What I found helped me immensely was giving up the notion of it being 'organised'. I always wanted it to be perfect - this type of toy in this crate, this type in the next - as a result nothing got cleaned properly because the kids wouldn't do it and it was always too much for me on my own to keep it orderly. Then I went to the 'as long as it's away' philosophy. And it's working for me now. I have bought some tubs, those plastic toy bins (which look like real bins) and when the place needs a clean up, I scoop everything up and dump it in without worrying about what goes where.

I do try to keep the craft stuff separate from the toys, but craft stuff, I don't try to get all the pen lids back on, I don't worry if they are loose in the box instead of in a pencil case, I don't worry if the lid of the glue isn't found right away or if there's cut up bits of paper going back in the box. It all just goes in.

Every now and then I'll spend an hour and give the tubs a good clean out - which generally halves what's in there lol, as the rubbish and broken stuff goes to the bins.

Of course my kids are a bit bigger - Ziana is 11 and Brielle is 10 now, so they can clear up for me, but even Jessalyn is 5 and Kassidy is 3, so they are getting past the seek and destroy age a little bit too.

Chin up, it really won't last forever. Gosh I hope not anyway