Just One Clutter Free Zone

If I had one wish for our house it would be to have one completely clutter free zone.  The closest we come to my wish is our bedroom.  Unfortunately, I'm not spending a lot of leisure time in our bedroom to enjoy the clutterless state.
Instead I spend my days trying to clear surfaces.  I don't know when the papers and crayons multiply, but overnight they seem to triple or quadruple.  I haven't figure out yet how books reproduce, but they seem to do so in our house.
My husband and I are constantly nagging the girls to clear off the buffet, remove the junk from the breakfast bar or pick-up the shoes near the door.  We have a rule that they cannot take out a new toy or game until the last one is put away. 
I am constantly cleaning closets and taking bags of stuff to our local charity resale shop.  I try to keep up with all the stuff they've outgrown -- clothes toys, shoes, coats, games, books, etc.  Still, we cannot seem to get a grip on the clutter.
Once in a while I walk into the kitchen and can see all the surfaces.  It immediately makes me wonder how it happened.  What special force of nature brought together the fates so that the kitchen counters are all clean?  Then I realize all the junk was just moved to other rooms and we start all over again with the clutter busting.