The Clutter Fairy Weekly

Retirement brings significant disruptions to our lives, our homes, and the way we spend our time. Even if your retirement is decades away, it’s not too soon to start thinking about how you’ll prepare for life after you leave the working world. In episode #323 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, explores the implicatio...

The transition from each season to the next can increase the clutter in our homes as we shift our wardrobes, our habits, and our lifestyles. But each of these inflection points is a fresh opportunity to evaluate our stuff, eliminate what we no longer need, and reset our spaces. In episode #322 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Hous...

A viewer asked, “What’s a category of stuff that almost everyone keeps for too long because they overestimate the likelihood they’ll need it someday?” In episode #321 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, delves into some of the most problematic types of “just in case” clutter and explores other short topics suggested b...

Can we apply The Clutter Fairy’s “bigger-buckets” approach to paper organizing to other categories of clutter? Is there a template that older declutterers can follow to guide our focus as we work to manage the stuff we’ll leave behind? In episode #320 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, explores “bigger buckets” organ...

It’s obvious to many declutterers that our messy environment adds to the stress we experience. But recent advances in neuroscience and psychology have led to a more detailed understanding of how a cluttered space can produce the phenomenon of “clutter brain.” In episode #319 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, explore...

Social spaces—the areas in our homes where we gather with family and friends—are frustratingly susceptible to clutter collection. High traffic, a central location, multiple functions, and the shared character of these spaces can make them hard to keep clear. In episode #318 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, continue...

Many people approach the task of organizing with our heads full of myths, urban legends, and flat-out lies we’ve collected from TV shows, mass-market books, well-meaning family members, and other people’s entrenched beliefs. In episode #317 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, uncovers the realities hiding behind commo...

The fight against paper clutter begins at the sources. We take in paper through the mail, our daily activities, and dozens of other sources, and if we don’t have a clear plan to deal with it, it can quickly pile up and get out of control. In episode #316 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, explores ways to bring the i...

More Clutter Fairy clients struggle with paper clutter than any other single category of stuff. Paper piles up at an overwhelming pace, and the passage of time seems to make paper decluttering even harder. In episode #315 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, explores the complexities of paper clutter and suggests strat...

How do we act on the things that logic tells us we need to do when our hearts are telling us no? And how important is it that we make peace with where our cast-off stuff is going? In episode #314 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, answers these and other viewer and listener questions and discusses short topics sugges...

When it’s time to downsize, what sort of decluttering mindset produces the least stress and the greatest sense of freedom? And what are some of the best excuses Gayle hears from her organizing clients? In episode #313 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, answers these and other viewer and listener questions and discuss...

When we say “collection,” we usually mean a deliberate accumulation of items in a specific category: postcards, stamps, dolls, and so on. But sometimes we end up with a collection completely by accident, such as 50 pairs of shoes we don’t wear, a cabinet full of coffee mugs, or enough gift-wrap to cover Manhattan. In episode #312 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer a...

Do you continue to enjoy shopping even though you’ve reached a place in your life where you need almost nothing? The dopamine rush from acquiring something new can keep us hooked on the hunt even as we labor to manage the stuff we already own. In episode #311 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, explores why many of us...

If we’re not careful, other people’s gifts and cast-off belongings can easily become our problem. Friends, family members, and housemates may carelessly, unwittingly, or even aggressively sabotage our efforts to reduce clutter and organize our homes. In episode #310 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, explores how set...

A wise woman said, “You need to declutter your expectations of yourself.” This suggestion felt like advice we should share with The Clutter Fairy audience! In episode #309 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, explores how real-world experiences confound our expectations for decluttering and organizing projects—and how...

Summer is here, and the living is supposed to be easy, right? But clutter can interfere with our ability to enjoy the extra daylight and leisure time that summer offers. In episode #308 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, offers tips for clearing summer-related clutter to make space for fun in the sun, the water, or y...

Are you having trouble deciding where or how to begin your decluttering and organizing work? Or maybe you’re struggling through a big project, and you’d like to score an easy win. The Clutter Fairy has a few ideas! In episode #307 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, suggests 50 items or areas of focus where you can st...

Decluttering is more than just emptying closets and throwing things away. Mindfully clearing clutter and organizing our possessions can be a valuable form of self-care that creates space for peace and growth in our lives. In episode #306 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, explores how mindful decluttering and organiz...

A viewer asked, “What’s the best way to declutter large areas like attics and basements?” A vast, cluttered space can shut us down before we even get started, but there are simple strategies you can implement to tame the beast! In episode #305 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, outlines a flexible plan for declutteri...

Do you have a guest room that’s also your home office, the gift-wrapping room, and the craft room? Or maybe you live in a studio where the challenge is to carry out all your activities in one space. In episode #304 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, continues our room-by-room decluttering series by exploring multi-fu...

Sometimes we lose interest in things we used to appreciate—or we no longer have the time, energy, or physical capacity to pursue and enjoy them. After the thrill is gone, what was once essential gear can become nagging, guilt-ridden clutter. In episode #303 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, explores how to assess ch...

What belongs in the kitchen? It seems like an easy question to answer, but lots of stuff ends up there by default or because the kitchen just happens to be on the way to everywhere else. In episode #302 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, examines kitchen contents from a fresh angle and suggests strategies to streamli...

Cluttered spaces diminish our productivity by adding distractions, draining energy and focus, and wasting our most valuable resource—time. Organizing can help us find the clarity and confidence to accomplish important work and boost our mental wellbeing in the process. In episode #301 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texa...

An audience member asked, “Should you declutter when you’re angry?” Decluttering can be challenging work even when you’re in a great mood, so it’s important to consider the effects of strong emotions on your organizing process. In episode #300 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, answers viewer and listener questions a...

An audience member asked, “Is there a ‘Which came first, the chicken or the egg?’ way of thinking about decluttering?” We started pondering the conundrums we face as we work to organize—such as whether more storage ever really solves the problem of too much stuff. In episode #299 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, ex...