Do you have too much stuff? Are you having trouble parting with your excesses? Cyndi Seidler offers some helpful advice on how to part with your unnecessary stuff.

Homeschool families, like Tolstoy’s happy ones, are all alike: drowning in a sea of clutter. Home schooling a child beats all other organizational challenges hands-down. How do you count the clutter? The books. The papers. The biology experiments on the kitchen window. The six-foot-tall child sprawled on the floor, reading. The record-keeping. College admissions and testing and letters from the correspondence school.

Tips for using calendars, binders, notebooks, and a weekly assignment record to organize your homeschool. Although this article is specific to one curriculum, there are some useful general tips.

The furniture in your room is situated just right, yet it's cluttered with lots of paper, items taken from other parts of the house, too many knick-knacks, and trash particles that didn't quite make it to the trashcan. Shouldn't we be asking ourselves, "What's wrong with this picture?" Maybe you already know the answer. But then, why hasn't anything been done about it yet? Don't try to answer that. There's an art to approaching the task of getting organized.

Stuff! For homeschool families, it's everywhere. Books and papers. Art supplies. Math manipulatives. Science projects. Record-keeping demands its own set of materials: attendance forms, correspondence, testing, student portfolios, and piles and piles of paper! Find out strategies for storing kid's stuff, using color coding, organizing your desk, and more.

The National Association of Professional Organizers did a study and determined that the average person spends 80 hours per year searching for papers they need but cannot find when they need them. EZ Pocket lets you quickly and easily organize all those household paper items that need action on a certain date. EZ Pocket keeps papers in view, and sorted, while waiting for the "to-do" date to roll around.

Clutter seems to have become a way of life, and homeschoolers have a great excuse to collect anything and everything vaguely related to education. This is ironic because, as Dr. Montessori discovered, a cluttered and/or chaotic environment hinders normalization/education. This problem can arise when the materials 'take over' and the attitudes and method fall into second place. An orderly, inviting environment is more important than a large variety of trays and/or materials, especially for young children. It is better to have one or two that demonstrate each concept well.

More organizing tips from Katherine Von Duyke. How to use Velcro, slip-in report covers, and large plastic containers to tame your homeschool supplies.

One of the basic housekeeping rules is to keep it simple. Roxanna Ward shares some simple tips for getting housework done without the hassle.

A binder system with logs and forms that can be customized to suit your family's needs. This system can be used for multiple children and offers a simple way to meet any applicable state record keeping requirements.

If clutter and outside activities are taking over your life, you need a plan and some routine in your life. Get tips on how to plan and prioritize your work, and to respond appropriately with flexibility when life gets hectic.

Stacy DeBroff shares 15 favorite get-organized secrets, allowing you to declutter with ease.

A guide to managing and conquering the clutter in kids' rooms.

An example of an organizational system for a large homeschool family.

It is important to keep good records of your child's homeschooled years. This article has a list of helpful ideas for anyone who is interested in creating a permanent record for their child's homeschool work and progress.

This article includes great organization tricks and tips for getting organized, including organizing around themes, how less is more, how to plan in blocks of time, and a discussion of storage solutions.

Staying organized is much easier if everything is in its proper place. Details the use of plastic bins to aid in organization of your home school.

Time. It's a homeschool family's most precious resource--and the claims on a homeschooler's time are many and vociferous. Time management is a homeschool parent's most pressing challenge. Includes tips on using a planner and how to get the most out of scheduling.

A look at an unschooling family's approach to managing chores around the house. Although this approach may not work for everyone, the emphasis on flexibility and respect for each others needs and inclinations is enlightening.

This article offers a smattering of simple ideas to help keep homeschooling materials organized.