Carrie M. Lane

“A surprising number of us live with too much stuff, or face life crises in which what used to be a comfortable amount turns into overwhelming excess. This all-too-common problem has led to professional organizers, a job that Lane describes with great warmth and humor as she shows how these everyday champions of personal order emerged as a modern-day professional guild to bring solace to clients afflicted with some of the curses of capitalist consumption. More Than Pretty Boxes is a captivating exploration of how a feminized job gains recognition and symbolic value, ethnography at its most sympathetic, savvy, and subtle.”

—Ilana Gershon, author of The Pandemic Workplace: How We Learned to Be Citizens in the Office

“Gripping from the very start, More Than Pretty Boxes takes us inside the homes where people feel trapped by their stuff, and allows us to witness the intimate work of professional organizers working their magic. With an acute analysis leavened by humor and compassion, Lane chronicles the ‘palpable too-muchness’ of contemporary life and shows how it is linked to trends in work, family, and gender. It turns out that organizing is feminist care work, a connective labor plumbing meaning from clients and bringing new identities within reach. And as Lane tells it, the (mostly) women who create this profound alchemy are themselves forging a path toward new forms of meaningful work.”

—Allison Pugh, author of The Last Human Job: The Work of Connecting in a Disconnected World

“With an anthropologist’s keen eye, Lane shows us how the rise of the organizing profession is a sign of our times—an age of overwork, overwhelm, and uncertainty, in which too much is being asked of women at work and at home. In this deeply researched book, she provides an up-close view into how professional organizers help their clients to better cope by decluttering their homes and by doing a kind of ‘feminist work’ of encouraging clients to let go of the perfectionist standards put on them. This is an important book and a must-read. You won’t look at the clutter in your house the same way again.”

—Marianne Cooper, VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab at Stanford University

“Lane has managed to perfectly capture the spirit and soul of the organizing profession. As a twenty-year ‘industry insider,’ I was delighted by her insightful take on what makes organizers tick and the nuance with which we approach this work that we love. I would recommend this book for anyone who is already operating within the profession, curious about organizing for a career, or contemplating hiring an organizer for support in their home or business.”

—Mindy Godding, President, National Association of Organizing and Productivity Professionals

“I began my career as a professional organizer in 2008, at the age of fifty and after a twenty-five-year stint in higher education, earning a Ph.D. in women’s history along the way. As such, I read Carrie Lane’s More Than Pretty Boxes with particular interest. Lane offers a unique blend of storytelling, history, biography, and analysis on an understudied group of entrepreneurs, mostly women, who navigate the closets and underwear drawers of their clients. Examining the industry through the lens of feminism and the ‘doubly gendered’ nature of the work, Lane offers a rare glimpse into the mind and heart of these ‘therapists of capitalism.’”

—Regina F. Lark, Ph.D. and founder of A Clear Path, LLC