Wednesday
May 1, 2024 
Purge. Sort. Contain. Maintain.
Those four words are a kind of mantra for Christen Fackler, an organizational guru who lives in Plumstead in an exceedingly neat old house.
Christen has carved herself a niche in the e-commerce world as a professional organizer. She has taken her natural talents for putting things in their place, forged a career with social media and, at latest count, has about 678,000 followers across four digital platforms.
So, how did she do this?
First, personality. She exudes an amazing personal charisma. A natural at marketing, she turns decluttering, normally considered a chore, into a project that is actually fun while still producing serious results.
Second, hard work.
She carefully taught herself how to market on the internet after she had experienced some success locally organizing friends’ and acquaintances’ belongings.
A drive to organization had its roots in her childhood, Christen said. “I’d move everything around in my bedroom and my mother would come to wake me in the morning only to find everything changed.”
Sometimes during childhood and teenage sleepovers, she would organize her friends’ belongings as well. Then others started to ask her to help them simplify their lives and their family members followed.
“It just grew from there,” she explained.
Christen grew up in Durham and graduated from Bethlehem Catholic High School. Her experience in varied jobs, large and small, provided a firm background in business practices as well as the essential ability to understand and respond to clients’ needs.
In early adulthood she took jobs as a babysitter, housesitter and petsitter. She also worked for a while as a nanny for quadruplets, a snowboarding instructor and a special needs sports instructor. She gained more experience in warehouse management, housekeeping and home renovations.
After functioning unofficially as an organizer for years, she branded her business, iOrganize LLC, in 2009, and it has been growing exponentially since then.
Probably “Purge,” the first stage of her organization plan, is the most difficult, she said, because it hinges on so many emotions that can be painful.
“People are so attached to old stuff, maybe from a former job or friendship,” she said, adding they should ask themselves, “Does this represent who I am now?” and “Is it worth taking up this space?”.
Christen also has posted on social media an astonishing number — more than 550 — short videos since 2021 offering organizational tips.
And that points to the second part of her success — her ability to impart advice that is simple, direct and often playful — the girl next door, the one with tons of energy who knows how to get things done, the one who laughs frequently and with ease as she delivers her message. “Decluttering,” she said, “is a journey.”
Christen is amazingly and totally comfortable as she films videos for her followers and fans. Using her iPhone video option, she records herself in the 1850s farmhouse she shares with her partner, Julie Potter, a transplanted Californian. While her organizational message is a firm one, her approach to problems is warm, understanding and funny.
Much of her performing talent, she picked up from her mother, Karen Fackler, who teaches piano and was once a well-known cabaret singer. Her father, Chris Fackler, she said, is a very detailed person and she believes she inherited those skills from him.
On iOrganize on Facebook, now Meta, she offers advice about decluttering. More ideas are put forth in her “How to Organize Everything,” which can be purchased in either audio book or print-on-demand formats. She also has links to products she recommends — to sort and contain similar objects — bins, boxes, folders, all necessary for containment.
Christen said her goal is “to make the life skill of organization accessible and affordable to as many people who desire to learn.
She has discovered, too, that her advice “can resonate with the neuro-divergent community.” That includes people on the autism spectrum and those with ADHD, who often need help with organizing. Becoming an online influencer, she said, has given her a platform to share her knowledge, skills and creativity.
Kathryn Finegan Clark is a freelance writer who lives in Durham Township. She can be reached at kathyclark817@gmail.com.
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