The Clutter Fairy Weekly #140
AUA: Walk-in Closets, A Place for Everything, Downsizing as We Age
We asked viewers and listeners to “Ask Us Anything” (AUA) for an episode dedicated entirely to satisfying your clutter curiosity!
In this episode:
- Walk-in closets—is floor storage off limits?
- “A place for everything and everything in its place”—but where is that?
- Employing a housekeeper or maid in an extreme-clutter situation
- Downsizing as we age—tips you can use to get started right now
In episode #140 of The Clutter Fairy Weekly, Gayle Goddard, professional organizer and owner of The Clutter Fairy in Houston, Texas, answers audience questions and discusses short topics on a variety of organizing and decluttering issues.
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The Weekly Tittle is an exercise designed to focus your attention on a specific space, aspect, or challenge of decluttering and organizing your home. We assign a new tittle in each webcast/podcast, then check on your progress the following week.
Start Peeling the Onion
Viewer Ellen in Michigan reminded us about the idea of working on a decluttering project as if you’re peeling an onion. Ellen credits this metaphor to the Minimal Mom, and we’ve seen versions of it elsewhere as well. Here’s how you go about “peeling the onion.”
For an organizing project that you’re finding too big or overwhelming to get started, choose the first layer of the onion to peel. In other words, identify one subtask or small part of the problem to address as your first priority. For example:
- If the space or pile contains conspicuous trash, broken items, or recycling, remove that material without stopping to make any decisions about what’s left.
- If there’s no trash or recycling, make a quick pass just to remove anything that doesn’t belong in the space in which you’re working.
- If there’s nothing out of place, look for anything old or outdated that you’re ready to set free, such as back issues of magazines, movies you no longer watch, or old electronics.
- If there’s nothing out-of-date in the space, scan for any obvious items that could be removed for donation.
For the full discussion of this week’s tittle, watch the Weekly Tittle segment on YouTube.
We have started peeling the onion. For my husband and I, one of the onions is clothes. So the first subtask is the sock drawers. It might sound trivial but socks have been coming in at a far greater speed than going out. I have worked on mine for an hour and filled one big plastic bag with socks and still haven’t gone through all of my socks. Tomorrow it’s my husband’s turn. I should perhaps add that we use a lot of hiking socks so we probably have more categories. Still, it feels ridiculous. Thanks for the lovely weekly webcasts!
Anna and Anders in Sweden
Love Purple onions n bought the biggest one I could find to place in my eyeline as I started my first peel…In the carport = Just opening all the boxes, not thinking just doing the layers; finished cutting up ALL of the residual plastic medical supplies then put in the recycling bin n took to the curb again…did not stop there! Continued to 2nd and 3rd onion layers = all excess building materials in a pile then (just threw a coat over my PJ’s) I immediately took to our Local Habitat and donated. I now have a clear concrete slab in my carport. Ye hoo! Thank you all. Such a feeling of gratitude here.