a single birth.

BAMOM has been serving mothers in the Galveston Bay Area since 1977, including the communities of Alvin, Clear Lake, Dickinson, La Porte, Manvel, Webster, El Lago, Friendswood, Houston, League City, Pasadena, Pearland, Texas City, Santa Fe, and Seabrook. Meetings are held on the third Thursday of the month. Meetings are for moms only; after all, this is meant to be time away from the kids. Visit the BAMOM web site for more information.

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

The Bellaire Area Mothers of Multiples (BAMOM) club was founded in December 1992. The club is a member of the National Organization of Mothers of Twins Clubs, Inc. Its mission is to provide a support and social network for mothers and parents with twins and higher order multiples. The group has had more than 120 members in the last few years.

This meeting is free and open to prospective members.

BAMOM meets on the second Wednesday of every month. Check the calendar at the BAMOM web site for details.

Sunday, April 11, 2010
2:00–4:00 p.m.

Tried knitting, but hated it? Went to a sale at Michaels and lost your mind buying stuff? Do you wonder what on earth you’re going to do with all the craft supplies taking over your house?

All your unused craft supplies can find new life at a Supply Swap at Sew Crafty (in the Heights) on Sunday, April 11, 2010. Bring the stuff you’re ready to unload, then “shop” from everyone else’s discards. Leftovers will be donated to a local nonprofit called It’s Cool 2 Care, which provides neighborhood kids and teens with materials to make craft projects to benefit local charities like Friends for Life and Trees for Houston!

Location

Sew Crafty
321-B W. 19th St.
Houston TX 77008
713-863-1144

Gayle Goddard will speak to the monthly meeting of the Frostwood Women’s Group. This meeting is in a private home and not open to the general public.

Gayle Goddard, professional organizer, will be the guest speaker at the March monthly meeting of the Quilt Guild of Greater Houston. The topic of the presentation will be “Organizing Your Craft Area.”

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church
11612 Memorial Drive
Houston, Texas 77024

Quilt Guild of Greater Houston is a group of quilters and quilt lovers, almost 400 strong, who meet to share their love of this artform. You don’t need to be a quilter to join the guild. Anyone with a love of quilts is welcome to join.

This meeting is free and open to visitors. (Visitors may attend two meetings of the Quilt Guild for free before they are asked to become dues‑paying members.)

Morning meetings are held the third Friday of the month at 10 a.m. in the Amphitheater at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church.

LEOH SESSIONS
Adventures in Learning
for Senior Adults

Gayle Goddard will participate in the Spring Town Hall sessions of Life Enrichment of Houston (LEOH). The topic of her presentation will be “The Five Most Common Organizing Mistakes.”

Bethany United Methodist Church
3511 Linkwood Dr
Houston, TX 77025

LEOH programs are open to the public and free for first-time visitors. The Town Hall session will be followed by lunch, which is available for $3. No RSVP is required. Visit the LEOH web site to learn more.

LEOH is a nondenominational, nonpolitical, nonprofit organization where volunteers blend their ideas, energies, and talents to enrich their lives! LEOH meets at Bethany United Methodist Church and holds two eight-week sessions during the year. The spring session is from mid-March to mid-May, and the fall session is from mid-September to mid-November.

Gayle Goddard will speak to the monthly luncheon meeting of the Greenspoint Chapter of the American Business Women’s Association. Her topic will be “Extreme Clutter: Cautionary Tales from the Files of a Professional Organizer.”

The Greenspoint Club
16925 Northchase Drive
Houston TX 77060

Contact Treena Dockery by e‑mail or call 281-874-2146 to make a reservation.

RSVP by Friday, January 15
Members: $25
Guests: $30

ABWA’s mission is “to bring together business women of diverse occupations and to provide opportunities that will help them and others grow personally and professionally through leadership, education, networking support and national recognition.”

The Greenspoint Chapter meets the third Wednesday of each month at the Greenspoint Club.

Gayle Goddard will speak to the monthly dinner meeting of the Woodlands Chapter of the American Business Women’s Association.

La Trattoria Tuscano
4223 Research Forest Dr.
The Woodlands, Texas 77381
281-419-2252

Contact Susan Thompson by e‑mail or call 713-248-8933 to make a reservation.
Cost: $25 (includes dinner)

ABWA’s mission is “to bring together business women of diverse occupations and to provide opportunities that will help them and others grow personally and professionally through leadership, education, networking support and national recognition.”

The Woodlands Charter Chapter meets the second Monday of each month.

Gayle Goddard, professional organizer, will be a guest on the Wise Women Do Internet radio show. Don’t let clutter or disorganization make you pay too much in income taxes. Why leave money on the table at tax time? Gayle will provide information and tools to help you get organized for tax filing and beyond. Listen in live to win a free session with Gayle.

Find out more about the show.

From the Wise Women Do web site: “Wise Women Do things on purpose to help us to live a life of purpose, fulfillment and authenticity. We will discover how to create and maintain a life that works in spite of the challenges that come our way. This show provides great tools and information to empower us to create and live the life of our dreams. We will talk with experts in the areas of goals, finances, career, relationships, organization, health, and fitness. Put your seat belts on and settle in. This is not a a show for the weak at heart. Why not be the best you possible?”

Image: Michelle Meiklejohn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

“Green” is everywhere these days—in the news, in the workplace, and on store shelves. So wherever I speak to audiences in this environmentally conscious climate, I get a lot of questions about recycling. I started collecting the questions that have stumped me, and then I went online to look for answers.

I live in Houston, as do many of my clients, so I started with the City of Houston recycling web site. What I found there was chaotic, inconsistent, full of confusing acronyms and ambiguities, and spread across a mind-numbing array of pages. I despaired of ever tracking down all the answers I needed. But the Clutter Fairy makes her living bringing order out of chaos, so I dug into the project of making sense of it all. My staff and I deconstructed a huge mass of information and rearranged it in what we hope you’ll find a user-friendly guide to recycling in Houston.

View the recycling guide here.

A special note to our readers elsewhere in Greater Houston: the City of Houston, Abitibi Consolidated, and H-E-B have created a partnership to offer recycling at 22 H‑E‑B grocery stores in the outlying areas. See the list of accepted materials and a map of participating locations (PDF).

In a previous newsletter, we promised a “comprehensive guide,” but I’ve since realized that the City of Houston is only the tip of the iceberg of recycling efforts in our region. The good news: There are more ways than ever to keep things out of our landfills and to safeguard the environment. We couldn’t cover them all here, but this is a solid start, and we plan to add more resources in the future.

I encourage you to think of recycling as one part of a larger strategy for eliminating clutter from your life, managing the waste you generate, and “greening” your lifestyle and the planet:

• Reduce: First and foremost, you can save time, storage space, and money by planning your purchases carefully. Don’t buy more than you need or more than you can store. Remember, it’s not a bargain if you have nowhere to put it when you get home. If you shop as a form of recreation, look all you want, try things on, handle them in the store, but don’t buy them!
• Reuse: Before you recycle or dispose of something that still has usefulness, consider giving it to a friend, family member, posting it on the Houston Freecycle™ Network Yahoo Group, or selling it on Craig’s List. Don’t fall into the cluttered recycler’s trap of thinking, “If it’s still useful, I have to keep it.” No, you don’t! If you want to be organized, find a way for someone else to benefit from whatever usefulness remains.
• Recycle: More materials than ever before are being accepted for recycling, and the increase in volume, along with improvements in technology, should continue to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of recycling processes. Check out our guide below for methods and facilities to recycle a wide variety of common materials.
• As a last resort, dispose of waste in a safe and appropriate fashion.

Editor’s note: We here at The Clutter Fairy are not infallible. If you discover any factual errors or important omissions, or if you find information that’s been updated since we prepared the guide, please let us know so we can update our data.