janet--
I go with you, kiddo. I don't like clutter all over, either, and it also drives me up a wall. I grew up without clutter, and ran my house the same way when the kids were growing up. When they were through playing with things, they had to be put away, too. They were taught to make their beds before leaving for school, and hang up their clothes along with putting their dirty clothes down the clothes chute where they landed in a large wooden box on wheels. I never left dirty dishes in the sink, either, and when one of my older son's friends came one
day, he told me our house was the only one he ever was in that didn't have dirty dishes all over the kitchen. What's more the kitchen sink was clean, too. Anything that could be considered as clutter in our house was when I did a lot of sewing, and had material, etc. out on the dining room table while in the process of making whatever at the time.