Entrepreneur helps clear the clutter

Berkleigh Cook stood in the center of her cluttered playroom with her hands on her hips, her curly hair cinched in a power ponytail and her pink-and-black outfit perfectly matched.

"I'm in charge," the 6-year-old reiterated.

Matt Paxton concurred. "We're not going to take anything you don't want us to take," said the founder of Richmond-based Clutter Cleaner. "You are in charge."

The St. Catherine's first-grader barely had room to walk in the converted breakfast nook. Toys were piled as high as her head in most spots, courtesy of three sets of spoiling grandparents.

Paxton gently nudged her along. "We want to give toys away to kids who need them," he said.

At first, she couldn't bring herself to part with anything. Even the tiniest toy became a favorite as she faced boxes designated "donate," "recycle" and "trash." Finally, a breakthrough.

"I want you to take my whole collection of Barbie dolls," she announced.

Paxton picked up a half-naked Barbie from a pile of toys on a small table.

"Not those!" she exclaimed. "These." She pointed to a drawer full of unopened Barbies from fast-food kids' meals.

It was a start.

Paxton's 3-year-old business, featured on a new show called "Hoarders" on cable's A&E network, helps families through the emotional task of decluttering their homes. The Richmond native and Mary Washington graduate takes his crew of two and a white panel truck on missions small and large. The cost is $100 an hour.

His work usually involves downsizing for senior citizens or decluttering for families like the Cooks. Occasionally, his crew unearths missing valuables, old love letters or shocking family secrets.

The saddest, most dramatic cases are reserved for the show -- people whose lives have been overtaken by their inability to get rid of clutter. Hoarders aren't simply pack rats; they have a full-blown disorder. "You know you've crossed the line when it affects your daily life, when you're losing happiness in your life because of the clutter," Paxton said.

During the first season of "Hoarders," filmed in locations throughout the country, Paxton helped an obsessive collector on the verge of eviction clean out her home. He and his crew had to don hazardous-materials gear to dispose of more than 1,000 used adult diapers.

Leslie, Adam and Berkleigh Cook's home was mild by comparison. The Cooks moved into the Hanover Avenue house 15 months ago, combining the contents of a home in Richmond and one in Charlottesville, where Adam is a medical resident at the University of Virginia. They also had two storage units at capacity.

"Everywhere you turned, I had stuff from all of my houses and unpacked boxes," Leslie Cook said.

She hired Clutter Cleaner to do a couple of rooms at a time. The first week, they pared down the stored belongings into one unit, saving the Cooks $350 a month in rental fees. During the second week, they tackled the home office, dining room and a small upstairs bedroom.

Last week, it was the living room, kitchen and playroom.

As Leslie worked with Paxton's assistant, James Waters, to rearrange her pantry, Paxton and crewman Bryan Woodward shuffled through a sea of toys that included a pink kitchen and laundry play set, large Victorian dollhouse, stuffed animals, a large easel, books, DVDs, video games and an empty aquarium.

Berkleigh started slowly, but her donations gradually became more significant. From a tiny toy necklace that she said "smells funny" and a toilet-shaped vessel of green goo called Potty Putty, she worked her way up to a full-size stuffed Elmo.

A week later, Leslie reported that Berkleigh loves her "new" playroom and is putting away toys -- with help from mom -- after she's finished with them.

Only three years ago, Paxton's own life was in disarray. He hit bottom personally and professionally. He began volunteering at Comfort Zone Camp for grieving children but needed money. He asked his widowed grandmother if she would pay him to clean her basement -- untouched since his grandfather's death. She agreed. As he cleaned, she shared stories and released emotions.

Before long, his grandmother's friend asked him for help. "It immediately took off from there," said Paxton, who is now married and about to become a father.

His grief training has been invaluable in his work as he helps homeowners part with a lost loved one's belongings or senior citizens let go of a lifetime of memories. He even tried crime-scene cleanup once, but he declared it "the worst thing ever."

The TV gig came about when he contacted Peter Walsh, Oprah Winfrey's organizing guru, to see if he needed field workers. He didn't, but he told Paxton he would keep him in mind. When A&E called Walsh to appear in "Hoarders," he had to decline because of his Oprah deal. He suggested Paxton. Show producers looked at a video of Clutter Cleaner and loved it.

The first season of "Hoarders" just concluded. Paxton's crew begins filming the first episode of the second season this weekend in Maryland.

The job, Paxton said, is as much psychological as physical. He is nurturing, not judgmental. He has strategies to make people feel less embarrassed about their predicaments and rules to help them keep things from piling up again.

"It's all about control," he said. "We really push control. Empowerment is really important."

Contact Julie Young at (804) 649-6732 or .