by Len Lear

Here in the United States of Consumerism, most people at all income levels have tons of “stuff” in every drawer, every closet, every cabinet, every attic and basement, not to mention piles of newspapers, magazines, photos, personal letters, documents, receipts, etc., and we keep buying more and more stuff, mostly on sale, until our places of residence are probably fire hazards.

When we are finally drowning in a sea of “stuff” and realize we actually have to throw some of it out (“declutter”), what to throw out first? We all know that if we throw out a newspaper or magazine from years ago, two days later we will need information in that article we threw out. And how can you possibly part with that multi-colored sweater that Aunt Shirley gave you for your birthday 15 years ago?

This is where Janet Bernstein comes in. Janet, 52, of Glenside, is the owner of The Organizing Professionals, a professional organizing company. Janet has run this business for more than 10 years and has residential and business clients in Chestnut Hill, Center City and on the Main Line.

While working in an office at a school in New York more than a decade ago, Janet was asked to organize an attic in the school which had tons of junk.

“It took a couple months at three hours a week,” Janet recalled. “As it turns out, I had a gift for being organized, and I also like helping people, so it gave me an idea to turn it into a business.

“I specialize in helping people with ADD. I work with their brain chemistry to get things organized. When we lived in New York, I started it as a side business. At my kids’ school there was a silent auction, and I offered to organize someone's home. A Park Avenue socialite with ADD paid a couple hundred dollars and won. I started in her home office, instituting a filing cabinet system. Then she moved to another residence on Park Avenue, and I organized that one also. I worked with her for four years, even after moving to Philly. She recommended me to other people, and it took off from there.”

Bernstein was born and raised in Yorkshire, England, until the age of 21. Then she spent one year on a kibbutz in Galilee, Israel, where she met her first husband, a New York native. They moved to Maryland, where Janet studied French and German. Much later, at age 43, she graduated Magna Cum Laude in English from the University of Pennsylvania. As an adult, Janet has lived in five countries on three continents and speaks English, Russian and French.

From 1994 to 2003, Janet lived in Russia — four years in Moscow and five years in Kazakhstan in central Asia — where her ex-husband ran a humanitarian nonprofit organization.

“I did not like Moscow,” she said. “Life was very hard there. The sun does not come out for months. The capital of Kazakhstan, on the other hand, was beautiful, and the climate was much better. People were friendly and welcoming. A nice place to live. It was an easier way of living than back here.”

Janet and her ex-husband returned to the U.S. in 2004, mostly for their daughters — Eliya, now 24, a law student in D.C., and Ariana, now 21, a student at Drexel. (A third child died.)

“When I came back to the U.S., I was shocked at how much clothes everyone had and so much other stuff. A lot of the stuff at the annual St. Paul's rummage sale, for example, comes from my clients’ decluttering.”

Janet had fewer than 20 clients in New York, but mushroomed after moving to this area in 2007 and starting her website in 2008.

“I've heard every excuse for not getting rid of stuff that has been sitting for years in an attic or basement. ‘Maybe I'll need it someday.’ I tell them that if it will not affect someone else, get ruthless with yourself.”

Last year, Janet was married to a man in the world of finance. She moved from Newtown Square to Glenside three-and-a-half years ago.

“We are very centrally located. Chestnut Hill reminds me of England.”

Janet’s firm won “Best of Philly” awards twice, the only two times Philadelphia Magazine ever had professional organizing as a category. “This is one of the few professions where you leave at the end of the day with a check and a hug,” said Janet. (Which one is bigger, the check or the hug?)

Janet has a team of 10 de-clutterers. Some are independent contractors, and all are part-time. Some jobs just take a few hours, but some may take several days, weeks or months. They will orchestrate an entire move, even to another city. They do “senior move management” or a move from a big house to a retirement home.

“One couple in their 80s lived in a house on the Main Line for 50 years. She told me the only thing she ever threw out were her kids, and she was not kidding. We moved them into a retirement home. It took two years and was very gratifying. We look inside every cardboard box. We found stock certificates worth thousands of dollars. It is common to find cash in these boxes. That's the fun part.

“We also organize people’s photos, scanning them into the computer. We download CD collections, anything that needs organizing. I’ve even traveled to Atlanta and Boulder, Colorado, to organize, and they paid all expenses. We can move you into a new place, and everything in the new house will look perfect, like a home in Architectural Digest. We organize everything, unlike a moving company that just throws stuff in boxes.”

A typical customer comment comes from Elizabeth S. of Audubon, Pennsylvania: “We had a great experience with Jill. Our master closet is now the cleanest room in the house! My husband was inspired to de-clutter our kids’ toy room as well. It was great.”

Bernstein’s firm charges by the hour. More details at theorganizingprofessionals.com