A clearing barrel seems a bit of overkill for home use. They are used at military bases and other places where there are many different people having to unload a handgun or rifle at all hours and the armory operators don't know or can't trust that everyone will use due diligence when safing their firearm to store it or turn it in, and a negligent discharge is much more likely. So, they make them point it into a water trap or sand trap safing barrel when they unload and safety check their sidearm before turning it in.
If you actually carry with a round in the chamber, and safe your pistol every day (practice, practice, practice) when you return it to the safe, you should be competent enough to do it properly without much fear of a negligent discharge. The key is actually LOOKING to see an empty chamber, and accounting for the round that was in it, before dropping the hammer, assuming the magazine was removed first.. My safe is next to my bed; my procedure is to drop the mag, rack and lock open the slide to eject the chambered round, account for the round (see it lying on the bed), visually ensure there is nothing in the chamber, then ride the slide into battery, point the pistol at the floor and pull the trigger. Of course, my 1911 doesn't have a magazine disconnect, so I can do it that way. In the infinitesimal chance that I missed something and the gun discharges, it will just make a hole in the floor and be stopped by the ground in the crawl space below, if it penetrates that far. As for a rifle or shotgun, it always gets unloaded and cleared before entering the house.
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