Among the books, boxes, blankets and bikes, the chairs, clothes, carpets and a chain saw, Rhoda Keith could barely pull her car into her garage.

Keith's Antelope garage was so crammed that her passengers couldn't exit the car. Her home office was an extension of the same, a paralyzing storehouse of stuff.

Keith called Kelli Wilson of Orangevale's A Simple Plan. Wilson is one of several dozen members of the new Sacramento chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers, and the chapter's president.

Keith paid about $75 an hour for the service, which includes diagramming work and living spaces, clearing them and developing systems to keep home and office clutter free.

In financially stressed times, the bill might seem steep, and Wilson conceded that "a lot of people think of (professional organizing) as not critical – that it's discretionary."

But the Antelope aesthetician didn't mind spending the money.

"It gets overwhelming when you have so much stuff," Keith said as she and Wilson worked in the garage. "This is years of this steadily growing. It got to where I had just enough room for the car to fit. … I didn't want to let go."

They worked to win back the garage, lost to years of runaway storage, for a weekend garage sale. Boxes and other goods piled up, some for the sale, others for donation, and more for the trash.

Incomes vary, but a career in organizing can be a successful one, said career counselor Helen Scully of Roseville-based Scully Career Associates.

"If they can afford the time it takes to ramp up, I think it's a good career," Scully said.

But there are conditions.

"Professional organizing is still a fairly new concept, so there's not an existing pattern of need," Scully said, adding that those new to the business "need to realize … it's not just organizing – 60 percent of the time it's a small business. They need to ask themselves if that's exciting."

Last week, about 40 women gathered in a meeting room at the University of Phoenix campus in Natomas to celebrate their new chapter.

Their businesses' names, like Organized Habits, Clutter Control Angels, Control C.H.A.O.S and Out of the Box, speak to their work – and their varied expertise helping folks like Keith and others.

They organize businesses moving from office to office or archive family photographs. Clients who struggle with attention deficit disorder and obsessive-compulsive hoarding also seek their services.

Tonya Piper works with homeowners and churches as head of Rancho Cordova-based organizing firm Control C.H.A.O.S.

"It's really not about the stuff," Piper tells her clients. "It has to do with mindset – it's much deeper than the stuff on your desk. An organizer will find out the root of why that is."

Piper, a mechanical engineer by trade, was laid off three years ago. With a baby on the way, she focused on a new career path that could meld experience with enjoyment. She found it in professional organizing, launching her business two years ago.

"Organizing was bridging engineering with something I love. Engineering equals solving problems," she said.

Established in 1985, the New Jersey-based National Association of Professional Organizers encompasses more than 30 chapters across the country including the one in Sacramento.

The vast majority of members – 97 percent, NAPO said – are female and self-employed. Clients range from small-business owners looking to get a grasp on paperwork to executives to employees seeking more effective organizing systems.

"They are so relieved that they have room to breathe, that they don't have to carry all of this around with them," Wilson said. "They look to someone to give them permission to let it go. It's a gift to be part of the experience of them freeing themselves."

And at Keith's home, a breakthrough. Most of the clutter from the garage was gone, as was Keith's anxiety.

"Yeah, I have all of this stuff," she said. "But it doesn't define me."

Call The Bee's Darrell Smith, (916) 321-1040.