Remember: "A place for everything and everything in its place". The first part is the challenge -- making a place for everything. When there is mess in my house I find it is because that stuff does not "belong" anywhere. So, I have been thinking about little ways to re-think the storage in my house. Sometimes if I do something really small like designate a bin for receipts or for unopened mail, it makes me feel better. For example I decided to move my vitamins from the counter into a part of a kitchen cabinet which we weren't really using. And it had a huge impact! Now there is a part of the counter which is super-clean because I put the vitamins away. So every time I walk by, I am super-psyched. Here are some things I have done to get organized: 1. Go to the store and cruise the storage bins aisle. Think about what might help, then buy something!! 2. Get storage stuff at cheap places like Wal-Mart, Big Lots, Marshalls, Dollar Store, etc. 3. Don't be afraid to buy a storage item because you're scared it might not work. You can always use it somewhere else or take it back. Here are some of the storage things I use: 1. Rectangular plastic bins -- these are about the size of a shoe box and I have them all over the house. I will try and take some pictures so you can see what I mean. 2. Photo boxes -- I get these at Big Lots or on sale whenever I can. These are great and attractive too! I use them for storing photos, cards (I am a pack rat), etc. 3. Baskets -- these are attractive and can be used to hold miscellaneous stuff like pens, receipts, business cards, coupons, mail, stapler, etc. 4. Jewelry boxes -- I use the white boxes jewelry comes in to organize all those little tidbits which collect on surfaces and are so extremely vexing -- paper clips, business cards, snips of paper. 5. Binders -- I have this SUPER AWESOME system which I call "crazy binder". It is basically a binder for crazy person (me). There is pretty much no organization to it whatsoever. When I have a piece of paper which I cannot figure out where to file, I put it in the binder. I also bought a box of plastic sleeves so if stuff is not easily hole punched I stick it in a sleeve. Most stuff actually ends up in the sleeves. I love my crazy binder!!!! Some of these ideas I got from watching "Mission Organization" on TV. I think it's on TLC or something. For a while I set my Tivo to record every episode and I would watch all of them, fast forwarding through the boring parts. It is a super-inspiring show!!!! They take a super-cluttered disaster space and make it organized and neat. It makes you feel better because you see there are other people just as disorganized as you are!!!