Get Organized Debbie Williams is an organizing strategist and founder of OrganizedTimes.com. She is the author of  "Common Sense Organizing" from Champion Press. Getting Son Organized Question: My 12-year-old son is very disorganized. The problems are still coming through in school with missing papers. His book bag is a mess! And I'm sure his locker is the same way. How can I get through to him. I have given him all the tools I think are necessary - I don't know what else to do! M. Answer: It sounds as if your organizationally challenged son needs both time management (to find those missing papers) and clutter control (locker and book bag maintenance 101). Here are a few ideas that may help: Write it Down and Make it Happen All of us, including our kids, are bombarded with stuff all day long. From school assignments to after school activities, it's no wonder we forget things more than we remember them. That's normal. Even the most organized and mature people use lists and prioritize their tasks as a way to keep on schedule and eliminate brain clutter. Encourage your son to write down his school assignments, both short term and long term, in one place. If he doesn't like using a planner, then have him choose a cool spiral notebook, binder, or legal pad--- anything to keep it all in one place. He should carry this to class with him so he can capture those notes, and bring it home in his book bag -- no need to rely on memory any more. That's the easy part of time management- writing it down. Now he has to figure out how to follow through. Consistency is Key Your son needs to create a time management routine, checking his master list of to-do's every single day. Talk with him about his schedule and help him come up with the best (not perfect, but the best) time for him to review his agenda for the day. Help him think (and eventually plan) ahead, using a monthly calendar, week-at-a-glance, and other scheduling tools. Most kids can't remember what they ate for breakfast or think about what they'll be doing tomorrow night. They live for the moment. That's the beauty of being a kid! But with your help, he can learn to set monthly goals, create a weekly schedule, and plan his day. One step at a time. He'll also need to get in the habit of cleaning out his locker, bookbag, notebooks and other collectables on a regular basis. Teachers usually encourage this routine purging on a quarterly or semester basis, but lots of papers can get lost during that time, can't they! Which leads us to the next step in organizing.... Search and Destroy Have your son make a date with himself (ah, mom!) to search and destroy unwanted paper clutter. Bookbags and lockers are smaller than his room- he shouldn't have anything growing or crawling in there, so it's an attainable goal. Once a month, he'll need to sort through the papers, toss garbage or outdated information, and file the rest. Short and sweet. Help him set up a filing system for papers needing to be signed (field trips), needing action (soccer registration), followed up on (course syllabus), or filed (last semester's term paper). He can keep these files in a binder with divided tabs, or in hanging files in a portable crate. It should be kept in his room so he can maintain it, or in the family's home office if that's where other important papers are kept. But try to make him accountable for it. Touch base every few weeks so you can tweak the system a bit, keeping what works and tossing what doesn't. Hang in there-- the more you talk about his schedule, the more you'll learn of his friends, likes & dislikes, and other important information he wouldn't dream of otherwise sharing. (Don't worry, your secret's safe with me!) Good luck, Debbie Williams Also see: Ask Debbie your questions Recently answered questions Containing the mess in the playroom Use technology to simplify your life