Well, this is one of my weakest areas. I have my work environment very organized and neat, but my home is not. Part of my problem is that I know what to do and how to do it, I just don’t seem to find the energy after working 11-16 hour days to come home and do it. And in the marching season, many of my weekends are taken up traveling out of town to football games and/or marching competitions.

During the rest of the school year, I am generally pretty good about it, but still not perfect.

Why is a clean home important?
Again, the same as a clean desk provides peace of mind, so does a clean home. The goal is to lower stress, and clutter raises stress. Open spaces add tranquility to our lives. Though I don’t completely follow them all, I will list some guidelines for success in this area. Even if you take only one step, it is still a move in the right direction!

10 Guidelines for a decluttered home

1. Get rid of stuff; when in doubt, throw it out
2. Tackle one task at a time
3. Assign each item a home
4. Use labels
5. Establish a system for dealing with paper clutter
6. When it doubt, throw it out
7. If you haven’t used it in a year, why do you still have it?
8. Be relentless about keeping your home clean
9. Invite people over — sometimes all we need is a little bit of pressure to get around to working!
10. Remember that your house will be as messy as you allow it to be — mess leads to stress

There are tons of articles out there from people who really know how to keep their homes clean. Here are a dozen:

1. A Guide To Creating A Minimalist Home – Zen Habits
2. 21 Tips On Keeping A Simple Home With Kids – Zen Habits
3. Zen Mind: How To Declutter – Zen Habits
4. Develop Clean House Habits One At A Time – Zen Habits
5. Keeping A Stress Free Clean House – Zen Habits
6. Handle Chores, House Cleaning and Errands With Simple Systems – Zen Habits
7. How To Never Lose A Thing Again – Zen Habits
8. Declutter 15 Minutes A Day – FlyLady
9. 7 Tips For Learning The Declutter Habit – Internet Duct Tape
10. 6 Ways To Clean Up Your Home Life – Canadian Living
11. Outta Here! Professional Purgers’ Organizing Tips – CNN.com
12. Tips for Organizing Your Home from Peter Walsh of TLC’s Clean Sweep – About.com
    

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Joel Wagner

Joel Wagner (@sywtt) began teaching band in 2002. Though he had a lot of information, his classes were out of control. He found himself tired, frustrated, disrespected by students, lonely, and on the brink of quitting.

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He had had enough. He resigned from his school district right before spring break of his second year and made it his personal mission to learn to be a great teacher. So You Want To Teach? is the ongoing story of that quest for educational excellence.