24/4/97
The
organization
bug
In Rivka Ester Rothstein's perfect
world,
everything
has
a
place
-
and
the
best
place
for
The
Jerusalem
Post
is
the
garbage
dump.
Rothstein is a professional - and by her own admission, compulsive
-
organizer.
ג€Let's talk about your mess,ג€ she'll say, workmanlike but
with
a
throaty
laugh,
loosening
up
a
client's
penchant
for
embarrassment.
One of her biggest bugbears: stacks of stale news. ג€A lot
of
people
have
an
issue
about
saving
newspapers.
I
told
one
woman
that
everything
she
needed
was
on
CD-ROM,
so
she
agreed
to
part
with
the
papers.
That's
one
of
my
favorite
things,
throwing
old
Jerusalem
Posts
in
the
trash.ג€
I am not offended, I assure her.
ג€Another woman had Martha Meisels columns from 1979 on buying
fridges.
She
insisted:
'What
if
I
want
to
buy
a
fridge
at
some
point?'
But
lady,
I
said,
they
don't
make
'em
anymore!ג€
You can just imagine how a person like this found a calling
like
that.
ג€I
had
a
roommate.
After
living
with
me
for
a
whileג€
--
Rothstein
rolls
her
eyes
in
genial
self-deprecation
ג€“
ג€she
said,
'Rivka
Ester,
you
should
do
this
for
a
living.ג€™
''
She can't help herself: when she steps into someone's home,
she
gets
the
itch
to
rearrange.
ג€I'll
say:
'Gee,
I
hope
you
don't
mind
me
saying
this,
but
what
if
you
threw
this
stuff
out
and
put
that
here,
and
this
there,
you'd
solve
a
problem
you
probably
don't
even
know
you
have.'
ג€
Scary, isn't it: I mean, imagine being married to a compulsive
organizer.
Ah,
but
there
is
a
catch:
she's
not
neurotic,
and
she's
good-humored
about
it
all.
Rothstein, 42, likes her husband Yehuda's shirts neatly arranged:
ג€Long-sleeved
whites,
then
blues,
then
yellows,
then
the
short-sleeved
whites
and
blues
and
yellows.ג€
Frankly,
he
could
do
without
it.
On
the
other
hand,
she
didn't
harangue
him
when
he
left
a
pile
of
cough-drop
wrappers
by
his
bedside
for
a
few
months.
Obviously,
they've
only
been
married
a
short
time
(a
year-and-a-half).
ג€One of my character defects -- and my husband will vouch
for
this
--
is
my
penchant
for
asserting
control.
But
what
Iג€™ve
done
is
turn
my
defect
into
a
profession.
I
actually
get
paid
for
telling
people
how
to
live
their
lives,
and
if
they
listen
or
not,
I
go
home
happy.ג€
She says she's not obsessed; just, um, a bit tidy. She sees
obsession
in
some
of
her
clients,
and
often
finds
good
use
for
her
background
in
counseling.
Sometimes, though, there's nothing she can do.
ג€One family, very well-to-do, had a built-in closet for each
of
the
children.
And
each
had
a
drawer
only
for
the
pajamas.
I
said
to
the
mother,
how
many
pajamas
do
you
think
they
need?
And
she
says,
'A
dozen?'
I
finally
got
them
down
to
six
pairs
each.
I
went
back
the
next
week,
and
each
child
had
four
more
pairs
of
brand-new
pajamas.ג€
You have to wonder about some people.
ג€I was hired by a woman who wanted me for her husband. I
did
a
great
job
with
him,
we
threw
away
probably
85
percent
of
what
was
stacked
there.
And
I
look
around
and
think,
she's
calling
me
because
he's
a
slob?
I
mean,
there
were
vegetables
on
the
TV
table!
ג€I did work on a kitchen, a woman who actually gave lessons
in
homemaking.
And
I
had
to
tell
her:
'look,
the
fancy
tea
set
you
take
out
once
every
three
years
shouldn't
be
sitting
in
prime
cupboard
space.'
I
mean,
I
had
to
tell
her
this?ג€
Rothstein's work can get pretty intimate, which for a newly-Orthodox
woman
can
be
a
mite
awkward
sometimes.
ג€I
once
got
a
call
for
help
from
a
male
friend,
and
found
myself
face
to
face
with
a
drawerful
of
very
weird
underwear.ג€
THERE
ARE
four
reasons
why
people
hire
an
organizer:
ג€They're
too
busy,
they
may
not
have
the
knack
or
know-how,
they
may
feel
overwhelmed,
or
they're
too
isolated.ג€
She's worked for parents ג€who can't communicate with their
disorganized
teenagers;
I
deal
with
people's
financial
lives,
getting
their
paperwork
in
order.
I
get
calls
from
mothers-in-law
to
go
straighten
out
the
slobs
their
children
married,
but
I
don't
take
that
kind
of
job.
I've
had
sweet
experiences
with
older
people
who
are
getting
ready
to
...
part.
It's
very
tender,
because
they
know
what
they
need
to
do.
ג€I can work with all of them because I'm not emotionally
attached.ג€
The ABCs of attacking a mess are simple: ג€Just do it. Start
somewhere.
Pick
up
the
first
armful
and
you're
on
the
way.ג€
She'll instruct a client to categorize: ג€Here, here, here,
here,
or
garbage.ג€
Do it, she says, and you'll feel good about yourself.
ג€We like order. Orderliness contributes to tranquillity.
Though
some
people
can't
work
unless
they
have
a
chaotic
environment,
most
people
function
best
when
they
know
where
everything
is.ג€
As in, honey, where'd ya put the spittoon?
Rothstein has a shot-glass of advice for everything: a little
shelf
here,
plastic
baskets
there.
You
need
so
many
pens
on
your
desk?
A
touchy
subject:
children's
arts-and-crafts
projects;
you
can't
throw
'em
out,
and
you
don't
want
them
cluttering
up
the
house.
ג€Kids
sometimes
bring
home
these
hideous
things
from
ceramics
class,ג€
she
says
--
then
notices,
on
the
side
table
in
my
living
room,
my
children's
hideous
things
from
ceramics
class.
ג€Keep
the
best,
and
take
a
picture
of
the
rest
and
put
it
in
a
scrap
book.
Or
send
some
to
the
grandparents,
they
love
that
kind
of
stuff.ג€
Israelis like sparsity and are fastidiously tidy -- inside
the
house.
Rothstein
doesn't
even
bother
advertising
in
the
Hebrew
press.
Her
best
customers?
ג€Anglos.
We're
used
to
more
space
and
more
acquisitions.ג€
You'll be glad to know Rothstein has a skeleton in her own
closet:
one
disorderly
storage
room
visitors
aren't
allowed
to
see.
She has a long explanation for why this cobbler is shoeless,
but
it
doesn't
change
the
fact
she
has
a
messy
room.
What's
important,
however,
is
that
she's
at
peace
with
it.
Rothstein has a heimishe mix of Bronx bluntness and Jewish
consciousness,
perfect
for
the
professional
organizer.
But
even
when
she's
off-duty,
well,
sometimes
she
just
can't
help
herself.
After
our
interview,
we
stepped
out
into
a
light
drizzle.
She
looked
at
me
and
frowned
disapprovingly.
ג€Look,
I'm
not
your
mother,ג€
she
said,
ג€but
put
on
a
coat.ג€
