Our house has gotten better (helps once half the kids leave home, since we don't have tons of space), but still a work in progress! Our approach:
-- we actually do use the dining room table for schoolwork. We bought a cheap bookshelf for the dining room (yes, my dh cringed, but we move it out for fancy dinners), and books, notebooks, etc go on the shelves. We have a sorter with slots for activities/music/school papers/church stuff (youth group, confirmation...) etc. We have small bins for papers, pencils, markers, tape, staplers, spare calculators, etc. It has helped a TON!
--kids have to declutter their rooms every week, as well as the basement (where we keep games, toys, etc). We don't have a lot in their rooms besides clothes, books, magazines (we have bookshelves and magazine holders) and a few awards/trophies, etc.
-- we have four plastic (portable) file cabinets- the kind you can easily pick up and carry. Two have 12 hanging files with a few things from each grade we want to save. Two have about the same number of files for each class/activity from the current year (we keep these in the dining room as well). At the end of the year, everything else gets thrown.
--we have 2 big binders for each kid with lots of plastic sleeves. One has music stuff (programs and recital pages from things, usually with a note or picture thrown in) and the other has certificates and awards - Mathcounts, science fair, honor roll certificates, etc...
-- as far as laundry, I have to admit that my kids don't do a lot of their own laundry (but they definitely CAN do it). They bring down their laundry every morning and sort it, and after running/sports, they bring down their sweaty clothes and put them right on the washer. I am a SAHM and I do laundry every day, and dh is kind of a laundry nut (he can't stand dirty laundry, so he is always doing it). Kids put away their own laundry every day after school. Kids strip their beds, wash and dry sheets, and put back on every weekend.
--we don't really have a lot of electronics, so that isn't a problem
--the boys aren't into crafts, but we do have one standing cupboard in the basement (from IKEA) where we keep all craft supplies, which we still end up using for science fairs or school projects. When my girls were younger we had tons of crafts. We had a card table in basement, the same IKEA cupboard, plus a few portable bins of stuff. We also had a small table in living room that had doors and it still has labeled bins of sharpies, markers, colored pencils, and highlighters. We also have a few wicker bins in the living room where we throw workbooks. dictionaries, current novels, etc. Oh and we always had a bin in each kid's room labeled library books. We don't need it so much now that they are older and reading longer books, but when we had 25 books out at a time from the library and they would get mixed up on bookshelves or lost under couches, it was a godsend.
Two of my kid struggled with EF, one more seriously, so a lot of parental help was needed. We went through her binder and backpack EVERY SINGLE DAY or she would end up with half-eaten food, half-done homework, forgotten permission slips, and unwashed gym clothes (I'm talking high school!). She is in her mid 20s now and still not perfect in this realm, but I feel like we've taught her a lot of good coping skills and she is much improved.
