Upcoming Events

The magic touch!

Houston Clutter Coaching August Meetup

Thursday, August 26, 2010
7:00–8:30 p.m.

Gayle Goddard facilitates the August monthly meeting of the Houston Clutter Coaching Meetup Group: Deep Storage—Forgotten Is Not the Same as Gone.

Henshaw House (Nature Discovery Center)
Russ Pitman Park
7112 Newcastle St.
Bellaire, TX 77401
713-667-6550
…[Read more]

July’s Task: Organizing Strategies for the Bathroom

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]

June’s Task: Organize the Master Bedroom

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]

Houston Clutter Coaching June Meetup

Thursday, June 24, 2010
7:00–8:30 p.m.

Gayle Goddard facilitates the monthly meeting of the Houston Clutter Coaching Meetup Group.

Henshaw House (Nature Discovery Center)
Russ Pitman Park
7112 Newcastle St.
Bellaire, TX 77401
713-667-6550
…[Read more]

April’s Task: Tidy Up the Home Office


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.

  1. Collect the materials you’ll need to get started …[Read more]

Houston Clutter Coaching May 2010 Meetup

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.

Bedroom
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]

Houston Clutter Coaching April 2010 Meetup

Thursday, April 29, 2010
7:00–8:30 p.m.

Gayle Goddard facilitates the monthly meeting of the Houston Clutter Coaching Meetup Group.

At the April meetup, we’ll follow up on the project we introduced in March: “The Home Office: Productive Workspace or No Man’s Land?” Come tell the group about your progress and we’ll share hints about how to keep rolling.

Messy garage
The garage is also a place to park your car.

We’ll also introduce our focus for May: “The Garage Is Also a Place to Park Your Car.” We’re heading into prime garage sale season, so now is the time to move the junk out and the car in and give yourself a bonus of some vacation cash. We’ll talk about how garages become the storage space of last refuge and graveyard of deferred decisions—and what you can do to change that.

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.)

SPECIAL NOTE: Our April meeting will be on the FIFTH Thursday of April instead of our regularly scheduled fourth Thursday.

Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research
(Carriage House)
5300 Caroline
Houston, TX 77030
832-393-2600
…[Read more]

Houston Clutter Coaching March 2010 Meetup

Thursday, March 25, 2010
7:00–8:30 p.m.

Gayle Goddard facilitates the monthly meeting of the Houston Clutter Coaching Meetup Group.

At the March meetup we’ll follow up on the project we introduced in February: “Purging Paper Piles: Getting Yourself Ready for Tax Season.” Come tell the group about your progress and we’ll share hints about how to keep rolling.

Home office
The home office: productive workspace or no man’s land?

We’ll also introduce our focus for April: “The Home Office: Productive Workspace or No Man’s Land?” If you’ve made progress clearing paper piles, then cleaning up your home office is a great next step! We’ll talk about how to streamline your files, manage the desktop, maybe rethink your furniture placement. Or do you need to create a filing system from scratch? We’ll take a fearless look inside the home office.

[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.)

Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research
(Carriage House)
5300 Caroline
Houston, TX 77030
832-393-2600
…[Read more]

Houston Clutter Coaching February Meetup

Thursday, February 25, 2010
7:00–8:30 p.m.

Messy closetGayle Goddard facilitates the monthly meeting of the Houston Clutter Coaching Meetup Group. The topic for February’s meetup will be “Clearing Out the Closet: Unpacking the Problem of Clothing Storage.” The dead of winter is a perfect time to dig through your closets. Gayle will offer strategies to sort and thin your wardrobe and put things back in a more organized way.

Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research
(Carriage House—Note: If the Carriage House is still under repair, we’ll meet in the main house. Look for a sign on the door if the lights aren’t on in the Carriage House.)
5300 Caroline
Houston, TX 77030
832-393-2600
…[Read more]

Houston Clutter Coaching January 2010 Meetup

Thursday, January 28, 2010
7:00–8:30 p.m.

New Year’s GoalsGayle Goddard facilitates the monthly meeting of the Houston Clutter Coaching Meetup Group. The topic for January’s meetup will be “Getting Organized in the New Year: Rethinking Resolutions.” We’ll talk about New Year’s resolutions…and why they don’t always work. Gayle will offer suggestions about how to keep your organizing goals from collapsing before March. We’ll check in about what we accomplished (or didn’t) in 2009, and what’s next.

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

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