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Clutter busters: from closets to cabinets to garages, Americans' clutter is piling up like never before. Find out how you can clean up in this growing industry.

Article Excerpt
The organization industry, it seems, is more relevant today than ever before. Just take a look around: Closets are bursting with stored clothes. Offices are overflowing in rivers of paper. Living rooms and kitchens everywhere have been swallowed up by clutter.

In fact, the demand for managing the piles of Stuff people accumulate in their daily lives is growing--and businesses have sprouted to meet every possible need. Some entrepreneurs become professional organizers; others manufacture organizing products.

According to Barry Izsak, president of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) board of directors, membership has doubled over the past two years--of both professional organizer members and associate members (like organization product manufacturers). "Public awareness is increasing," says Izsak. "We're becoming more visible."

Certainly, the glut of home-improvement and home-makeover shows has helped raise the industry's profile. Shows like Bravo's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and TLC's Clean Sweep dedicate hours each week to improving people's living spaces and eliminating clutter. Organization is 'all the rage, and we've found a range of entrepreneurs getting in on the action--one entrepreneur sells organization and space-saving supplies at his chain of stores; another shares her professional organizing expertise with her big-city clients. We even found one company launched by entrepreneurs who designed a whole document-organizing system. So rest your feet on that pile of magazines on your coffee table, and settle in it's time for some serious organizing lessons.

Contain the Excitement

With a retail background under his belt, Abner Wright III decided to parlay his interest in organizing into a serious business in 1991. Says Wright, 46, "Everyone likes to get organized. Some are always organized; some get organized every few minutes, some once a week or once a year." Because he felt that organization was an ongoing straggle for people, Wright saw an opportunity to offer products that would help consumers get their things in order.

He researched the product offerings in his area and realized that, although some people sold a few basic organization and storage pieces here...