GAITHERSBURG -- If you believe there can be nothing better than opening the door to Santa and a sleigh full of toys, try a surprise visit from a crew showing up to clear the clutter from your house.
When this happened to Irene Salazar two weeks before Christmas, it was not only an incredible surprise, but the answer to her prayers.
"This is a wonderful gift," Ms. Salazar said. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 10 years ago.
"You don't know how happy I am. This is freedom."
She directed a group of volunteers wearing "X-Mess Team" t-shirts. "I feel like a queen," she said. "This has been amazing. It's given me control of my life."
Teens and adults who work for a company called Clutterbusters carried one box of discards after another out of the house in Montgomery Village.
"I was very organized at one time," Ms. Salazar said. "I let things go because I didn't have the energy."
After conquering a sea of paper, Ms. Salazar realized she only needed to keep the essential items. "That was a hard lesson."
Clutterbusters helps clients organize and set up systems that can be maintained, according to Betsy Fein, president of the professional organization service she started in 2002.
She launched the service primarily with paper management.
"I thought it would get bigger and bigger, because everybody has clutter," Ms. Salazar said. "It's become the norm."
She likened the battle against clutter to losing weight. "Maintenance is the hard part. Sometimes we have to go back and do some tweaking."
Ms. Fein attributes the growth of her company to the fact that people are so busy, they don't have time to organize things at home.
"They want to do it, but they would rather have time to work."
She said it was hard for Ms. Salazar to maintain the basement of her townhouse because it was the dumping ground for her husband and two children. Clutter causes stress, and stress aggravates MS.
Some people are embarrassed to hire her and have the team see clutter. Still, Ms. Fein said the number of clients grows each year.
"We've seen everything," she said. "We have seen serious hoarding where houses are going to be condemned. It's beyond pack rats."
Her husband and business manager, Richard Fein, said many of their 15 to 20 employees also work in Frederick, Hagerstown and Baltimore. Their employees grew up organizing.
"You have to be creative," he said. "You have to be a good listener and you have to be empathetic because a lot of people have gone through trauma. You have to be persuasive to get them to throw things out."
Crew members take many of the things that are discarded to the Salvation Army.
Ms. Salazar is preparing to end a 32-year teaching career at Montgomery College.
At 54, she is planning to concentrate on her painting.
"Now I'm trying to go back to being artistic," she said. "I make jewelry, knit and sew. The Clutterbusters are the ones who assembled my work area."
