Published in Senior Digest on March 2005

In the early 1980s, I would go into Mort Rosen’s spacious apartment in Bethesda, Md., and find it totally filled to the brim with clutter. The former nursing home operator’s kitchen table, dining room table, coffee table and every available flat surface were piled high with old magazines, catalogs, bills and letters.

Mort, like many, did not believe in the annual ritual of spring cleaning to carefully cull the mountains of paper and accumulated clutter that somehow grew each year. When my good friend tragically died, his family was left with the monumental task of cleaning out his apartment.

After a quick look over by his children, years of clutter were unceremoniously tossed into dozens of large trash Hefty bags to be thrown away.

Cruse the Internet or go into Boarders Books and you will find a growing number of resources available to fight the war on clutter. Today, a growing number of seniors and their families are turning to professional organizers to keep the piles of clutter to a minimum.

Helene Parenteau of Organizing Specialists has been leading a fight against clutter since 1982. Working part time for 18 years as a professional organizer, she kept a day job as a news producer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. But with her business and reputation growing throughout Southern New England. Parenteau took the leap to faith into a new full-time career in 2000.

Parenteau takes her job and profession seriously. She’s a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers. The Georgia-based group represents 2,000 organizers nationwide.

At $ 40 per hour, Parenteau offers an array of consulting services to her clients. She says that “general organizing and “de-cluttering” are required for those whose lives have become so busy that they just don’t have time to care of general house upkeep.

According to Parenteau, her senior downsizing business has picked up in the last 10 years. “We really work on more of the psychological and emotional levels. In your later years, it becomes so hard to make a decision on letting go of lifelong possessions and moving into a smaller living space,” she says, noting that anxiety cause by downsizing is up there with death and divorce.

Parenteau will work side-by-side with seniors, listening to their needs and concerns, weeding out unneeded items an assessing what should be kept. She helps clients choose what furniture to take to ensure a comfortable placement and fit in their new home. “I try to keep the process from getting overwhelming,” she said.

In addition, Parenteau will itemize possessions that clients want to donate and will cart them away to the charities of their choice.

Finally, Parenteau will assist people with moving, specifically the tasks of packing and unpacking. By working together with her clients, clutter can be thrown away and not transported to a new location.

“It takes about three months to downsize a home, and it takes between three to four days to pack up an average-size house for a move,” she said.

To keep from hiring unscrupulous helpers, always hire a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers, Parenteau recommends. “Get client references and have a sit-down consult with the organizer to make sure they are truly listening to your needs. You want an organizer your comfortable with,” Parenteau said.

She can be reached at (978) 828-2683.

When getting rid of clutter, sometimes one person’s trash becomes another person’s jewel, says Jake Winokur, proprietor of Lost Treasurers Antiques and Collectibles. More than 100 dealers and 240 cosigners sells their collectibles out of his 5,000 square-foot store in Seekonk.

“Before you dispose of any collectibles, call a dealer to look at it,” Winokur suggests. “One person found out a painting was worth $ 20,000. Another person’s pottery and porcelain was worth $ 8,000.

Generally dealers will pay 40 to 50 percent of the item’s worth because they have to make a living,” Winokur says, noting that the value of a collectible is tied to where it is sold. Something in Rhode Island may be worth $ 50 while it may be valued at $150 in another section of the country.

Finally, when a person dies or enters a nursing facility, the total contents of the house are up for grabs. Wayn

e Patenaude and Glenn Carroll of Antique and Decorating Warehouse in Warren, can be hired to organize an estate sale or buyout the contents of a whole house.

For a percentage of the amount raised through the sale, Patenaude says his company will organize a sale, price each item, advertise and be on site for at least two days to sell the items.

“We have found that estate sales are the best way to liquidate higher priced items along with everyday items, even cleaning supplies,” he said.

Patenaude urges that when you seek out a company to organize an estate sale, always get references to determine the firm’s track record and check for complains filed with the Better Business Bureau.

For those who need help to haul away clutter, Steve Levinson of the Woonsocket=based ACE Transport LTD is at your service. ACE Transport employees come in to pack up the clutter and remove it from a residential or commercial property.

“People use us because they just can’t get motivated to do it themselves, Levinson says.

In many cases after children go through their deceased parents houses, they find years of personal items from old report cards, drawings and clothes to toys.

“The children just call us up and say,” ‘Come clean out the house,’ They just don’t want the junk,” Levinson said.