Donna Barwald, an LA-based professional organizer and educator with 20 years’ experience, shares how she has helped families, seniors and businesses organize, declutter, and downsize.
Donna explains how organizing helped her regulate her own ADHD, discusses supporting neurodivergent clients by creating systems that match how they use space (including entry “drop zones”), and describes how visual clutter increases stress and decision fatigue. She contrasts fight/flight/freeze responses to mess, describes body doubling, and connects decluttering to feng shui-style energy flow and a calmer home.
Donna addresses downsizing for current and future life needs—including preparing for assisted living or moving in with a child. She talks candidly about handling guilt, “might need it” objects, what to do with gifts, keepsakes and collections, and why hoarding is a separate mental illness.
She offers practical tactics like one-in/one-out, favorites-first packing, labeled storage, drawer-based organization, and planning moves by infrastructure and layout.
Note that the audio on Christi’s part is a little faded, but Donna’s audio is fine.
Contact Donna Barwald
Website: https://neatlyarranged.com
Email: DonnaBarwald@gmail.com
Contact Donna for a free consultation!
Donna’s Books
This Mess Is Making Me Stress
Improve Your Move: How to Downsize with Ease and Move On to Your Next Adventure
Timestamps
00:00 Donna Barwald Introduction
01:16 The Impulse to Organize
04:21 Donna’s Mission
04:56 Creating the Environment in Which to Succeed
05:39 Drop Zones
07:53 Growing Up in San Jose, California
10:20 Finding Peace by Creating Space
11:33 Fight, Flight or Freeze
14:32 Body-Doubling
16:29 The Value of Decluttering
18:58 With Clutter, People Feel Bad About Themselves
21:53 Keeping the Judgment at Bay
27:37 Downsizing
32:25 “But I might need it”
34:40 You Don’t Need a Presidential Library
35:42 Inner Peace Is More Important
35:54 Resistance, or 100 Pairs of Socks
37:05 Saving Things for the Future You…And Here You Are
37:40 Hoarders Are Not the Same as Collectors
40:11 Sticking with Your Favorites
41:11 Little Known Secrets of Downsizing
45:06 Crap Equilibrium
47:07 Dealing with Gifts – Wanted and Unwanted
49:04 Dealing with Keepsakes – Wanted and Unwanted
50:03 How to Handle Children’s Keepsakes from School
55:36 Garages: The Home of Old Dreams
56:47 Cut Your Losses
01:02:27 Organization Is 90% Infrastructure
01:04:54 Drawers Are Key
01:07:05 Get in Touch with Donna Barwald
CREDITS
Host and creator: Christi Cassidy
Contact: christi@movingalongpodcast.com
Artwork by Phyllis Busell
Music by Eve’s Blue.
Post-production help from Auphonic.com.
Show notes written with assistance from Descript and Claude.ai.
LINKS:
More information and to listen to past episodes: https://movingalongpodcast.com
Past episodes are here too: https://moving-along.simplecast.com/
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