We are a nation looking for help with our overabundance of stuff. So what better way to start out the summer than to target a few clutter-clogged zones in our homes and organize them?

We’ve seen more self-help organizing books ever since this category became popular in the prosperous 1990s, according to Lauren Nemroff, senior editor of books for Amazon.com. Interest exploded recently with the coverage of hoarders on shows such as “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and the steady stream of DIY cable series starring professional organizers.

“The current emphasis on organization and de-cluttering can also be seen as a psychological response to the economic downturn,” Nemroff wrote in an e-mail. “Most people are looking to do more with less, and gain a sense of control over their lives and stuff.”

Gretchen Rubin, author of the recent best seller “The Happiness Project,” thinks living an orderly life definitely makes people happier. She follows her own rules daily to ensure her surfaces are clean and her mementos are filed.

“In the context of a happy life, a messy coat closet should be trivial,” said Rubin, who often blogs and tweets de-cluttering advice to her faithful. “But there is something about getting ahold of physical clutter that makes people feel energized, freer and happier. Order contributes to inner calm for most people.”

To get you jump-started, we spoke to organizers about practical ways to tame four trouble spots in many homes: the junk drawer, hall closet, kids’ school papers and photo storage. Check out their ideas to get motivated so by summer’s end, you will be cleared out, sorted through and in control.

Hall closet

Problem: The hall or coat closet is a public storage spot shared by the entire family. It often bulges with not only jackets, trench coats and umbrellas but also with vacuum cleaners, boots and tote bags. Because it isn’t coat season right now, it’s a good time to reassess what really belongs in there. That list of essentials would be different for apartments or condos without benefit of other storage. The challenge is how to make the most of this compact space and keep it uncluttered.

Expert: Alison Lukes Teer, a professional closet organizer and wardrobe stylist. Lukes, whose business is Washington’s Alison Lukes et Cie, once worked for fashion designer Michael Kors. Every consulting job, she says, begins with a closet clean-out.

The fix: The hall closet is the junk drawer of closets, Teer said. “Because your hall closet is used every day and because it is a multi-person closet, it tends to gather a lot of random junk”: golf clubs, jogging strollers, balls, cleaning supplies and ski boots.

But this is valuable real estate in your home. It should contain only things you are using right now. Edit with this in mind: Mittens and scarves should be moved into a storage box and stashed elsewhere for the summer, the same for sunhats and beach bags for the winter. Raincoats and vests are year-round essentials.

If you have no other space in your home to store brooms or vacuums, hang them on the closet back wall on a sturdy rack. Neatness matters here more than in any other closet in the house. “The coat closet should always be organized so that a stranger coming in to hang a coat would not be appalled when the door is opened,” Teer says.

Tips:

•Accessorize with products to increase storage. A hanging pocket organizer for the door is a place to stash dog leashes, sunscreen, gloves or diapers. Hooks affixed at your preschooler’s level on the back of the door allow him to hang up his jacket.

•Make a note on your calendar to empty and sort through coat closets twice a year. In March or April, clear out winter accessories such as hats and boots. In September, put away stray flip-flops and visors, and restock cold weather gear.

Junk drawer

Problem: an overstuffed drawer that has become a catch-all for the small items of life, many of which have no assigned storage places in your home. Your crammed junk drawer is an embarrassment to your family.

Expert: Stacey Platt, a New York professional organizer and author of “What’s a Disorganized Person to Do?” (Artisan Books; $16.95).

The fix: Platt prefers to start any organizing project with a clean slate. She advises you to empty the drawer, turn it upside down and shake out dust, then wipe clean.

Invest in small organizing trays to keep things in order.

Then begin your sort-and-toss cycle. Throw out whatever actually fits the definition of junk: soy sauce packets, grungy plastic forks, inkless pens and ancient crumpled receipts. Put items back where they belong: screws into the toolbox, keys on your key rack, stray change in your wallet.

Platt says that “good junk” is whatever you actually use frequently and need to put your hands on quickly. Some might be duplicates of useful things you keep in other rooms.

Frequently, the household junk drawer includes scissors, tape measure, tape, Post-it notes, a screwdriver, a few rubber bands (not 50), a highlighter and a glue stick.

“Cleaning a junk drawer is something you can do in a very short amount of time,” Platt said. “It is instant gratification, a little organizing project that ... brings immediate results.”

Tips:

•Loose keys are a challenge, especially if they are unmarked. From now on, if someone gives you a key to their house, bike or boat, put it on a small keychain and label it with the person’s name or some other identifying code. Keep all keys together on a rack or in a metal box.

Platt has one client who puts all unidentified keys in a folder labeled “dead keys.”

•If you unearth chargers and cords in your junk drawer, figure out what they belong to and put them in small plastic bags marked with their gadget of origin. Stash these in a separate tech supplies drawer or box.

Kids and paper

Problem: Organizing kids’ papers actually has two parts. First, parents must create order for dealing with permission slips and information a child brings home for them to read and sign. A parent should also set up a system for preserving report cards, artwork, school pictures and other paper that filters through children’s lives, and maintain a family calendar.

Second, parents must teach children how to maintain order for themselves. They need to learn how to have a place for everything in their bedroom, desk and backpack. Household routines keep a family running smoothly.

Expert: Sandra Forbes, a professional organizer and mother of seven in suburban Washington. Her firm, Forbes Organizing, advises working moms and develops home management techniques.

The fix: Creating a designated home study area is essential. “They should have all the supplies they need to do their work,” she says. “Then they don’t get up to get something and get distracted.”

Keeping a family binder in your kitchen or on your desk gives a home to all the essential paper that’s constantly arriving from teachers, band leaders and coaches. Forbes uses a three-ring binder with tabs for each child. Using clear sleeves, Forbes organized schedules, phone lists and academic and sports calendars. You can use a similar binder for report cards and awards. She purges unneeded papers at the end of the school year and starts over. “Piled-up paper is a lack of making decisions,” she said. “You want to avoid that.”

Tips:

•Keep a bright-colored file labeled “pending” for permission slips and any other paperwork that is due sometime in the future. It prevents last-minute panic.

•Forbes uses the Microsoft Outlook calendar as a master clearinghouse for family dates. She clicks and drags e-mails into her calendar so all the information she needs on an activity is in the same place.

Photographs

Problem: Photographs may be one of your family’s most prized possessions, but their preservation, organization and presentation are often in chaos. Crumbling photo albums and drugstore film-processing envelopes full of unsorted memories are scattered throughout many homes.

Today’s photography, almost exclusively digital, is often accessed only in multiple computer folders. Many households have not merged shoeboxes of photos with their online photo libraries because it’s a complicated, time-consuming chore.

Expert: Judy Parkins, owner of Gently Organized in suburban Washington. Her specialty is home filing systems. Recently, Parkins decided to round up all her family photos and make order out of them.

The fix: Parkins began by researching the best way to create a digital archive so all photographs would be accessible to her four grown children and other relatives. Even though she owns a scanner, she thought it would take too much time to do it herself. She looked into photo-scanning services that would convert hers into digital files.

“I found that these are fast and affordable and ideal for uncluttering and organizing generations of photo memories,” she said. She chose ScanMyPhotos.com.

Parkins set up a workstation on a folding table in her office to allow her to do a little bit each day. Her 4,300 photos eventually were sent back on two DVDs. (You can also order books of all your photos printed out.) Parkins’ original photos were returned, and they are sitting in two boxes on her office shelf.

“I’m so happy to have this done,” Parkins says. “My children now have access to them 24-7.”

Tips:

•Be ruthless when editing. Do not keep blurry photos. Do not keep photos of someone you don’t recognize or a vacation you don’t remember.

•Keep photo organizing up to date. At least once a year, go through your latest digital photos and delete anything out of focus or duplicated. Add the rest to your online digital sharing service. Parkins uses Flickr Pro. This job never really ends as kids and grandchildren can continually add their photos to your family’s online archive.