Last night John found two boy scout manuals that have been lost in the basement since January. Eight months. The last two weeks we have started praying as a family to find them. Seriously, in family prayer, "Heavenly Father please help us find the scout manuals..." or help us know where to look. They were at the bottom of a box with computer stuff on top.
I didn't put them there.
I really try and group my piles and keep important ones close to me so I can find them again!
I spent $25 once to attend an amazing workshop in Pittsburgh by a professional organizer. I learned that I do not have an organized lifestyle, that I have problems making choices about things, and that I craft/fabric hoard. AND that I need to see things or I forget about them. Clear boxes, vertical storage, clips, magnet boards are all good solutions for me.
So is less stuff.
I knew a lady in SLC who said one of the best things that happened to her family was a home fire-everything destroyed. They had to start over, all the clutter gone...
Moving doesn't solve that clutter problem if you have no time and dump things into boxes, bury them in your memory.
My mothering wish for the day: instant retrieval system. Everyone in the family could put things down anywhere in the house and then the next day or after 3 months they could type in what they are looking for and it would INSTANTLY appear in a basket, TA-DA! Magic, science, miracle, whatever.
Moving around basement this summer to get ready for daily seminary created chaos. I admit that. I couldn't paint through the computer wires and boxes as they were.
Sixteen year old Max is looking for a composition book with a summer AP assignment he said he completed. He does not want to redo it. I don't blame him, for the hours he says he invested.
But I do not feel responsible for his school work if he places it in a public space. We have looked. I know I didn't recycle or throw away any composition books (I save them, and reuse them, tape/glue magazine rips to the pages by theme, and I have not done that this summer, didn't cache away any books, showed him the drawer that has the old ones I know about...) Painful, horrible family moments. Who is responsible?
Am I really the keeper of the house items? I know I don't know about everything that comes through the door.
Check-in at the door, and you receive a ticket item, like a coat-check system?
I have seen beautiful mud-rooms with a locker for each child. Baskets with their name. Magazine ideals, sigh, with a price tag.
My cheap organizing solution is office clipboards hung by a nail with every one's name corresponding above their paperwork. It has helped keep track of loose papers.
But the chunky stuff, the books, the heavy textbooks need shelves or something sturdier.
WHAT ARE YOUR HOME ORGANIZING SOLUTIONS?
ATTENTION: milk has moved from the bottom shelf to the top. You can all reach that high now. I believe in independent breakfast eaters. Do not try to cram it in the old spot. It will not fit because I moved around the shelves.
Ahh, beautiful. Organized by how we use things. Butter and garlic still on top. EGGS are lower than they were to make better use of space. We eat a lot of eggs. 
Emma, can you tell what I photo shopped out, without peeking at the picture below?
HOURS after we installed this new fridge, the meat drawer was left open and someone closed the door and broke/cracked the handle of the drawer. I've stopped noticing it. We get used to ugly things. I saved the piece for awhile, but never tried to glue it on, and then lost the piece. 
