Towson Times

A Place For Everything and Everything in Its Place

by Loni Ingraham

Amy Rehkemper, owner of A Place For Everything Organizing, in her office on East Joppa Road.

Amy Rehkemper, owner of A Place For Everything Organizing, in her office on East Joppa Road.

Amy Rehkemper, proprietor, chief cook and bottle washer of A Place for Everything Organizing, says the name of her business says it all.

“It’s a great tip for people,” says Rehkemper, whose office is at 1705 East Joppa Road. “Create a place for things, and you won’t lose them. Organization helps a lawyer or a mother of five. Everyone can benefit from organization.”

That includes Rehkemper herself, a 29-year-old reformed “messy.”   Yes, she was a messy little kid, she says. She was interested in everything, a scattered approach. Then she went from B’s and C’s to straight A’s. “What happened?” people asked her. “I have organized my surroundings,” she told them. “I can think clearly now.”

She decided to make a career of organizing four years ago because it worked for her. When she graduated from Towson University with a degree in elementary education, she was very employable, she says. But her experiences in the classroom, volunteering and tutoring, made her realize a school system might not be the perfect place for her.

“I loved the order involved, but I found it to be very bureaucratic,” she says. “I’m a people pleaser. I’m not happy unless everybody else is happy. There were too many people that had to be pleased: the kids, the teachers, the parents, the school board.”

It was a conversation with her husband, David, that led her to opt for a career in organization instead. When he asked her what she would like to do if she could do anything, she told him she would love to go into people’s houses and show them how to get rid of all the junk that is preventing them from reaching their goals. Shortly thereafter, she started her business in a room of her Loch Raven Village town house.

“People can get stuck in the past with all this junk and confusion that is truly holding them back from what they want,” she says. “I help them de-clutter and create simple systems to bring order in their lives.”

After four years, she has helped people organize numerous attics, bedrooms, kitchens, closets, garages and offices. She charges about $60 an hour, “less than a decorator and more than a cleaning service,” she notes. She still uses her teaching and coaching skills, but she only has to please one client or one family at a time. No job overwhelms her. When she walks into chaos, she gets excited.

“I can help them even more,” she says. “I’m the coach that helps them stay focused and go through the clutter until everything is purged or in order.” Rehkemper says she is committed to maintaining confidentiality and to being nonjudgmental. “I take people’s lives seriously,” she says. “For them to go through their belongings is an emotional experience.”

Story also covered March 11, 2004

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Story also covered March 31, 2004

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