The Clutter Fairy Weekly

Well-chosen decor can express your personality and make your home feel warm, cozy, and inviting. But a lot can go wrong as you select objects, colors, textures, and materials to decorate your space. In episode #199 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, examines ways that decor can lead to clutter and suggests strategie...

How do we evaluate the stuff in our lives? What questions should we be asking about ourselves and our belongings as we decide what to keep and what to let go? In episode #198 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, explores the power of questions to unpack clutter issues and suggests queries that can get to the heart of...

Gamification is the practice of incorporating traditional elements of games—scorekeeping, rewards, social components, etc., to non-game contexts, such as decluttering and organizing. In episode #197 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, explores the pros and cons of gamifying your organizing process and suggests ways t...

Wherever you find yourself in your organizing journey as 2023 draws to a close, we plan to be here to encourage and support you this week, next week, and throughout the year. In episode #196 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, pledges to help and cheer on our community in making 2024 your best decluttering and organiz...

Happy holidays from The Clutter Fairy family to you and yours! In episode #195 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, thanks our clients, patrons, friends, family, viewers, and listeners for your generous support this year and wishes you a joyous and peaceful holiday season filled with all that your heart desires! The t...

Should your home be optimized to function smoothly, to look beautiful, or some combination of the two? Where are you willing to compromise, and what’s non-negotiable? In episode #194 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, discusses the priorities that inform our decluttering and organizing choices and suggests strategie...

Last week’s dip into our mailbag was so much fun that we’re going to do some more! We’ll discuss “decluttering clutter,” how to start clearing a jam-packed space, organizing plants and pets, and more. In episode #193 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, is back to answer more viewer and listener questions and discuss...

It’s been a while since we focused a complete episode on answering the questions you share with us in our surveys, live chat, email, social media, and web site. We’re always ready to listen, and we’re eager to tackle the tough questions and issues that are giving you fits. In episode #192 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston,...

The new year is a great time to “hit reset”: to refresh your priorities, revisit your goals, and reconsider your habits and behaviors. The more thought you put into your reset process, the more success you’re likely to achieve. In episode #191 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, discusses how to hit reset on organizi...

Our recent surveys included a question inviting our audience to offer your favorite “Clutter Fairy-ism,” decluttering and organizing aphorism, or helpful mnemonic device. We collected a lot of great answers, and next week we’re going to share your favorites. In episode #190 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, present...

People stash excess stuff in storage units, parents’ homes, second houses, backyard sheds, garages—anywhere that’s easy to ignore. But hideaways aren’t a practical solution to clutter issue because it wastes time, money, and effort to warehouse your deferred decisions. In episode #189 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Tex...

We’re kicking off the season of fun, food, shopping, celebration, and chaos that runs from Halloween into the new year. This year, why not make the holiday season exactly what you want it to be? In episode #188 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, offers ideas to streamline the season for yourself and your loved ones...

In response to a recent survey, an audience member asked, “How do you get your motor running? Is it okay to put the car in Park for a while? Are detours good or bad?” This prompt got us thinking about how much our decluttering process can be like a road trip. In episode #187 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, talks...

It’s October, so the season of giving—and of giving stuff away—is right around the corner. How do we decide to donate or gift something? And what does it mean when we choose to hold on to stuff instead? In episode #186 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, discusses ownership, gifting, donation, and how our judgments o...

There are many circumstances and relationships in which the responsibility for stuff becomes blurred—between parents and children, among roommates or housemates, between spouses or partners, in the handling of estates, and so on. In episode #185 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, discusses how to manage and share re...

As we work to reduce the clutter in our spaces, sometimes we find that our relationship to stuff seems hopelessly tangled up in our memories, beliefs, and feelings. In episode #184 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, scrutinizes sentimental clutter and offers tips for balancing emotional or sentimental attachment wit...

People who struggle with clutter sometimes get discouraged by how far away and out of reach our goals seem to be. We ask ourselves, “Will I ever finish?” In episode #183 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, ponders the question of whether we’re ever really finished decluttering and offers tips for setting organizing g...

The activities we do to relax, have fun, and express ourselves enrich our lives in countless ways, but they can also bury our living spaces in tools, materials, supplies, reading materials, and unfinished projects. In episode #182 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, examines the stuff that accumulates from hobbies, a...

Some categories of decluttering and organizing are harder than others. But if we focus on the sources of the difficulty, we gain fresh insight that will help us face our worst problem areas. In episode #181 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, explores more factors that make organizing projects and tasks difficult and...

Some categories of decluttering and organizing are harder than others…sometimes a lot harder. But if we focus on the sources of the difficulty, we may gain fresh insight that will help us face our worst problem areas. In episode #180 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, explores the factors that make the hardest organ...

Do you ever feel as if you’re shouting into the void about your clutter problems? Fear not! We’re always ready to listen, and we’re ready to tackle the tough questions and the topics that are giving you fits. In episode #179 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...

One obvious way to avoid a clutter problem—or to get control of the one you already have—is to stop accumulating stuff in the first place. By paying attention to our cluttering history and collecting habits, we can shift our behavior to hold back the flood tide of new clutter. In episode #178 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Hous...

The two statements we hear most from people who are struggling with clutter are “I don’t know where to start” and “I don’t know what to do next.” We’ve put together a list of fresh ideas for where to start or restart your decluttering efforts! In episode #177 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, offers a few simple cr...

Clutter jeopardizes our relaxation, comfort, productivity, and the pride and enjoyment we get from our homes. But it can also present real threats to the health and safety of our families and guests. In episode #176 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, uncovers the dangers lurking in our clutter and offers tips for op...

Do you find that decluttered spaces tend to collect even more clutter after  you organize than they had before? It can be challenging to shift your thinking and habits to maintain clear space. In episode #175 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly , Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, examines the ingrained behaviors of “clutter recidivists” and suggests st...