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CENTERVILLE — Loretta Liesch was in a predicament. Things went into her closet and stayed there indefinitely.

The Centerville retiree decided to do something about it.

What did she do? She called the clutter buster.

Joan Heath, the owner of her home-based Organize It All (www.organizitall.com), specializes in getting stuff out and order back into homes and small businesses.

"I have always been organized, so I decided to look into the possibility of making this into a career," said Heath, a life-long Kettering resident.

The mother of three grown children worked for 20 years in the dental field. Before Heath retired she contacted a professional organizer she'd seen on television who advised her to read books on organization and to join related professional associations.

Heath, who is in her fifth year as a professional organizer, is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers and the Dayton Pro Organizers.

Liesch heard a presentation by Heath and decided to try the service.

"It was one of the best presents I ever gave myself," Liesch said.

The two women worked together to tidy a small walk-in closet. Liesch now can set up a card table inside and work on sewing projects.

"She took me to a Goodwill center with her van to get rid of things. She's organized a gift-wrapping center in the closet, and my sewing materials are on another shelf," Liesch said.

The worst job for Heath, who has done jobs as small as Liesch's closet and as large as an entire house, is going back several weeks after a job has been completed and finding that the clutter has returned.

"I know at that point that this client is not ready to make the change in their life that it takes to keep things organized," Heath said.

The Kettering organizer's favorite tool is a Ziplock bag. They are affordable, readily available and make it easy to see what's stored inside.

"The most common problem I see is paper. We get paper into our homes everyday in the form of mail, newspapers and such. If you stack it to read later, the stack will continue to grow until it gets so overwhelming that you don't want to deal with it," Heath said.

For more information, contact Heath at (937) 439-0531 or www.organizitall.com.