Americans Hire Strangers to Organize Closets They Just Filled

West African discovers professional organizing industry

When Too Much Stuff Requires Professional Help

CHICAGO, IL – Abena Osei watched her neighbor pay a professional organizer $300 to organize a closet the neighbor filled herself with clothes she bought herself that she could organize herself but won’t. The 28-year-old from Ghana experienced what she describes as “confusion layered on top of more confusion.” “You bought too many clothes, can’t organize them, so you’re paying someone to organize what you bought?” Osei asked her neighbor. “It’s overwhelming,” her neighbor explained. “I don’t know where to start.” Osei’s response: “Start by not buying more clothes. Then organize what you have. Why does this require a professional? Are your clothes dangerous? Do they attack when you try to fold them?”

In Kumasi, Osei’s family owned what fit in their closets. If closets were full, you stopped buying or got rid of things. Simple system, zero professional help required. In Chicago, people fill closets beyond capacity, then hire organizers to make the excess fit better while continuing to buy more. “You’re treating symptoms while ignoring causes,” Osei observed. “The problem isn’t organization—it’s overconsumption. You have too much stuff. The solution is having less stuff. Your solution is paying someone to arrange too much stuff more efficiently so you can fit even more stuff. This is insane.”

When Basic Life Skills Become Premium Services

According to the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals, professional organizing is a billion-dollar industry helping Americans organize homes they’ve filled with stuff they don’t need. Osei’s neighbor explained the organizer will “maximize closet space” and “create systems.” Osei’s translation: “She’ll fold your clothes and suggest you stop buying so many clothes. That’s $300 worth of folding and obvious advice. You could watch YouTube for free and get the same folding techniques. The advice—buy less stuff—your mother probably told you free for 20 years. But you’ll pay a stranger $300 to say it because strangers have authority that family lacks.”

Jim Gaffigan said, “I know I’m getting old when I’m excited about organizing my garage.” Osei knows Americans have too much stuff when they’re excited about paying strangers $300 to organize things they could organize themselves if they weren’t too busy buying more things that need organizing. Her neighbor’s closet organizer’s advice: “You should probably donate things you don’t wear.” Osei’s free advice that neighbor ignored for years: “You should probably donate things you don’t wear.” The difference is $300 and the organizer’s professional title that makes obvious advice sound expert.

The Color-Coded Closet That Stays Organized Two Weeks

The professional organizer spent four hours organizing Osei’s neighbor’s closet—color-coding, installing dividers, labeling shelves. Two weeks later, it was chaos again. “You paid $300 for two weeks of organization,” Osei calculated. “That’s $150 per organized week, $21.43 per organized day. Organization isn’t sustainable because you keep buying clothes. The organizer created a system. You didn’t follow the system. Now you want to hire her again. You’re not paying for organization—you’re paying for temporary illusion of control over possessions you can’t control because you won’t stop acquiring them.”

Dave Chappelle said, “Sometimes you have to protect yourself from yourself.” Americans need protection from professional organizers who profit from the cycle: organize stuff, client buys more stuff, stuff becomes disorganized, hire organizer again. “The organizer isn’t solving your problem,” Osei told her neighbor. “She’s profiting from your refusal to solve it. Your problem is buying too much. Her solution is organizing too much. Neither address the actual issue: you have more clothes than you need or wear. Until you stop acquiring, no amount of organizing will help. You’ll just pay organizers forever to rearrange excess.”

When Storage Solutions Enable More Buying

The organizer suggested storage solutions: bins ($200), shelving ($150), hanging organizers ($80). “You’re spending $430 on storage to house clothes you don’t wear so you can buy more clothes you won’t wear,” Osei marveled. “This is enabling. The organizer is enabling your overconsumption by making room for more. She should be telling you to stop buying. Instead, she’s selling you storage solutions that allow continued buying. She profits from your problem continuing. This is brilliant business and terrible advice.”

Chris Rock said, “You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy.” Osei knows America is crazy when people pay hundreds for storage solutions to store things they could donate to people who need them. Her neighbor’s closet contains: 15 pairs of jeans (wears 3 regularly), 40+ t-shirts (wears 10 regularly), 25 dresses (wears 5 regularly). “You’re storing clothes for a life you’re not living,” Osei observed. “You own clothes for fantasy versions of yourself—the person who wears fancy dresses, the person who needs 15 jean options. That person doesn’t exist. You’re real you, who wears the same 20 items repeatedly. Everything else is clutter you’re paying to store and organize. Donate it. Free up space. Stop paying professionals to arrange possessions you don’t use.”

The Organizer Who Returns Monthly for Maintenance

Osei discovered her neighbor hired the organizer for monthly maintenance visits at $250 per visit. “You’re paying $3,000 yearly for someone to reorganize your closet monthly,” Osei calculated. “That’s more than some people’s rent. You’re essentially renting an organizer to manage your inability to not buy clothes. For $3,000 yearly you could buy self-control, therapy, or admission that you have shopping problem not organization problem. But instead you pay someone to repeatedly organize the evidence of your shopping problem while continuing to shop.”

Bill Burr said, “I’m not going to apologize for being right.” Osei’s not apologizing for thinking monthly closet organizing is symptom of deeper issues. “You don’t need an organizer—you need to confront why you keep buying clothes you don’t wear,” she told her neighbor gently. “The organizing is band-aid. The wound is overconsumption driven by something—boredom, stress, habit, retail therapy. Until you address that, you’ll keep buying, keep disorganizing, keep paying organizers. The cycle continues until you decide to stop it. The organizer can’t stop it—she profits from it continuing. Only you can break the cycle by not buying.”

When Minimalism Became Aesthetic Not Practice

Osei’s neighbor loves minimalism Instagram accounts showing organized closets with few items. “So you know what you should do,” Osei said, “but you pay someone to help you not do it? You admire minimalism while practicing maximalism. You want the aesthetic—organized closet—without the practice—owning less. So you pay organizers to create minimalist-looking closets filled with maximum items. This is performance. You’re performing organization without being organized. The closet looks good for photos but doesn’t reflect actual minimalism because you own too much. You’ve confused looking organized with being organized.”

Amy Schumer said, “I’m not saying I’m lazy, I’m saying I’m energy efficient.” Americans aren’t organization efficient—they’re organization-obsessed while remaining disorganized. They watch organizing shows, follow organizing influencers, buy organizing books, hire organizing professionals—everything except actually organizing by owning less. “Organization isn’t about arranging more efficiently,” Osei explained. “It’s about having less to arrange. Every organizing guru says the same thing: declutter first, organize second. You skip step one and pay professionals for step two, wondering why it doesn’t work. It doesn’t work because you’re organizing too much stuff. The stuff is the problem. Organizing isn’t the solution—reducing is.”

The Organizing Books She Bought But Never Read

Osei discovered her neighbor owns five organizing books—The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, others—that she bought, never read, and need organizing themselves. “You bought books about organizing that you haven’t organized,” Osei marveled. “The books tell you to get rid of things that don’t bring joy. Yet you kept the books you don’t read. They don’t bring you joy—they bring you guilt. You know you should read them and follow their advice. You don’t. So they sit there, physical reminders of your intentions to organize that never materialize. You’ve clutter-ified self-help. Even your organizing resources need organizing.”

Kevin Hart said, “Everybody wants to be famous, but nobody wants to do the work.” Everybody wants organized homes, but nobody wants to do the work of getting rid of things. Americans would rather pay professionals to arrange excess than reduce excess themselves. “Getting organized is simple,” Osei told her neighbor while demonstrating. “Pick up item. Ask: Do I use this? Yes—keep it. No—donate it. Repeat until closet is organized. You don’t need a professional for this. You need honesty with yourself about what you actually use versus what you theoretically might use someday. Most of your closet is ‘someday clothes’—clothes for a someday that never comes. Get rid of someday. Keep today. Your closet will organize itself when you have reasonable amount of clothes.”

When Professional Organizing Became Status Symbol

Osei realized hiring organizers signals wealth and busyness—”I’m so successful and busy I need professionals to organize my things.” Her neighbor’s friends all have organizers. They compare organizers like they compare cars. “You’ve made organization competitive,” Osei observed. “You’re not hiring organizers because you need them—you’re hiring them because your friends have them. Organized closet equals successful life equals worth as human. You’ve commodified organization as status marker. Nobody admits their closet is mess because they buy too much. Instead, everyone hires organizers and pretends the problem is complexity not consumption. Your closets aren’t complex—they’re full. Difference matters.”

Trevor Noah said, “In Africa, we don’t have the luxury of paying strangers to organize possessions we don’t need.” Americans have that luxury, so they use it, creating an industry around organizing excess while never addressing why they have excess. Osei’s observation: “You’ve made professional organizing necessary by having too much. Then you normalized having too much by making organizing it professional service. Now everyone thinks disorganized closets require professionals because everyone has too much stuff. Nobody questions the too much part. You just organize the too much better and call it solution. Meanwhile, actual solution—own less—costs zero dollars and works permanently. But that requires changing behavior. Paying organizers doesn’t require changing. You can keep buying, keep hiring organizers, keep feeling organized temporarily, keep avoiding the fact that you have shopping problem disguised as organization problem.”

When asked if she’d ever hire a professional organizer, Osei laughed while folding her modest wardrobe that fits easily in her closet. “Never,” she said. “I’ll continue owning what I need and use, organizing it myself like humans have done forever. You people have created a problem—overconsumption—and hired professionals to manage symptoms while ignoring causes. Your closets aren’t disorganized because you lack organizing skills. They’re disorganized because you have too many clothes. The solution isn’t better organizing—it’s fewer clothes. But that requires admitting you’ve been buying too much, wasting money on things you don’t wear, and participating in consumption culture that’s bankrupting you while filling your closets with regret disguised as clothes. So you’ll keep buying, keep hiring organizers, keep paying $300 to rearrange evidence of your shopping problem, and keep wondering why you can’t stay organized. You can’t stay organized because you won’t stop buying. Fix that, and organizing becomes unnecessary. But fixing that is free and hard. Hiring organizers is expensive and easy. You’ve chosen expensive and easy. Enjoy your $3,000 yearly closet maintenance subscription. Back home, we call that ‘money that could’ve been saved, invested, or used for literally anything more valuable than paying strangers to fold shirts you bought but never wear.'”

SOURCE: Bohiney Magazine (Aisha Muharrar)

DATE: 11/29/2025