Whenever The Clutter Fairy speaks to a group, she answers anxious questions about managing paper. Paper clutter is a universal First World problem—we all accumulate too much of it and face the challenge of figuring out what we really need to keep.
There’s nothing like the pressure of moving to help you throw away things you don’t need! Whether you purge by choice or because you’re too exhausted to keep packing, the demands of a move are guaranteed to reduce your pile of possessions. But even if you won’t be moving any time soon, you can still use moving strategies to help you let go of excess in your life.
People with clutter issues often report feeling overwhelmed—they know where they’d like to end up, but they can’t see a way to get there. The March 2014 meeting of Houston Clutter Coaching Meetup Group will examine the thoughts and behaviors that underlie overwhelm. We’ll suggest some better ways to think about clutter problems, and we’ll send you home with a few practical pointers to get unstuck and stay in motion on your organizing goals.
In celebration of the 50th meeting of the Houston Clutter Coaching Meetup, we offer 50 action items to kick off your organizing plan.
At the December meeting of the Houston Clutter Coaching Meetup, Gayle Goddard talked about planning your first organizing project of the new year: supplies, timelines, support services to transform a 2013 problem area into a 2014 blissful space.
Sometimes we find ourselves in situations that require us to deal with a lot of stuff in a short time—an unexpected move, a serious illness, a death, a natural disaster. You can’t keep these crises from striking, but there are steps you can take now that will help you or your loved ones manage better when trouble arises. At the October 2013 meeting of the Houston Clutter Coaching Meetup, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy, talked about how to plan and prepare so you can minimize the impact of clutter emergencies.
Gayle Goddard was the guest speaker at the September 2012 meeting of the Spring Arts Guild, speaking on the topic “Organize Your Art Space for a Creative Explosion!” Gayle offered ideas for artists and crafts people who need help organizing their creative spaces.
Are you a bargain-hunter? Do you keep your eyes open for coupons, Groupons, rebates, and specials? Here’s some shocking news: a bargain is only a bargain if you need what you’re buying. Retailers use a warehouse full of tricks to get you to overspend and bring home more stuff than you have the space for.
At the August meeting of the Houston Clutter Coaching Meetup Group, we’ll talk about how to shift your thinking to become a more conscious shopper. We’ll arm you with tricks of your own to see through the marketers’ hype and resist the allure of the sale.
“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.
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.
