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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am literally working with an organizer so that everything has a place then - the next step is making sure everything is in its place.

It’s frustrating picking up after everyone else in the house!  Usually I just end up taking screens until things are cleaned up. [/quote]

I had a revelation when I started co-oping at my daughter’s pre-k. Every day 10 minutes before snack it looks like a hurricane has blown through, and by snack everything is tidy. It’s because everything has a place, and everything is “just enough” organized. So blocks in their respective bins, but you don’t have to sort plastic fruits from plastic vegetables for example.

It’s really true that if you have not too much stuff and homes for everything, you can “catch up” on tidying relatively quickly even when things have gotten out of hand. When you’re disorganized or have too much stuff and things get messy, it’s much much much harder to dig back out. [/quote]

This is the key.  I’m not a professional organizer but have been told by every person who steps foot in my house that I should be.  And the key is for everything to have a home.  You need to start tackling one room a week.  Find an out of sight space for every single item where it can live.  Everything in my house is labeled if that would help you but it’s not for everyone.  I also have three young kids so the labels help them know where toys go.  The ikea trofast storage solutions are genius and easy for this.

Also, you need to be merciless about getting rid of stuff.  It’s likely that when you start you won’t be able to find a home for everything because you have too much stuff.  Go through every single thing you own when you do a room a week and look at it.  I know people make fun of Marie Kondo but she had the right idea.  We hold on to 90% too much stuff because we are sentimental creatures.  But then the stuff we think brings us joy actually causes more stress.  Get rid of 1/3 of the things you own.  Dishes.  Clothes.  Shoes.  Toys.  I promise you will be happier with less stuff.  And then the key like a PP said is one in and one out.  Be ruthless about sticking to it.

It sounds like you’re about to move to a bigger house?  So do this as you pack.  Look at every single thing you own room by room and downsize.  Then as you unpack make sure every single thing you own has a space to go.

It also sounds like you have a mail problem.  You tend to have mail and papers everywhere.  When you get the mail immediately go through it.  Bills have a spot (my husband has a home office so they immediately go there).  School
Work has a spot (my kids each get a small bin each year for school work that is special and they want to keep and everything else gets recycled.  But do it immediately.

Good luck!  I promise once you have a system in place you can do this and maintain it.[/quote]

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