Clutter...where does it come from?

Does it multiply while I'm sleeping? Does it invite its friends without consulting me? Is it a conspiracy of my children? Is it simply the product of 5 people and all of their stuff in my 1482 sq. foot house?

Whatever the explanation, it drives me crazy! Why does every horizontal surface in the house attract clutter like a magnet? Why do things not make it back to there designated place? Does everything even have a designated place?

Here's an example of what I mean--this is the floor to ceiling bookcase in my "school room":



It probably doesn't look horrible at first glance, but if we look a little closer:

Here is an assortment of cell phone and camera battery chargers:



And, here we see where I stashed a whistle that I did not want to hear during school hours and two decks of cards I was sick of picking up over and over again!



Here is the paper and envelopes I just purchased for our Christmas letters. Why did I put them on the shelf that holds the current year's school books? Because I had company coming and didn't want them sitting on the kitchen counter.



And, here is my stash of cookbooks and cooking magazines. The problem? I never use them because I hate cooking! LOL!! There are also three index card file boxes that have not been used in years but sit there anyway. Why?



And, for good measure, here is the top of the piano on another wall in the same room. None of us plays the piano...it just collects clutter. Here we see papers that need filing, assignment sheets and lesson plans in the making.



All this is symptomatic of the whole house! Lots of stuff. Lots of stuff out of place. I'm going to tackle these two hot spots and I'll let you know how it goes. If I'm not back soon, send someone in after me! It means I'm buried and the stuff won!