Cleanliness

Will it get done? My house is looking like a tornado hit it. Not the exterior, the interior. Is it possible to have a tornado inside? This last week has found us running around in the last week of the second 6 weeks at school, last minute school projects, finalizing grading and planning for the next 6 weeks. A lot of heavy thinking as to whether or not teaching is going to be viable for Vernon. In the meantime, the housework has slipped, or maybe it never was there. But as Thanksgiving approaches, I find my self "nesting" so to speak as I want my house clean, spic and span, less cluttered and essentially with no junk lying around.
I fear we are becoming Vernon's parents, Pack rats extraordinaire. The collections of books, magazines, papers from the children, animal toys, blankets, junk mail, catalogs, storage boxes, shoe boxes and school books(they were free) is filling our house. I can't seem to get rid of enough to make a dent in the cluttered feeling. How do people do it? Just chuck it all in the trash?
I am planning to pull my children into the conspiracy to rid my house of junk. Tomorrow, I will leave a list of things to be be done while I am at work. Maybe it will be futile attempt to control my environment at my husband's expense. I'll report back on their progress with it all next week.