Getting organized is a new national pastime

I was just alerted to a great article on CNN.com that talks about how getting organized is a new national pastime. I was so curious to read people's responses to why the industry has been taking off in the last few years and why more and more people have started to organize and use professional organizers.

According to the article, sales of space and closet organizers, including clothing-care items, accounted for 8.7 percent of the $76.2 billion Americans spent on housewares in 2005, according to the International Housewares Association. Sales of all home organization products are forecast to increase to $7.6 billion by 2009, according to The Freedonia Group, a Cleveland, Ohio-based market research firm.

Meanwhile, shows like TLC's "Clean Sweep," HGTV's "Mission Organization" and The Style Network's "Clean House" have acted as teaching mechanisms or outlets for empathy, industry observers say.

The Container Store, a retail outfit that sells organization products, is thriving and has plans to expand with new stores this year, company officials told CNN.com. Meanwhile, a cottage industry of self-help books has emerged, detailing how to organize everything from closets to offices and garages. The use of personal organizers -- who help their clients take control of their time, space and priorities -- is also growing.

Experts within the organization industry point to several theories for its boom.

1- A hyper-consumptive society deluged by its own belongings and the output of modern technology like fax machines and e-mail. There's more to organize than ever before

2- The "new asceticism," the movement toward slimming down, conserving energy and buying less. We are starting to question what I call the orgy of consumption.

3- It's becoming a sense of order and security.

4- Women going into the workforce in greater numbers also may be playing a role in diminishing homemaking skills.