The Clutter Fairy Weekly

Dana K. White’s Decluttering at the Speed of Life is a real-world guide to making steady progress in decluttering your home. The book features a container-based approach to decision-making and a five-step process for reducing clutter in any area of the home. In episode #258 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, reviews...

Clutter can interfere with our relationships, and complex relationships can make it harder to face our clutter. Managing our own stuff while navigating other people’s attitudes about our stuff—and theirs—requires patience, compassion, and understanding on all sides. In episode #257 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas,...

Renovating a cluttered space is like trying to cook in a messy kitchen. You might be able to make it work, but you’ll spend more time, money, and effort to get the results you want. In episode #256 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, explores how clutter complicates home renovation and DIY projects and offers strategi...

Moving is a big hassle, but are there also good parts? How do we deal with regret over things that we've discarded? How can we make spaces in our homes that we tend to avoid more inviting? In episode #255 of T he Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, answers viewer and listener questions and discusses short topics suggest...

Decluttering can yield many psychological benefits, such as reduced stress and anxiety and a greater sense of calm. These gains can in turn make the work of decluttering and organizing more effective and rewarding. In episode #254 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, suggests ways to apply principles of positive psycho...

Contemporary home design has moved away from dining rooms in favor of open plans, great rooms, breakfast nooks, and other concepts. But some of us still live with formal dining rooms—or at least the furniture that went with them. In episode #253 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, explores the changing role of dining...

Working with a professional organizer can help you take the fast lane to functional, clutter-free spaces. But even if you can’t hire an organizer, you can handle your decluttering and organizing projects with a professional’s care, creativity, and attention to detail. In episode #252 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas...

Not all decluttering and organizing tasks are created equal. Some projects give us a fresh look at our cherished belongings; others are just plain chores. But they all need to get done. In episode #251 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, suggests ways to leverage your strengths and minimize negative feelings as you st...

Children’s artwork—how much is too much to keep? Can you help with more appealing decorative storage solutions? Do I have to worry about turning into my mother? In episode #250 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, offers guidance on how much kids’ artwork to keep and answers more questions from our viewers and listener...

We’ve talked a lot about the usual donation destinations—charity stores, creative-reuse centers, the curb, etc.—but what about unusual ideas for donation? We want to hear our audience’s favorite suggestions and share a few of our own. In episode #249 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, discusses unconventional places...

In Goodbye, Things , author Fumio Sasaki shares his personal story of becoming a minimalist. The book also offers lots of tips for saying goodbye to stuff and explores the results of Sasaki’s profound change in lifestyle. In episode #248 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, reviews Goodbye, Things and discusses the les...

It’s time once again to parse the particular problems that paper poses. We’ll examine the habits and beliefs that lead to heaps, folders, boxes, bags, bins, and drawers full of bills, receipts, records, recipes, clippings, statements, magazines, and more. In episode #247 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, discusses t...

Her co-host was out sick, so Gayle bravely wrangled the show all by herself with only her native wit and magic wand for support! In this special episode of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, answers audience questions about the nature of “need,” shopping, keepsakes, estate and auction sales, breaking down large project...

The desire to open our homes to family and friends is a fundamental human need. But clutter-impaired people often let shame, fear of judgment, and the physical condition of their homes stand in the way of the fun and fulfillment of entertaining. In episode #246 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, talks about what gues...

Do the people with whom you share your space complicate your decluttering process? Living companions with conflicting household habits and routines can sabotage our efforts to get organized. And sometimes even those who live alone aren’t free from outside interference with our stuff. In episode #245 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy i...

Big life changes can derail our productive routines, introduce new sources of clutter, and complicate the work of decluttering and organizing in frustrating and unexpected ways. In episode #244 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, explains how major events confound our efforts to organize and suggests strategies for ke...

Do Clutter Fairy clients experience “re-cluttering anxiety”? What do Gayle and Ed look for in thrift shops? How have our lives changed as a result of our own decluttering efforts? In episode #243 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, answers viewer and listener questions and discusses short topics suggested by our audie...

The mindset with which we approach organizing challenges can have a huge impact on the results we achieve. An unproductive or negative mindset can halt our progress when we’ve barely gotten into motion. In episode #242 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, examines the impact of mindset on decluttering and suggests stra...

In most homes, the kitchen is a hive of activity, but all that traffic can lead to confusion and disagreement about how it should be used and what belongs in this mission-critical space. In episode #241 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, slices and dices the problem of kitchen clutter and suggests recipes for streaml...

Getting organized is simple, but it’s not always easy. For your project to achieve its best results, you need a realistic plan and a clear, consistent process. In episode #240 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, reviews the basic process you can follow to succeed with any decluttering and organizing project. Show note...

How can we energize and inspire ourselves to make 2025 our best organizing and decluttering year yet? We asked our audience, then gathered our favorite responses. In special episode #239 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, shares our audience’s favorite inspirational sayings and affirmations—and where we find our moti...

Happy holidays from The Clutter Fairy family to you and yours! In special episode #238 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, expresses our holiday wish that you’ll set aside a moment for self-care during this season. We hope a peaceful pause will leave you in better health and spirits and more ready to enjoy time with...

We’re counting down the remaining days until the new year. This is a great time to celebrate the decluttering and organizing progress you’ve made in 2024 and to make plans for a successful 2025. In episode #237 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, explores how to choose, plan, and strategize your next big—or small—orga...

An audience member asked, “How many items in each category is healthy? Excessive but okay? Way too much?” To arrive at an answer, we need to consider the category, the context, and the limits of your space, money, time, and energy. In episode #236 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, contemplates the question “How many...

Is your home a monument to the past, a stockpile for future needs, or a place dedicated to living your best life right now? Finding balance among these roles can help clarify your toughest clutter challenges. In episode #235 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, examines how nostalgia for the past and plans for every po...