Clutter patrol Clutter patrol (August 19, 2005)

Professional organizers can make sense of the mess

By Mari Sapina-Kerkhove

A closet spilling over with clothes, a garage that houses everything from Grandma's old curtains to the kids' first tricycle, or that seemingly insurmountable pile of paperwork on the office desk is often enough to hurl most people into queasy procrastination mode.

But there are a few individuals who at the sight of yet-to-be tackled chaos experience a sensation similar to a jolt of caffeine.

"It invigorates me," says Mountain View resident Sherry Udstuen. "I love walking into a place that needs help."

Udstuen turned her enthusiasm for putting things in order into a full-time job 10 years ago when she established her business, Consider It Done.
No formal certification

While public awareness about professional organizing has -- thanks to Oprah and various TV reality shows -- increased in recent years, the idea of making a living out of de-cluttering someone's home once seemed ludicrous.

"Eight years ago if I had said 'I'm a professional organizer,' people would have either said, 'What?' or they would have thought that I'm some kind of union organizer," says Karen Grossman, who for the past decade has run her own Mountain View business, KLG Consulting, specializing in this new niche.

Formerly a special education teacher looking for a career change, Grossman remembers her own astonishment and delight upon learning that there were people who organized for a living. She broke into the field after attending a meeting hosted by the National Organization of Professional Organizers (founded in 1985). There, Grossman connected with two local professionals who took her on for an apprenticeship.

Los Altos organizer Kari Peterson launched her career the same way -- through an apprenticeship. There is still no formal degree or certification program for organizers, Peterson says, which can make it hard for clients to choose a service.

Peterson, who now runs her own business, Peterson Organizing, with eight people on staff, relies mostly on referrals. Her services focus on residential homes and include everything from helping clients organize a closet or work space to planning a move.

"I definitely do hands-on work," she says, adding that depending on clients' needs the field of professional organizing can be very broad. Sometimes it's strictly a matter of de-cluttering someone's home, other times an organizer finds herself in the role of a coach.

Pricing for an organizer's services can vary widely, depending on the organizer and type of service. Peterson charges $99 per hour for her or a member of her staff. Grossman charges $60 an hour for organizing services and $240 a month for "personal coaching" -- helping people learn how to be more organized in their day-to-day lives.
'A big fan'

Kathy Abelson, a Mountain View resident and client of Grossman's for six years, says the organizer has been a role model who taught her how to efficiently deal with her bills and stacks of mail.

"I'm a big fan of professional organizing," Abelson says. "If I have a mess, I just can't see through how I would fix it."

What she get from Grossman, she says, is an approach to tackling the problem. But working with a professional organizer has also helped Abelson, who suffers from a mood disorder, on an emotional level.

"There are so many things that I'm too tired to do," she says. "When Karen comes and helps me with it, I just feel enormously uplifted."

Because clutter and disorganization can often contribute to emotional stress, Peterson says, therapists sometimes refer their clients to her. And after her mother, Kristi, had a bone marrow transplant, the younger Peterson and her crew took to de-cluttering her mother's home to create a more serene atmosphere. It made a big difference in her quality of life, Kristi Peterson says.

"I used to wake up and feel pretty overwhelmed," she says. "Just looking at everything, it was kind of a heavy feeling. It was totally out of control, now it feels manageable."
Working with the client

Whether it's helping out someone with a busy lifestyle or guiding a client through emotional issues, most professional organizers agree that being successful in their line of work requires more than just a knack for neatness. It's people skills that count.

"Anyone can pick up a book and learn about the rudiments of organizing," Grossman says. "One of the key things is how the organizer and client interface. It really is very intimate."

Many clients feel self-conscious about the perceived chaos in their home, Peterson says, and professional organizers first and foremost need to be non-judgmental and respectful of individuality. Her job is not a matter of coming into someone's home and taking over, she says.

"The clients have to be part of the process," Peterson says. "If I just set it up my way, I'm imposing something on them."

Being sensitive to a client's feelings is especially important when it comes to sorting through and disposing of things that could be of emotional value, Udstuen says.

"I'm really careful not to encourage people of getting rid of something they'll regret," she says.

But when done properly and respectfully, purging is a significant first step to getting organized, Peterson says. Besides reducing the clutter load, it gives clients a good overview of what storage items they need. The most common mistake, she says, is for people to get carried away with buying organizational gadgets before approaching a project.

"Organizing supplies are not the answer," she says. "They're only adding to the clutter at that point."

Once an area has been sorted through, professional organizers say it's good to come up with a system.

Peterson, for example, swears by filing all paperwork and labeling it clearly. Her rule of thumb, she says, is to sort things in such a way that someone unfamiliar with the home could find his way around.

Udstuen often advises large families to set up in-boxes for the mail, so that each family member can avoid pile-up. She also recommends controlling family clutter by setting up children's rooms in a way that each toy has its place, and she suggests sorting through old toys and books regularly.

As for keeping up the cleanliness, Peterson acknowledges that busy lifestyles can make it hard to stay organized and keep everything in its place. One way to deal with clutter, she says, is to establish a "top of the desk" drawer for all things that can't be handled right away. Having clutter in one place rather than all across the house, she says, makes people feel less overwhelmed.

And what if staying organized simply doesn't work? Some clients benefit from regular follow-up visits, Udstuen says, and she's happy to help taking a load off their busy lives. In some cases, too, the close relationship with clients has grown into friendships -- complete with Christmas cards and invitations to family celebrations -- over the years.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.