With the mantra, “Functional quarters are mirrored in the mind,” Betsy Krobot, owner of Betsy K Home Choreography, has opened a retail store, The United Organizing Co., in Bridgeport.

“I think organizers are becoming a necessity rather than a luxury,” said Krobot. “It”™s my goal to make organizers accessible enough and plentiful enough where anyone can afford it. The rich already have staff to do what we do; the people who need us are the middle-of-the-road people who are peddling as fast as they can to keep their heads above water.”

The store, which shares a space with The Center for Green Building, carries organizing products and features professional organizers ”“ three including Krobot ”“ with specialties like finances, computers, photos, decorating, children, staging and time management.

“I hope to be able to represent all the organizers in the area,” said Krobot. “We are working with Shelf Genie and Select Closets. People can come in and see what a closet should look like, what a shelf should look like, how things should be hung.”

Krobot, a certified professional organizer, grew up in Greenwich and began her career in corporate event planning working most recently for gourmet and specialty food trade shows until 2003. After 9/11, Krobot found herself with an overwhelming amount of hours and felt it was time for a change.

Krobot went back to school at the New York School of Interior Design, with intentions of becoming a decorator.

“At first I found myself decorating, but I was organizing as I did that,” Krobot said. “It occurred to me, I”™ve been doing this forever and I do it naturally. I”™ve always felt like if everything is in place, you can run the world.”

Krobot said she has seen that time and again when her clients are surrounded by physical chaos it is reflected directly in their lives. Services run about $55 per hour.

“You can really affect somebody”™s life in reorganizing their space,” said Krobot. “You have to be sensitive and educated. There”™s family wars, downsizing, estate sales, parents deaths; we can deal with a lot of heavy duty situations.”

Krobot said she does follow-ups for clients in order to ensure the organization is maintained.

“In our industry the actual definition of a professional organizer is someone who transfers skills to the client,” said Krobot. “It”™s when the person wants to work with you and spend the time that they inherit those skills. You teach them to ask, ”˜Do I like it or love it, or does it serve a purpose in some way?”™”

Though Krobot herself focuses on homeowners, her staff also organizes corporate spaces, photo albums and even computers.

“I like big-picture jobs, the clean sweep,” said Krobot. “There are people who say, ”˜My garage has been this way for 20 years, can you help me?”™ In a couple of days they can have a garage that”™s functional.”

Krobot encounters garages, attics and basements that most commonly are the dumping areas of the house.

Krobot said she has had many clients that are mothers and that even moms that don”™t work outside the home can spend six hours in their car everyday dropping off and picking up their kids.

“Many of them beat themselves up,” said Krobot. “They”™re like the CEO of a company; they need a command central. No one ever did as much as they”™re expected to do and many of them need to stop feeling guilty. Often they just need to evaluate their time, figure out how much it”™s worth and whether it”™s worth it to pay someone $10 an hour to do it. It”™s spending time with your child and helping them with their homework versus running around thinking you”™re supposed to be ironing sheets, or whatever it is.”

Krobot said that there is such thing as an organized mess.

“Organization is about being able to find things, it”™s about high functionality, not looking pretty,” said Krobot. It”™s when the clutter gets in the way of your life; it causes dysfunction and stress. That”™s when something needs to be addressed.”

The United Organizing Company is also holding organizing workshops open to the public as well as educational programs for people who are interested in professional organizing as a career.Â Krobot said services are available for businesses and home owners including dump runs, picture hanging, shredding, e-cycling, packing/unpacking, staging and repurposing of furniture.

The United Organizing Company organizers will also be able to offer their clients solutions for discarding things through a variety of methods including donations for charity organizations and swap events.

Krobot will soon be launching her own line of organization accessories under the name Betsy K Home Choreography and plans to open up additional locations.