In recent years, professional organizing has gone from serving a niche market to forming an industry of its own. Burdened with too many tasks and too little time to spare, more Chinese people are seeking help from professional organizers in cleaning up their living spaces and staying organized.

Fighting clutter with clients is the mission of Yuan Chunnan and her team. They're not housekeepers, but professional organizers.

"The most interesting part about this job is to go on mini-trips to different families to find out different life stories. This way, I could get a chance to find out what lifestyle I like or don't like. And I also realize that having money is not equal to quality life or happiness," said Yuan, a professional organizer and founder of Traveling Light Consulting Co.

Step by step, Yuan and her co-workers restore tidiness to households.

"Organizers design the space and relocate stuff by labeling them, so it's easier for my family to maintain cleanliness. At the same time, they find out the root causes of such clutter and solutions, which is to control my shopping desire," said Zhao Dongqin, a housewife and client of Yuan.

At her workshop, Yuan trains more soon-to-be organizing talents from all walks of life.

"I was panicking after retirement. But learning from Chunnan helps me to understand this niche market. I would like to set up my own organizing business in the future," said a retired lady living in Beijing.

"Now I am studying in Britain as a sophomore. I think organization is one of my talents, I like to put things in order where they belong. And I learned the definition from Japan, which is called 'cut-off and abandon meaningless things'," another trainee said.

Yuan has even considerable influence on Chinese social media. Since starting her company in 2013, some 40,000 people have signed up for her podcast courses.

"I want everyone to know that organizing is not only for getting a beautiful home, and a beautiful wardrobe. What's more important is invisible. It's the sources around you, your thoughts, life directions, relationships and emotions," Yuan added.

Originating from the U.S. in the 1980s, the professional organizing industry is still in its early stages in China.

"In 2015, I saw more professional organizers join the industry in China. By my observation, now some 1,000 professionals are working in the industry. Some have started up their own companies like myself, while some others are self-employed or work in large enterprises."

A recent industry survey conducted by Yi Organizer Studio suggests Chinese professional organizers are mostly female, born in the 1980s or later, with diverse backgrounds. Three out of four are from first- or second-tier cities, while 40 percent of these full-time organizers say they could earn at least 10,000 yuan – close to 1,500 U.S. dollars - per month, an average salary for Chinese white-collar workers.

So, back to her "battlefield," what makes Yuan's business stand out? She says the old-fashioned word of mouth, from regular clients to prospective new clients, is still the best way for word to get around.