ORGANIZED RELIGION; PUTTING END TO CLUTTER LIBERATES THOSE SHACKLED TO MESSY WAYS.

Byline: Carol Bidwell Daily News Staff Writer

Julie Morgenstern, a New York theater producer and director, had always considered her cluttered home part of the fuel that fed her artistry.

``I was one of those determinedly disorganized, creative people,'' she said. ``I lived out of piles and spent my days searching for things.''

Then she became a mother, with all of motherhood's new demands.

Her daughter, Jessi, was 3 weeks old the day Morgenstern decided to take her for her first outing. But by the time she finished frantically collecting diapers, pacifiers, bottles and all the other newborn necessities from around the house, the moment had passed.

``It took me over two hours to gather the supplies I needed,'' Morgenstern said. ``And two hours later, she was asleep again. I thought, `If I don't get my act together, she'll never see the light of day.' ''

That was the beginning not only of a new (organized) life, but - three years later - a new career as a professional organizer.

Morgenstern will give Los Angeles-area clutter fiends a hand at whipping their own lives into shape today during two Public Storage ``clutter clinics'' at the 22nd annual Home Remodeling and Decorating Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

The sessions may be just the push some disorganized folks need. (The advice comes at bargain rates, too; clinics are free with paid admission to the Home Show, much less than the $520 a day the clutter-buster charges individual clients to organize their homes.)

Since the diaper bag fiasco, Morgenstern has reclaimed her space.

First she got her daughter's necessities grouped and stashed in designated pockets of an organized bag. (``I felt so liberated. At the drop of a dime, I could just grab her and go.'')

Then she moved on to the hall closet, the kitchen cabinets, the bookshelves, the linen closet, the garage. A year later, she had a perfectly running home - and found that she was able to be more creative than ever because she didn't have to waste time looking for things.

Germ of an idea

After a divorce three years later left her a single mother, what had become efficient housekeeping provided the basis for a lucrative home-operated business, Brooklyn-based Task Masters.

Now the mother of a 12-year-old, Morgenstern has built a career around getting other people organized, both at home and at the office. (Her clients have included American Express, Merrill Lynch and Chase Manhattan Bank.) Her first book, ``Organizing From the Inside Out,'' will be published this fall.

People who come to her for help are generally buried in disorganization. They've been reluctant to show an outsider their piled-high magazines, stacks of laundry, crammed-full closets and misplaced everything until their clutter reaches a crisis stage.

``People know they need to do something, but they don't know where to start,'' Morgenstern said. ``They're usually terribly guilty, horribly embarrassed. But I've never met a mess that wasn't fixable.''

Many are reluctant to consult a clutter-buster because they fear getting organized will mean throwing out their favorite items or changing their whole lives. Wrong on both counts.

``My approach to organization doesn't start with throwing out everything you can,'' Morgenstern reassured. ``You should take stock: Find out what's important to you and find a place for it.''

And as for revamping your lifestyle, it's easier to design storage around the way you live than change your family's lifelong habits, she said.

For instance, if you're the sort of person who comes in the door and sort of explodes in the hallway, dropping coats, umbrellas, purses, briefcases and packages where you stand, that means you need to provide hooks or cabinets in the hallway to store that clutter.

``I have one client who likes to sit on the edge of her bed and kick off her shoes, and she has all her shoes in a pile in the corner next to the bed,'' Morgenstern said. ``So we put storage for her shoes where she kicks them off. My advice is to look for piles of clutter and create storage right there. If you can reach out and put something away when you're done with it, you're going to do it.''

In the beginning ...

So, where do you start? Morgenstern gives her clients five major suggestions, both for their homes and their offices:

Organize your space like a kindergarten classroom, with activities defining storage needs. If you sew in the living room, that's where you need a well-stocked mending basket, not assorted needles and thread on the bedside table. If the garage is where you repair everything, that's where all the tools belong, not in the kitchen drawer. If the den is where you pay bills, it should be equipped with calculator, stamps, envelopes, pens and checkbook.

Sort and purge everything from kitchen cabinets to closets and bookshelves to the garage. If it's junk, throw it out. If it's usable, but you don't want or need it, give it away to a friend or a charity, or hold a garage sale. If it's a sentimental possession with no daily use, store it. If it's something you use daily or weekly, find a place to put it where you can easily retrieve it.

Assign a home to all your possessions. That means clothes in the closet, not on the sofa or hung over the bedpost. Toys in the toy box, not on the floor. Books on the shelves, not propping up a short table leg. It's often possible to group unrelated small items together by use. (Example: masking tape, transparent tape, staples, string, paper clips. Common denominator: They all make things stick together. Store together in a small labeled box, drawer or basket.) You're allowed one junk drawer, but when it's full, clean it out; don't start a second one.

Containerize. If you have twice as many clothes as closet rod space, install two rods - one high up, one lower down - to hold everything. Put unread magazines in a basket (empty it when it's full) rather than stacking them on the coffee table or piling them next to a chair. Separate nails, screws and other small hardware in see-through containers in the garage. Store out-of-season clothing in large plastic containers in the garage or a rented storage area.

Maintain your system by putting things away where they belong when you're finished with them. With a good storage and organization system, it should take only three to five minutes to tidy any room.

How important is getting organized? For one of Morgenstern's clients, an actor who found $30,000 in forgotten residual checks in the mess that had filled his apartment, it was very important. For a businessman who spends an hour a day (that multiplies out to six weeks a year) looking for vital documents, phone numbers or other paperwork, time is money saved.

``Disorganization really holds people back,'' Morgensterm said. ``People have told me that once they got organized, it gave them such a sense of freedom and control, they loved it.''

Cure for a messy office

Got your home reorganized and need to tackle your desk and your office? Or devise a filing system that the whole company can follow?

The American Management Association International and Padgett Thompson will sponsor a series of six-hour Southern California workshops on setting up organized records systems, knowing which documents to keep and which to throw away, and retrieving vital information quickly.

Sessions of the course, titled How to Better Organize Files and Records, are scheduled April 17 at the Holiday Inn in Pasadena, April 22 at the Casa Serena Hotel in Oxnard, April 23 at both the Holiday Inn Bayview Plaza in Santa Monica and the Hyatt Regency Los Angeles. Seminars cost $149 per person; to register, call [phone] or fax [phone].

CAPTION(S):

4 Photos, Box

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) Help for your hang-ups

Tips for bringing order to a messy household

Cover photo courtesy of the Closet Factory.

(2) Professional organizer Julie Morgenstern is teaching two ``clutter clinics'' during this weekend's Home Remodeling and Decorating Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

(3) ``Find out what's important to you and find a place for it,'' suggests Morgenstern. When it comes to clothing, regularly worn items are best kept in a well-organized closet. Other clothing can be stored elsewhere.

Photo courtesy of the Closet Factory

(4) Julie Morgenstern recommends storing things close to where they will be used. Plastic containers can also keep clutter at bay.

Box: Cure for a messy office (See Text)