How Do Y'All Do It?

Well, I guess you could misinterpret my title, so I'll just take that risk. I love organization. I thrive when I am most organized. I love for everything to have a place and to be in it. However, God has a sense of humor. He sent us triplets. Then He sent us two more little loves. I would not trade our 5 blessings for ANYTHING and I do mean ANYTHING. I adore our children and my husband. I am so thankful for them. However, I lost the battle when the triplets were born. I just couldn't keep things perfect (not that I had ever done so perfectly).
Paper takes over my house. I save recipes, slips of paper with addresses on it, special cards or letters, notes from the children, and bills. I am the CFO of our family, so I pay (or sometimes forget to pay) all of our bills. I love to write letters so I enjoy fun paper. I grew up with parents who were smart and saved their money for big things. They taught me how to find another use for things. Many hours are spent purging each week, but it's never enough. I've collected more than 10 bags of giveaway items in recent months, but we still need more closet space. I've thrown away collections of snail shells, little itty bitty pencils and pieces of paper, and broken toys. I've taken all of the old t-shirts out of my closet and tried to keep only what I will truly wear. New file folders and filing systems have been implemented. Evenings are spent tidying drawers and closets, putting away clean clothes, and throwing away old receipts. Yet it's never enough. If I open a drawer and it's messy, I stop everything and clean it out and re-organize it. I love to clean. The housekeeper is me. If I'm helping a child in the bath, I'll clean the sink and toilet or put away laundry. In other words, I really do spend my time wisely. But the paper haunts me. How do you do it? Please share some ideas with Mama Henley!

Let's subtract, not multiply

I have been working hard to control all of the things that keep procreating in this house. You would not believe the multiplication that happens in this house!! Aside from the 5 children, our laundry seems to multiply over night. I think I have washed the last pair of underwear or socks, and wake up to find a new load waiting on me. It is incredible!! Another thing that multiplies, splits, and adds is paper. Bills, sweet notes from the children, art work, letters from friends, to do lists, recipes, etc. seem to have babies!! I spent hours trying to calm the paper beast today. I even made a little progress. Too bad our bedroom looks like the after shot of a robbery. The chalk figure on the floor is of me, exhausted after my hard work!