Oh, ladybug! I have walked in your shoes! I have a messy six year old. It's her personality.

What has worked for me is I have given her three laundry baskets for her toys. Aesthetics aside, it has been a wonderful thing. When I tell her to pick up, she is to push the baskets around and put her stuff in it (outside of clothes, which I expect her to put in the hamper which I have in her room). This has solved 95% of our problems. Seriously. Yes, she still makes a disaster of a mess. But when I need her to pick it all up and can't handle it anymore, I tell her enough is enough and I tell her to go get out her baskets.

Now I know what you're thinking. Three baskets is no where enough for all the toys and stuffed animals a six year old has. It wasn't enough for our six year old either. Here's what you do. You get every single last one of her toys and dump them into a ginormous pile (scatter them out a bit). And you lay out the three baskets. And you let HER choose what she wants to fill up the three baskets with. Anything that doesn't fit, you tell her is going to be donated to kids that need toys because the house has more than enough and it's important to share. (You can even grab a few things from the living room, your closet, etc. to show you want to set the example too.) (You can throw them away if you want. The key is you are GETTING THE EXTRA STUFF OUT OF THE HOUSE and SHE GOT TO CHOOSE WHAT WAS MOST IMPORTANT TO HER.)

Life gets SO much easier after you do this. Your messy six year old is going to stay a messy six year old. It's not worth the fights. You're never going to have a perfectly organized home. But toys tossed into bins is a reasonable solution and it does tidy up the house surprising well. And it actually takes very little time. (The kids don't get discouraged and complain.) You can do this! It will improve your relationship with your daughter. Hang in there. Six year olds are hard. Messy six year olds are really hard if you like to keep things tidy. If you make a few little changes you can teach her responsibility and also not feel so anxious about the mess. Hope this idea helps! <3