Less Stress: Declutter Your House Stress Reduction by Joel Wagner - October 11, 2007July 5, 20101 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 Get rid of stuff; when in doubt, throw it out Tackle one task at a time Assign each item a home Use labels Establish a system for dealing with paper clutter When it doubt, throw it out If you haven’t used it in a year, why do you still have it? Be relentless about keeping your home clean Invite people over — sometimes all we need is a little bit of pressure to get around to working! 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: A Guide To Creating A Minimalist Home – Zen Habits 21 Tips On Keeping A Simple Home With Kids – Zen Habits Zen Mind: How To Declutter – Zen Habits Develop Clean House Habits One At A Time – Zen Habits Keeping A Stress Free Clean House – Zen Habits Handle Chores, House Cleaning and Errands With Simple Systems – Zen Habits How To Never Lose A Thing Again – Zen Habits Declutter 15 Minutes A Day – FlyLady 7 Tips For Learning The Declutter Habit – Internet Duct Tape 6 Ways To Clean Up Your Home Life – Canadian Living Outta Here! Professional Purgers’ Organizing Tips – CNN.com Tips for Organizing Your Home from Peter Walsh of TLC’s Clean Sweep – About.com Joel WagnerJoel 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. 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.
Before you give your books away, download this bookplate and stick it in the front of each and every one of them. The bookplate encourages people to make a small donation to the School of St Jude – a free school for bright kids in Tanzania. All the pennies add up. http://schoolstjude.blogspot.com/2007/07/rent-book-fundraiser.html Check it out!