[KT!]

Good advice from others and I may be repeating somewhat.

My suggestion would be to gain control of your daily life. "Take care of today!" That may sound easy, but think about it:

1. Mail - dispose of today's junk mail and put the bills and catalogs in their homes today.

2. Purchases - whether it's food, clothes, or something for the car, if it was brought in today, find a home for it today. Do not let groceries sit in bags on the counters and floor.

3. Clothes - if today's clothes can still be worn again, hang them in the closet. If today's clothes are soiled, put them in a hamper or laundry basket today.

4. Dishes - wash today's dishes and put them away today.

5. Spills - in the refrigerator/microwave, on the counter/table/floor wipe them up with a paper towel today. You don't have be "perfect" and scrub the entire floor or fridge, clean today's spills today.

6. Laundry - Do at least one load of laundry per day. But do it from start to finish - sort, wash, dry, fold, hang, put away. Enlist the help of the kids when and where you can. Remember, our job as parents is to prepare them to be responsible, independent adults. We teach them to ride bikes and drive cars. They need to be taught how to do laundry, dishes, vacuuming, and all of those things which are required for living.

By taking care of today you are preventing new clutter from building up.

Sure you have old clutter: mail, bills, catalogs, dirty dishes, dirty laundry, clean laundry, and boxes of stuff everywhere. You can't take care of everything at once. So why not practice getting control of your daily life. Do this for about 3 weeks to a month. THEN, when you go to do today's dishes, grab 2 or 3 dirty dishes that have been living on the counter for months.

When you are putting today's clothes in the closet or the laundry, pick up 2 or 3 pieces from the floor or a chair and put those where they belong.

When you are gathering/sorting dirty laundry, pick up those pieces that are scattered around. When putting away today's clean laundry, gather up some of the clean laundry that has been on the chair or dresser for months and put those away, too. If you happen to have a lot of clothes lying around, it means that you have too many. Doing laundry is a good time to set aside clothes for donation or the trash. Trash clothes that are ripped or stained. Freshly laundered clothes that are to be donated can be immediately placed in bags or boxes in the trunk of your car. When you happen to pass the Salvation Army or Goodwill, stop and drop them off. A clothes round-up does not have to take a whole afternoon or weekend. It can be done on a daily basis.

When you are taking care of today's mail, gather up some pieces of old mail and dispose of those, too.

By taking care of today, you are preventing new clutter. By disposing of the old clutter bit by bit, the logical conclusion is that some day (2 months? 4 months? a year?) you will be clutter free.

By the time you get around to your mother's room, perhaps your heart will be better healed and you will be able to work in her room and smile when each piece of clothing or knick-knack provides a memory.

A final suggestion........................
Since you have so much to accomplish, I would not make a To-Do list. That would be so overwhelming and discouraging to look at. A better solution might be to make a Ta-Da list. That is one where you write down everything you have accomplished. It is satisfying to see that grow.

Best of luck to you. Please check back and let us know how your are doing.