Starting her career after college as a physical education teacher and athletic coach at a Eugene high school, Carol Keller has fine-tuned her aptitude for maximum use of physical space - and organized results.

Keller stopped teaching and coaching after she and her husband started a family. Then she owned a sporting goods store in Lake Oswego for a few years, but it wasn't until six years ago when she spent an afternoon reorganizing her mother's new, cluttered kitchen that she discovered a new line of work as a professional organizer.

"It was so inspiring because my mom was thrilled, and it was so much fun," Keller explained.

Keller is now an independent professional organizer and calls her business Organizing Experts. For six years she has been a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers and president of the association's state chapter for two years.

There are several firms and independent organizers on the Westside who belong to the association and have built a list of public, private and corporate clients. Keller said not only is the professional organizing job market growing, but so is the demand. She says it's because people are sometimes too busy or preoccupied to delve into a de-cluttering project in the home or business that can sometimes be overwhelming.

"We are hired to do the things where they don't know where to start," Keller said. "Ninety percent of the time, people get unorganized because of an event, or other health issues get in the way."

Keller charges $50-$125 an hour for her services and materials such as shelving, hooks and baskets she buys from Storables - a place she calls her "candy store." The fee does not include a free consultation that lets Keller learn about a client's lifestyle and use of the cluttered space. She then encourages clients to decide if there are items that can be given away.

"If they have the space, I am agreeable to what they can keep," she says. "Big homes with lots of storage don't solve the problem, because it can become a dumping ground."

Eileen Roden and her husband, Ronald, have lived in their Beaverton ranch-style home for more than 30 years and raised their two children there. A stay-at-home mom, Eileen's spacious, spotless living areas show that she is an organized person.

She and her husband are avid craft artists, and over the years, supplies and working areas in their one-car garage became a tight jungle of clutter, with the exception of a narrow path from the front to the back.

"He wanted it de-cluttered, and I couldn't come up with how to do it, so I decided to have somebody else do it," Roden said.

Keller started by assembling a tall set of shelves for recycling, shoes and gardening supplies to free up other shelves and buckets from the rest of the garage.

After deciding which items could be stored in the backyard shed, another set of shelves became a place for Roden's art supplies. Within two hours, items in Roden's garage were accessible in their new places, and the space was free to walk around in.

Keller said such changes impact more than the look and workability of a home or space:

"You can see a physical difference in people. It's rewarding when they stop and take a deep breath."

Keller can be reached at 503-504-6464 or through www.organizingexperts.com. Other local professional organizers can be found at the NAPO Web site, www.oregonnapo.com.
 

POLLY CAMPBELL

Kate Smyth was plagued by piles.

She had trouble finding what she needed amid the paperwork stacked around her home.

So last year, Smyth, 48, hired a professional organizer to help her clear the clutter and develop a more efficient system.

"I was more of a piler," said Smyth, who works from her Southwest Portland home for John C. Radovich Development. "Now, I'm more of a filer."

Last year, an estimated 80,000 people in the United States hired professional organizers to work on their home and offices, according to the National Association of Professional Organizers. Carol Keller, the organizer from Hillsboro who worked with Smyth, expects those numbers to grow this year.

The industry is fueled by people living hurried lives and with little time to manage material items, offices and households, Keller said. They are willing to pay $35 to $125 an hour for help.

The frantic pace of modern life bodes well for business.

Six years ago, when Keller started her company, Organizing Experts, the Portland chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers had only six members.

Today, the group has 41 members, said Keller, president of the local chapter. Statewide, she estimates about 70 people work as organizers. Membership in the national organization has nearly doubled in the past three years to almost 4,000 members.

Despite the emerging interest in the profession and the rising demand for organizers, the industry has a high turnover, Keller said.

Training programs are few. People who have the ability to organize may not have the business know-how.

So two years ago, Keller and Anne Blumer started the Organizing Academy, which offers intensive training to aspiring organizers several times a year. A three-day session runs about $1,500.

The academy joins another training program in Utah, online courses and classes offered by the national association. The national group plans to have a certification program in place by 2007.

For now, most people in the profession are those with a passion for organizing who learn as they go, Keller said.

Former fourth-grade teacher Tessa Williams-Simpson, 29, of Hillsboro was looking for a more flexible work schedule after the birth of her baby when she decided to pursue her passion -- restoring order from chaos. She did months of research about the industry and business, and embarked on an organizing career in October.

Williams-Simpson, like most organizers, first consults with clients, evaluates their needs and problems, then helps them organize materials and develop more efficient systems.

The end result is more than just a tidy space, Williams-Simpson said.

"A lot of people feel completely overwhelmed by the clutter, and they are just out of space and out of control. They hire me to help them get control again," she said.

It worked for Smyth. After 15 hours of work with the organizer, Smyth said her newly organized office is easier to work in, and has boosted her productivity and improved her mood.

"It just feels like I work better when I'm more organized," Smyth said.