Your ideas gave me a brainstorm, but with the following caution---if I potted the newly-arrived gorgeous hostas individually and set them outside, I am afraid that they would "develop legs". Nice things outside do have a habit of developing legs, especially with a housing project a few blocks away marring an otherwise lovely neighborhood. My Brooklyn friend, for whom all these plants are destined, has a large elevated brick porch at the top of her porch steps. It has brick walls all around, to boot. Upon the front wall sit 2 long skinny plastic planters, which is where I plant annuals for her every year. I seem to remember one of them is sort of aged and could stand to be replaced. I can buy a long skinny green plastic planter to replace it and use it here to plant the lovely new hostas in it. Then I could set this behind the Obligatory Bushes, out of the sight of passersby. Once the hostas are planted, we could just use this new planter on her porch. I think the hostas would be safer in a heavy planter than in individual pots, soooo tempting to pick up and walk away with. I would just have to pick up the heavy planter to put it into my car, but I think I'm up to that task. If not, I could ask a neighbor, like the strapping son of my handicapped neighbor. And, I just this minute got off the phone to HostasDirect, asking where my heuchie order is. The heuchies are to accompany the hostas under my friend's 2 big ball-shaped bushes in the front "yard" (by Brooklyn standards, it's a front yard. By you outoftowners' standards, it would be big enough to set 3 very large doghouses on, maybe). I should know by tomorrow, via phone call and/or email, when to expect the heuchies. They will be lil bitty things, as I could not find large specimens for all the varieties I wanted. I will have to explain to my friend that they will get bigger next year.

Lots of great tips given already, but my best tip is not to let it get dirty/untidy/cluttered in the first place. In other words, take care of issues with a few spare minutes before they get out of control, rather than having it overwhelm you After it's out of control. Think - PREVENT DEFENSE..... -Do dishes and clean the kitchen immediately after each meal (takes 10-15minutes) - you can relax after it's done and not have it as a negative thought eating you up the rest of the evening. Take another 5 minutes to sweep the floor so it doesn't get tracked all over the rest of the house. BTW - dish cloths and dish rags are ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL, as are dust cloths, brooms, vacuums, and any number of other cleaning items ;-). There are also not any gender-specific household chores. I think the best training my husband got was being a janitor at a number of businesses and schools while he went to college. The man can out-clean me any day of the week! -Eat together at the table, not all over the house at different times - (you won't have to take time to locate dirty dishes). -Put dirty clothes in a laundry basket/s (they will be all in one place when you need to start the laundry). We use 4 baskets located above the w/d on a shelf, and automatically separate clothes into whites, lights, darks, and kitchen towels. We air dry any wet items on a drying rack before tossing them into the laundry baskets to prevent that "sour" smell from wet items. -Do laundry on a regular schedule - and never run out of underwear! -Develop the do it NOW habit - don't just lay things down on the first convenient flat surface available intending to put it away later - put things away where they are supposed to go so you can easily find it later, hang coats/jackets in closets, shoes belong in your closet - not cluttering up the front entrance... We're not a shoes OFF family, which is a much debated issue on message boards ;-). Our flooring is designed to be walked on by us and by our guests/visitors (we have a rug outside and inside the front door to wipe shoes on). In fact, I'd rather visitors DIDN'T remove their shoes! My sister-in-law always went barefoot around the house and she always had warts on her feet, and her doctor told her it was because she was spreading the virus by going barefoot. - Go Figure - Keep your shoes on, please, we don't need your warts! So different strokes for different folks - but shoes don't belong at the front door entrance, whether you remove them there or not. -Get rid of/eliminate/prevent clutter - We don't take a daily newspaper or any magazine subscriptions, so that's a great way to save money, and we don't have a stack of them (usually left unread) to try to get-around-to. We had a friend who hated cleaning their bathroom. If they eliminated the 40 bottles of stuff lined up around the tub like a race track, it would make using AND cleaning the tub a breeze. The same went for the vanity that was completely covered with "stuff". Think of storage options to keep things clutter-free for easy cleaning - better yet, don't have "stuff" that causes clutter. -Deal with mail immediately - put "junk mail" into the recycling, put bills/correspondence in one place and take care of them a.s.a.p. -Tidy the public spaces of your home before retiring for the evening - takes 5 minutes - so it's turned a negative into a positive and a mess won't be greeting you the next morning. -Make beds each morning - it takes about 1-minute, and you'll have a positive space to retire to at night (btw - a 4-year old can make their own bed if you teach them how and don't make it complicated - and expect it to be done each day). -Identify problem areas, as already suggested. Most problems can be avoided or corrected with 5-minutes of regular attention that become good habits - and everyone participates in good habits. Reward good habits - everyone likes a little praise when it's deserved. If we keep the house clean this week, it won't take us as long to do the regular housework on Saturday, and we will have time to go out for an ice cream cone if we all do a good job all week! -Children should have a list of things they do just because they are part of a family. Pay them for things above and beyond their normal chores. Example: our kids got paid 25-cents per bag for leaves they raked (1980's prices :-), or helping with cleaning out the garage, or helping in the garden -- but taking their dishes from the table to the sink/dishwasher, helping do dishes, keeping their room clean, helping prepare a meal or setting the table, feeding/walking any pets, etc., was part of being a family - a good social skill and common courtesy. When our children were old enough, they planed and cooked one meal each week, and hubby did one on the weekend. We were all busy, so shared responsibilities made them a little lighter for all of us. -It's good manners to leave something in good or better condition than when you used it, so everyone has a positive experience. So if you splashed a few drops of water on the mirror, go ahead and wipe them off - rinse out the sink/tub/shower when you're done, or any number of other day-to-day things. If not you, then who? I AM my own housekeeper, so why would I want any more to do than is absolutely necessary? -It shouldn't take more than an hour to clean the entire house once a week, even less if you divide the tasks between 3 people, especially if you use "prevent defense" between cleaning days. Everyone in the household needs to be involved - they all dirty it, they can all help clean it AND keep it tidy. If they can mess something up, they have the skills to clean it up, especially once it's been defined as something they need to control and they have been instructed how to accomplish that task. The same motor skills that it takes to take toys out and play with them, remove a book from a shelf, take the blankets down to go to bed, can all be done in reverse. Unfortunately, that half of the equation is often ignored. When my son was going to college and living with different roommates, he often had to teach them these social skills about living as a "family", as well as how to do dishes, laundry, clean a toilet/bathroom, mop a floor, take out the trash, cook, and any number of other skills he'd been doing since he was a child. -If all else fails, get up 30-60 minutes earlier so you can take care of a portion of the list of things-to-do we all have to do, until you get a routine established. Your family will benefit from all you do, and all you teach THEM how to do. A friend with three children bemoaned the fact that she was a poor housekeeper because her mother was. I told her that was a lame excuse. After all, wasn't she in charge of her own activities, not her mother? Didn't she have the option to do the opposite? And if she didn't change the "poor housekeeper" model for the family, how did she ever expect her children to be good housekeepers? -Grainlady

No, it did not sound as if your friend was one of those who was threatened to be killed by her hoarding. Not all are like that. I have seen people who just resort to shopping as a crutch when life happens. As a person who is devoted to an uncluttered lifestyle, I struggle with my daughters house. I have to almost tie my hands when I go there. Her life is so full with commuting, career and family that I cannot help but see, that if her home was less cluttered it would be so much easier to manage. They are not really hoarders. They are clutterers. Even just putting anything away is twice the chore it ought to be because so much has to be juggled. Most of that juggling is so totally unnecessary if they would only cull out the useless from the useful. Everything is a balancing and juggling act. Why? Meanwhile, it grieves me to see her so strung out and stressed so much of the time when I know how true it is that clearing the clutter and having a more organized environment makes the chores of life and family flow so much smoother. They really need some calm and order in their lives.

Very nice and thanks for sharing those pictures. Martin