The Kitchen Countertop "Paper Junk Randomness" Takeover

I have never claimed to be organized. I struggle, struggle, struggle with organization. In just about every area of my life.

Where to put things.
What to save.
What to throw away.
How to organize mail.
Where to put magazines that I wanna read but don't know when I'll get a chance to read them.
Where to put things I don't want the baby eating or destroying.
What to do with my kids' church papers.
Where and how to store memorabilia that my heart simply can't let go of.

Because I struggle with this, one area of my kitchen countertop has become the catch-all for all sorts of stuff/junk/paper/randomness.

I took some pictures. Now, before I show them to you, this is the cleaned up version of my countertop. I went through before Christmas and kind of cleared out some stuff. Threw away a bunch of junk.

So, this is the organized state of the mess, if you will. It's a mess - but, it's currently wearing a big oversized sweater to hide the pudgy unsightliness that's hiding underneath.

Here it is.

See what I mean? It's just this catch-all of random stuff. The baskets of randomness? I spy magazines, a tape measure, batteries, a Bible, walkie talkies, our tax stuff. Just to name a few.

Last year, I bought this black Pottery Barn thingy that's supposed to keep me organized. Instead...

I mean really...that was from over a year ago.

It's just that everything looks terrible. I know what organized looks like. I just don't know how to get there.

This is the other side of that counter. I store my cookbooks here, and yet, papers and magazines and wires to electronic devices still pile up here. That green thing? It's a bug zapper from the boys' Grandmother for Christmas. I refuse to let it live on top of my cookbooks until spring but it's not a toy they can play with now so it's just up and out of the way.

So, I thought I'd ask you all for help.

Specifically:

1. Where and how do you store your mail? Bills waiting to be paid, coupons to clip, magazines to go through? Do you have a system?

2. How do you store your kids' memorabilia? First haircuts, school pictures, special papers, momentos?

3. When visiting friends' houses, I have learned that just about everyone has temporary messes of junk. Like the stuff that comes in and it needs to be gone through and it can't always be gone through on the day it comes in.

What do you do with the temporary mess? Do you have a big bin to shove it in if company's comin' over? (This is how my mind works. It's the root of my disorganization issues.)

I would so appreciate any and all suggestions: The way you do things, tips that have helped you, storage containers you use, ANYTHING!

Thank you in advance for your help!