Maybe you have a nook in your kitchen that would make a perfect command center.
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| via 320 Sycamore |
Or room for a small desk in a convenient location.
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| via Home Remedies |
Perhaps you could use some wall space in your mud room or a hallway.
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| via The Yellow Cape Cod |
Or on the side of your fridge.
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| via Landee See, Landee Do |
Or maybe you have a full blown mom cave and the rest of us are
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| via Little Lucy Lu |
Things your command center might include:
- to-do lists
- a home management binder
- phone numbers
- your kid's soccer schedule
- a place for your laptop
- a meal plan
- the grocery list
- chore charts
- in/out boxes
- a bulletin board
- your favorite pen
- some pretty accessories
My command center is just a binder,a clipboard and a day planner in one of the cubbies on our school shelf and a calendar and cork board on the nearby pantry door. It isn't the most glamorous solution, but because we hope to either renovate or move before too long it just doesn't make sense to carve out a permanent space for it. For now, the system works for me, and everything has a place.
Do you have a command center? What can you do today to make it a more functional space for your family?
Please click through to some of the blogs I've featured above and leave comments for the people who created those lovely command centers.
[This is day 17 in a 31 day series called 31 days to an Organized Home. Click here to read more from this series. Thanks for visiting!]
We have one!! We have a master calendar over our charging station, to check what is happening that day or week, and I have a large basket that I try to keep my 15 month from dumping, which holds my home notebook, my Bible, my journal, and over the course of a couple of weeks, any random things I find and need a home for temporarily:o( I also set up an open hanging file that has tabs for incoming mail that we don't have time to immediately sort, outgoing mail, To Pay file, To file file, seperate file with my and my husbands name for things that either of us respectfully must take care of, and my daughter has a file for things pertaining to her. I also bought a 13 tab portable notebook looking file that is on the shelf below the charging station for things like invites, newspaper clipping with events we are interested in attending, future dr appointment notices, etc., that get filed under the month they occur in, so that when I update my dry-erase calendar at the end of the current month, I can easily grab them and add to the calendar. It also cuts down on trying to find the directions to a wedding or jamming up the front of my refrigerator. Sorry this was so long! Wish I could post some pics (they would show so much better than my words:oP) but I don't know how to do that to a comment post! Thanks for sharing the variety of ways that command centers can be set up!!
ReplyDelete** I forgot to mention that he basket and hanging file are on an adjoining wall to the calendar, on top of a dresser which is doubling as a storage buffet. I also have an organizer thing right in front that holds my pens, pencils, a drawer for the checkbook and calculator, and another drawer for all the little cards we seem to acquire. I really need to figure out a way to send pics;oP
ReplyDeleteWow! Those are beautiful. I have a day/week/monthly planner that I use, a binder of housekeeping goodness, and a small notebook I use for other information.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to make one of those home management binders, and I could definitely use and in/out box for mail and kids' school papers. Thanks for the great ideas!
ReplyDeleteLove all these ideas! Thanks for the shout-out :)
ReplyDeletehaha, your "mom-cave" comment made me giggle.
ReplyDeleteYou girls make homemaking so attractive!
ReplyDeleteYou are inspiring me! Thanks, Meg
Thanks for this post. I've been thinking of it since the day you posted it. One of my goals this year is to be more organized. I actually started working on this while recouperating from a tonsillectomy. Hoping to finish some of it next week! It'll be posted on my blog with step by step homemade parts as well. :) Yippee! Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the laugh, loved the "mom cave" comment! I used to be super organized but then I- got married, started a business with my hubby, had 2 children (boys, need I say more?!), moved cities twice, and here I am trying to rekindle my lost skills 11 years later. WHAT is a Home Management Binder??? I am intrigued, confused and feeling a little guilty that I don't already know what it is ;) Thanks and I'm loving EVERY day of this 31 day organization extravaganza! Blessings to you!
ReplyDelete-Holly
Hi Holly! So glad I made you laugh...that's pretty much my favorite part of blogging :) A home management binder is a place to keep all your lists and reference things you need to manage your home. some people store birth dates and gift ideas in it, local take out menus, meal plans, favorite recipes, project plans for crafty things....whatever will make life easier for you! The basic idea is that you corral all those lists and bits of paper into one convenient place. I'm planning to blog about mine soon, so stay tuned :)
DeleteDid I miss the home management binder post because I am reallyyyyyyyy curious about this technique? My house and responsibilities seem to be running away from me as I have become a telecommuter in the last year. Being in my unorganized home while trying to work a regular 40 hour week is getting very difficult as my brain CANNOT concentrate on the right task at the right time anymore. I need serious help! LOL
DeleteI converted a double closet in my boys' playroom into my workspace for scrapbooking and it doubles as our command center. We have a whiteboard stuck on our fridge, where my husband can add to the grocery list & he can plainly see all chores that need to be done. Everything else is in a home management binder on my desk and all the rest of life is planned out in my wonderful space. And because it's in the playroom, where our kids spend so much of their time, it's the perfect location in our apartment.
ReplyDeleteI have a month style dry erase board on my freezer door for meal plans and a make shift hanging filer for mail and things that need filed. We're getting ready to move next month so its a little hard for me to get organized right now. I'm working on it though.
ReplyDeleteLove this blog. Helpful, funny and great ideas. ;0)
ReplyDeleteIf I ever conquer the paper tiger I will be delirious with happiness.
ReplyDeleteLove your blog it is truly inspirational, Kelly!
I hope you don't mind, but another blog (that I absolutely love) recently shared her binder. Here is the link: http://www.memoriesoncloverlane.com/2013/01/my-binder.html
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I found your blog! It is fantastic and full of helpful information and helpful followers! Love all the ideas exchanging!
This one's nice. Never thought of calling it a Command Center. Also my first time to hear of the "home management binder" idea. I usually have a small dining desk converted into a study desk and a whiteboard hanging on the wall. The rest of the stuff here were new to me. Thanks for listing the essentials one by one.
ReplyDelete