this old thread keeps me in line!
and becomming a tad ruthless.ive found moving to a smaller house helps as it gets messy quicker so i have to tidy more

also not letting the dc in helps keep my house tidy,although they do look cold sometimes.

My Tips for Household paperwork

One File for Appliance instructions - staple receipts & guarantees together at time of purchase.

One Envelope for current receipts which everything goes in & gets cleared out once a quarter.

A-Z file for passports, driving licences, insurance docs, utility bills, car stuff etc,

Separate folder for House / Mortgage

Kids stuff: I am careful with what I put in the loft but the kids all have a couple of boxes up there. I chuck stuff in a box downstairs until it's full then unload it into the loft box a couple of times a year when the box is full.

As other posters have said, deal with post etc straightaway - either recycle immediately or file. Have a "to do" section in your A-Z file but make sure it's only got genuine items to action in it.

Good luck !!

Can't comment on how to achieve a tidy house as mine is something of a midden.

I can comment on Christmas presents! Unless there's something specific we would like or need money towards, we ask for posh edibles and family seem to enjoy putting together little hampers of goodies from their corner of the UK! We've rarely not used anything and it's all gone in a few months' time.

Oh, and another one...
When you get a toy with lots of bits, straight away get a plastic storage box of an appropriate size (I like the ones with clip on lids - I think they're called the really useful box) and put ALL the bits, plus instructions etc, in the box, and throw away the packaging the toy came in. And FORCE the DCs to return the bits to the box when they are finished - we are allowed 3/4 toys out at a time, and then we have to put one away before another one can be got out.

The best things I have learnt are:

1. Keep ONE of everything. This is useful with toys - one garage, one trike, one set of paints - and it works in the kitchen too. It's hard to do but I always think I'd love, one day, to have one each of a really lovely beautiful good quality thing than 4 or 5 of that thing but less nice ones iyswim. For instance, I have a lovely cast iron emnamel casserole dish, that will last for EVER. That's it - I don't need more than that one casserole dish. (I have a bigger one for when we have family to stay, but for just us this dish is IT).

2. For things where just one is not practicable (eg kids books, pairs of jeans) decide how much space you have for those things and then chuck away anything that does not fit into that space. DS has a shelf in his room and a shelf in the living room for books. That is the maximum kids books we can accomodate. If we get more, we have to go through the bookshelves and weed out the least nice ones to make room for the new ones.

3. Keep like together. Decide where in the house sports equipment, or art materials, or whatever goes. Then make sure ALL the things in that category are TOGETHER. It makes it a lot easier to see when you have got 'doubles' of things, and also where a particular type of clutter is getting out of hand.

kids artstuff is actually quite easy to store i think, i have bought one of these

(although mine is smaller and cheaper). i keep maybe 2 or 3 paitings etc on the fridge at a time, when a new one comes home i take 1 down, then decide whether or not to keep it. the folder is for the kids to look at when theyre older, so i try to think what will be worth them looking at again when they are adults. keeping that in mind makes it a lot easier to be objective about what is worth keeping.

Shelves everywhere. Go upward. DH is pretty nifty at attaching things to walls so we have a good set of shelves in every room that take books, toys, kitchen stuff, sewing stuff, etc right up off the floor.

The first part of the battle is creating a place for everything (not just a pile), the second is putting it away. I struggle with the second but without the first there would be no hope!

I divide my cleaning up over 5 days and find that gives me time to do a proper tidy in a room as I'm not rushing the job.

Watching with interest as I have the most messy cluttered house in the world, worse since children and it's getting me down!

Thank you everyone! I know, I need to be ruthless and not sentimental. Easier said than done when I have yet to discard of so much as a scribble that has come home from DD's nursery