I voted for garage organization but we also struggle with paper, paper and more paper! One tip I learned was to not even let junk mail in your house. I have to walk to our mail box at the top of the drive way, so before I even enter the house, I stand by the garbage and just throw all the junk away. I also go through the mail right away and toss anything I already get electronically. Getting bills via email too has cut down on all the paper and more places offer it now too.

Kids toys!! It seems like its clean up time morning, noon, and night.

Is there something genetic carried on the Y chromosome that impels them to drop their shoes in the front hall and leaving them there (even tho there is a cubbie-shelf specifically purchased for said items)?? sigh. ;-)

My ebook has saved me from having too many books but paper, receipts and information that you just might need, is handled well if you can scan them into your computer. Large envelopes filed by month are another idea.

With a baby in the house, all the bedrooms upstairs.... It's not possible during the day for his entertainment and all the housework I need to get done. But bringing down all the toys is so much clutter! My husband purchased a TV cabinet with glass sliding doors. All the toys in the cabinet, the big toys neatly placed on top. I look organized and clean!

Family heirlooms are a valuable piece of history, but I'm so guilt-ridden if I don't like them or don't want them on display in my house. De-clutter by re-gifting them to other family members, letting them know that both you and great aunt whoever want them to have it. Keeping it in the family but giving it to someone who will appreciate it more takes some of the stress out of the situation.

My biggest issue would be paper and all the other little things that accumulate on the surface of a desk. What I do is take shoe boxes--sometimes a paint them fun colors if I'm bored, but that's not really neccesary--and stick them into drawers. I use several differnet sizes, so that the drawer is divided into different sections. That way, when I feel the need to get stuff off my desk, it doesn't just move the clutter from the desk to the drawer. You could put papers in one shoe box, pencils and pens in another, and sticky notes and tape in another. Better yet, if you need to, you can just pull the whole shoe box out of the drawer and throw it in the trash (for instance the shoe box full of newspapers and magazines from ages ago that somehow never made it to the trash because they wound up on your desk first)

to Rosebud3: I'm not sure I'm in the contest for "dream backyard". How do I know for sure? thank You So Much. Linda Doyle

Actually the contest is for a pair of slippers, not a backyard makeover.

The contest is for a pair of slippers! :)

Garage collects clutter from 9 months then the big clean out. It happens every year. A lot of family fun to clear out the clutter but like a New Years Resolution we break the promise to keep it uncluttered after a few months.

I think solutions for clutter is having one designated place to put the categories of such items. When it becomes too full, take 1/2 hr to 1 hr and throw out. If you try to find additional drawers or boxes to put it it, then you're saving too much. If it is periodically cleaned out, it won't mount up. Once you start this, it becomes routine and you won't keep adding to it.

There are only a few major categories for paper. All paper in boxes, containers, drawers or file cabinets. No visible signs of too much paper. We all have a little pile of stuff. I do too :)

Junk Mail - throw it out on the spot, don't even set it down.
Bills - one area where they always go.
Magazines - 5 at the most, unless there is a place for them without looking like you are out of space to place them. You will never get to them if you have more than that. Keep more, only if you have one tidy place for them and you know that they won't be breeding.
Coupons - one place where they go.
Filed items - one area designated for filing if not filed right away.
How to instruction and curious information - Google, don't need printing or paper.
Kitchen junk drawer and tools space. Most tools in the garage but need some in the home for convenience for small fixes.

If you don't go through drawers, closets, counters, table tops to throw out the old and only keep adding, it becomes overwhelming. This creates anxiety. A proven fact. I admit I have a couple areas to clean up, but on the whole, everything has a home and is put out of sight and clean and neat.

The main reason being that I want a nice looking home. It's important to me. I also want a home that is presentable, no matter who should arrive unexpectably. This is what motivates me. It's a priority for me. So, I keep up with it. You have to want to do it, for it to be successful.

To start, if it's a lot. I suggest start with one room. Devote a 1/2 -1 hr whenever there is time.
Four boxes or bags. 1.KEEP 2. DONATE 3. ?? 4. TRASH.. Then revisit the Keep box and ?? This will help divide the items for finalizing the difficult decisions. You will find that you will be able to use your cabinets and closets wisely. You will also realize that you will not need as much storage space as you think you do. Ex: I find that I don't need 10 black tops. I choose my favorites and weed out the one's that don't mean as much. I try to make reasonable choices. I have the hardest time with artsy craftsy stuff and shoes :)
We have two options. Clutter or No clutter.

Everything needs a home and in the same place all the time. It becomes second nature. You will never have trouble finding anything. That's what organization is all about.

Paper is my nemesis, I do genealogy and prefer paper records over digital. I have trouble maintaining my records without the blizzard of paper? I am overwhelmed with notebooks, individual sheets, photos, and more.

Even though when I open the mail and recycle junk mail, envelopes, etc. paper seems to pile up and get out of control.

My biggest problem is the "guest room" where everything gets chucked that we don't want to deal with until it looks like a salvation army store.

My two car garage is my attic, basement and garage as far as storage goes (our home is built on a slab and has cathedral ceilings). As far as my husband is concerned it is also his catch all for most things needing a place. I think we need solutions that are simple. So far I have organized it 3 times only to find things randomly strewn again. It snows here where I live so I need my two bay garage back.

I voted for paper and I need major help with this area ASAP!!!!

Without a garage it is difficult to store all those garage items.

When my mom passed away at age 99 I inherrited all of her family pictures from long ago. Wonderful! But they are all in boxes and most of them are not even labeled. I guess I have her unorganized picture gene because most of my pictures taken over the years are in the same state. I think choosing the main ones and grouping, then mounting them would be so special. It's hard for me to actually start this project as it is so overwhelming to me. However, procrastinating won't get it done so I will just dive in and accomplish this feat!

My adult son recently took all his childhood photographs and scanned them to protect them from breaking down from heat, moisture and age. He then shared them digitally with everyone in our family. We each commented about details, location, memories and had a series of on-going e-mail conversation about these pictures. We live far away from him and he is so busy with his professional life that sometimes weeks go by without any contact.This digitized photo history made for a very bonding experience while also preserving his personal history (as well as his brothers photographs too) for many years. We truly treasure these old photographs and the memories they hold!!

Great photo!

Thanks. That's actually a photo of me and a neighborhood girl, about age 9/grade 4. So iconic 1950's & 1960's. Our old white house with fence in the rear, right hand side. I had forgotten the wide, gravel road! What's even more interesting is a neighbor girl says she took this photo, she was about my age and she says she took it with her new Brownie camera. Pretty talented photographer for her age. I LOVE old photographs!

Donna AL, that's what I did too. I scanned a large suit case full of photos and thousands of slides. it's a good idea to preserve them before they deteriorate. love your photo :)

To Donna A..-L.. What a great gift to your whole family!

I think I'm always doing myself a favor by getting the mail while pulling into the driveway. Turns out not so much. I either leave it in the car by accident or I bring it in and have to start dinner so it gets dropped on the island. It only gets my attention again when it is falling over when kids run by. In addition, my island has the stove so I've lit the mail on fire a few times. Luckily I've always noticed that the bills have fallen onto the stove. Phew!

Believe it or not my classroom is worse. But I'm seriously clutterbusting and reorganizing. 10 hrs so far and more to be done. I inherited a room full from a total pack rat. The only gem: a poster, pristine and never used, from 1975! My 4th grade teacher had one just like it and you bet I laminated that one! It made it worth the headache!

Papers are always a challenge. As a parent, designer, and small biz owner, I come across lot of paper. If I let go for a week, I won't be able to see my table. So I have found out that HIOO, Handle It Only Once, works the best. As soon as I see paper, mail, kid's art work, .... I either file it to the right spot or recycle it. I have learned to be a tough editor. I also go through my files every 3 months and de-clutter as well.

Cheryl Freeman, you could do like we did when we lived at a rental townhouse. We built a "garage". Remember this is a temporary fix until you can build a proper garage. Take a pallet and some framing lumber and make a frame around the sides of a pallet. We used 4 sheets of pressure treated 4 x 8' plywood for the outside which we painted to match the building. The ends were cut from half of one of the sheets of plywood into two 4 x 4' pieces for the ends. The door was attached with hinges on top to where you pull the door up like the old garage doors.I can't remember if we had to cut the plywood down to fit the framework. You could have it up on cinder blocks if you want it to last longer than 5-6 years. If you do put it up on cinder blocks and want to store wheeled objects, or for your ease, you'd have to also build a ramp up to the doorway.

We had a "garden" area next to the patio where the homes were offset from each other. The garage nestled in the corner, somewhat out of sight. There was also a large pine tree next to the building near this garden area. We used a latch that my husband attached a padlock to - this was acceptable for our insurance company to classify his motorcycle as garaged. After he sold the motorcycle, we tore the garage down. It's been over 15 years since we had it.

If we had one of these today, my husband would be filling it up with firewood. Right now he has 3 buildings full of wood, most of it cut up from pallets, which he got free. I think one would be great for gardening supplies but if you want to store them upright, you'd have to make it taller than 4'.

CONGRATULATIONS to Dianne Harden! She'll be getting her very own pair of Houzz slippers! ;) If you missed out on this poll, don't worry, we have another one going on with a few days left! Enter here:
https://www.houzz.com/discussions/poll-dream-backyard-feature-dsvw-vd~609729

My husband's crap is my biggest problem. Not only does he own a lot of crap, he likes to spread it all over the house. He doesn't put things away usually, and when he does, it's often in the wrong place. He figures any random drawer or shelf will do if he wants to tidy up a countertop.
When a large pile of crap has collected in shared space, like the corner of the living room, I dump it in his office upstairs. Then he complains he can't find his stuff. Does this stop him from starting more crap piles in shared space? Of course not.
The only upside to this is that I've had to get rid of a lot of my excess crap and tighten up to the extreme on my own messy tendencies, just so we don't drown in CRAP. It's helped me learn to let go of material possessions. But I still don't like living with junk piles and misplaced stuff all over the house.

My kitchen has one drawer designated for clutter. Clutter is the accumulation of the miscellaneous. No clear category is the problem. If you cannot decide where it goes a plastic see-through box in a garage or closet buys time, and one designated clutter box authorizes you to wait on deciding where 'this' goes without encumbering the others in your household by your need to wait to decide. Order is reassuring, but it needs to be genuine. A holding tank helps.

I think scanning your photos is wonderful but I have a least 1000 photos. How do you do that without taking it somewhere and spending a fortune?? Thank you.

I scanned several thousand photos and cards, etc. using a copy stand and a digital camera.

sorry very ignorant when it comes to these things. What is a copy stand and how is a digital camera able to do this?

ghey, go to this link and it shows a drawing of a copy stand and how to use it.

http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nenam/photset.htm

Thank you for your help - appreciate it! After looking at the page showing the copy stand, I wonder if I would need that for photos as I was thinking couldn't I accomplish the same thing by placing each photo in a well lit place and just taking a picture of the picture that way?

It's hard to edit your own clutter...too much sentiment involved! Hire someone objective to help you & it'll go a lot faster!

Yes, it is true for sure that a professional would be able to do it a lot faster - but with as many photos I have to copy, it would so very expensive. But thanks for the tip

the one I used was not that fancy. it was put together mostly by my husband who altered it for his own purposes. it had more lights and some other adjustments. but it worked really well, I copied several thousand photos in a couple of days. I also had a piece of tempered glass to lay over the photos so there was no glare, otherwise you get curled edges. the photos would not come out as well if you just photographed them without appropriate light.

Thank you so much for the info! I guess I will need to purchase the whole thing as I would not be able to put it together like your husband did.

certainly :) we just used those clamp on lights so they could be moved around where you needed them..and we had a surge protector to plug everything in...the lights get hot after a while so watch out for that..it's totally worth it because you have all your photos and whatever else (I did cards and letters too) saved. I was even able to do large sized photos and small negatives.

WOW! How did you do the negatives?

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I can't seem to get rid of things given to me by family. Even though it meant nothing to them.

@ Leisa Owens, maybe you can take photos of it. Keep those. Then donate to Salvation Army.

Storage room!

I put in a cabinet in the entry way beside the back door. I put a recycling pull out on one side and a hanging file pull out on the other side. When I come in with the mail, it either gets recycled or filed right away. No more papers stack up to go through later!

Pool and game tables in the basement. - DH's favorite dumping ground for things he claims he doesn't know where they belong - which is most everything according to him. The main reason for me is I rarely go down there, so I rarely pick it up. When I do go down, WOW! After one of my surgeries, I went down after 2+ years and there was stuff on every surface including the floor, not just the tables. I had to hire help to get it cleared out. Thank goodness I could do that.

My bedroom closet is a nightmare. Everything that doesn't have a 'home' ends up being shoved in there under the dress clothes that I never wear. I have been wanting to clean that up, but every time I open that side, I just groan, slide the door closed and think to myself, "I've got too much stuff".