How I stay organized...well somewhat

In reality I am a very unorganized person when it comes to my home, put me in a working environment and I'm very particular about where my things go.  At home, I tend to let things go a bit more than I should.  Granted we just moved into a new home in September, so some of our stuff is still packed- mainly stuff that needs to be stored away when our garage is built but it's still neater than our previous house.  It also helps that our basement is not finished yet, when it gets finished, we will have a 6 bedroom, 3 bath home and I can only imagine how I will keep it clean.  My love helps out tremendously, he literally can take an hours time without the kids and I home and when I get back, the home looks wonderful, he's amazing like that!
I wasn't sure where to start so to keep a clean house when we lived in a one bedroom home and it was just myself, my love and Toots but a good friends tuned me into flylady.net and I love it, when I can keep up with it.  Let me set the scene for you...I'm getting all 3 kids loaded into the car to go for a family visit 3 states away.  I've talked my mother who has let me know she may not be home when I get there and to please not mind the mess...anyone who knows my mother, knows that by mess she means that she didn't dust that day or maybe left mail on the table or the end of all ends that there are a few dishes in the sink.  I love my mother with all my heart but she has always had a spotless house and she stayed home with 3 kids until my high school years but I'm still struggling to know how she did it!  Granted my 3 are closer than hers were by just a bit but still!  So when I tell friends please don't mind the mess, I mean, there are dishes out, laundry piles needing folded and TOYS EVERYWHERE!  So flylady helps me stay a bit more on track and I love her short daily missions to declutter your home!

In other areas such as recipes and menu planning I had papers strung throughout the house and could never get it together so I started a Master Book, pictures below.  In my master book, I have my master pantry inventory list, a blank one that helps with making the shopping list and one that is a running inventory so I know what I have on hand at all times.  You may wonder why I need one so I know what I have well...I'm a ketcup queen, I hadn't been keeping an inventory and went to the store, bought my usual 3 bottles of ketcup, along with the rest of my items.  When I arrived home, I unpacked groceries and found that I now had a grand total of 11 bottles of ketchup, far more than I would need for one month!  From then on I made my master list and try very diligently to keep up with it so I don't end up with an abundance of one item and fewer of the ones I use more often.  Also in my Master Book, I have separate tabs for all of my recipes:  Breakfast, Beef, Poultry, Pork, Seafood, Soups, Pasta, Meatless, Sides, Seasonings/Mixes,  Marinades/Condiments, Salads, Breads, Desserts, Snacks, & Menus.  Under each tab I've written recipes that we've liked and use often.  This way when my husband goes to make Apple Pie (and he makes a mean apple pie) he can pull out My Master Book and find the recipe with ease rather than digging through a tiny recipe box or standing there asking himself, "Now which red cookbook is it in?"  Hope this helps, more next time!  Blessings!