How Can I Get My House in Order and My Life?

Make peace with it. If you're going to have a child, AND a puppy, AND a kitten....well, basically you're not going to have nice things for awhile.

Going forward, do not take on any additional caregiving responsibilities.

If you don't love something or it's not useful, either throw it out or donate it. My house is relatively clutter free so it is very easy for me to straighten up and then clean.

One thing I find that is useful to do is to empty a room or a closet completely. Only put back things that you love or need. Also, everything in my house has a "home" or place where it can be put away. When my kids were little the place for McDonald toys was in the trash can.😉

I often have the same issue, and it is constantly a work in progress. Don't stress about it too hard as long as things are basically clean, even if they are unorganized. Also, 10 in plenty old to be helping with all the cleaning and with helping to stay more organized, so get your son to help you out, maybe get some storage and take a day the two of you can get it more under control. Good luck!

Pick one corner at a time and start getting rid of stuff.
Google FlyLady - she's got lot's of wonderful cleaning/decluttering tips.

grrrrrr.
the time to get your house in order was BEFORE you added needy, messy baby animals to the mix.
sigh.
but done is done.
get flylady. or a maid. or appeal to a friend who is a good organizer to help you. i'm a disorganized mess and i hate housework. oh, how i love my buddy who came over and spent a whole saturday redoing and organizing my kitchen for me. she loved it, and was very patient with me gibbering in a fetal position in the corner while she went through it all.
i took her out to dinner, but would happily have paid her if that were what she preferred.
then resign yourself to some degree of chaos, just be firm about how much you can actually live with. your 10 year old is your first priority, your baby animals the next, and your house and stuff a distant 3rd.
and don't get any more baby animals until you've got yourself set up.
khairete
S.

Start in one room, the one that needs the least work. Start in one corner and start tidying. You can have plastic tubs set up in a main room. Give away, throw away, store for another season, put up after washing.

This way you can have all clothing items sorted and done with as soon as you get done in that area. You can also have tubs for papers to keep and tubs for toys and anything you need to sort out. It's a good way to get the stuff out of the room and in a place you can deal with it in an orderly manner.