Professional organizers help fight 'battle of the bulging files'

Whenever Fibber McGee opened the door of his famously cluttered closet, an avalanche of junk spilled out, bringing laughter to listeners of his 1950s radio show.

Today millions of closets resemble Fibber's, but nobody is laughing anymore. As Americans struggle with an overload of possessions at home and at work, they are turning, often in desperation, to a growing army of personal organizers to help them deal with stacks of papers, racks of clothes, and jumbles of toys, tools, and books.

"The industry is exploding," says Barry Izsak, president of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO). Membership nearly doubled between 2003 and 2005, from 2,000 to 3,700. With businesses bearing names such as Absolutely Organized, Keep it Simple, Chaos to Calm, and All Sorted Out, members - 95 percent of whom are women - offer hope that an ordered life is attainable.

In the process, their services are becoming fashionable. "In the past, people hid their disorganization," says Betsy Wintringer, a spokeswoman for the group. "Now it's trendy to have an organizer."

The profession has come a long way since the day in 1979 when Barbara Hemphill asked the Small Business Administration in Washington for help in starting her own organizing business. "They just laughed me out of the room and said, 'No way, lady, that's not a business.' "

Ms. Hemphill, author of "Taming the Paper Tiger," was among nearly 900 professional organizers who gathered in Boston last week for NAPO's annual conference to hone business skills, share techniques, and check out the latest organizing products. These range from a Baby Briefcase for storing a newborn's papers to storage bins, family life organizers, gift- wrap organizers, and plastic containers for board games. "Systems" and "solutions" are the operative words.

Professional organizers cite a variety of reasons for the proliferation of clutter and disorder. "The paperless office is a myth," Mr. Izsak says. In addition, consumers are bombarded with messages from marketers to shop, shop, shop. "People are running out and buying all this stuff without thinking where they're going to store it or how they're going to use it. It all adds to the existing clutter - the pasta machine, the breadmaker, the cappuccino maker."

In the past, Izsak notes, "People didn't have the money to buy 50 business suits, 27 pairs of black pants or jeans, 112 pairs of shoes. They didn't need a place to store it all."

Then there is the matter of time. A majority of women are working. "If they don't get much help from their families, they're overwhelmed," says Elizabeth Hagen, author of "Organize Your Life and Make Every Moment Count."

Both at home and at work, paper ranks as the No. 1 challenge. "People don't know what to do with paper," says Mrs. Hagen. "They don't have a clue."

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