Pretty Organized: Family Command Center

When did we get so busy?  The kids have school, lessons, homework.  Then there’s doctor’s appointments, dental appointments, church obligations, and somewhere in there we would like to have some fun.  While I have a lot of things set up in the calendar in my phone – It’s sometimes hard to see the big picture or overall schedule.  I’ve been caught off guard more than once when my phone would chime at me 15 minutes before a forgotten commitment.  For me it’s nice to have a physical calendar that everyone can see.    With school starting this year I new it was time to get organized and get our scheduled straight. I have this sad empty looking wall just off of my kitchen.  It leads to the garage and my studio.  It’s a high traffic area, but not a major focal point.  Then one day it hit me  – it was the perfect place to have the family schedule.  A central location where everyone can look and see what is going on. My command center has four section that make it highly functional and usable.

The Weekly Calendar

I have this huge chalkboard weekly calendar from Wallternatives that makes it perfect for writing out out schedule fro the week.  I can color code items for people or events.  I love that this calendar is HUGE so every one can see whats going on and there’s no way you can miss it. These decals can be applied ( and removed) to a smooth surface, like a wall, refrigerator or door.  Plus the surface of the decal has texture to it – making it easy to write on with chalk or a chalk marker.  I personally like using the chalkboard markers I got at a craft store to make things different colors.

The Monthly Calendar

It’s good to see the week, but it’s even better to see an outline of the whole month.  I have a monthly calendar set up next to the weekly so I can see any upcoming business trips my husband has, appointments, etc.  This helps keep the big picture in mind.

Clip Line

I got this line from IKEA, it’s perfect for clipping important papers like, bills, party invites, permission slips.  its a great location for those papers that you don’t need to hold onto for a long time, but need attention.  Plus they don’t end up buried under a million papers on my desk.  I also have a couple of burlap bags attached to the line, once hold the chalkboard markers, and the other holds sticker for the kids’ chore charts.

Chore Charts

We keep our chore charts simple.  We don’t worry about days of the week, we just want them to do certain things and build them as habits.  We have a paper chore chart that is clipped to a clipboard (the clipboard has their picture taped to the back so they know which one is their’s.  They hang at eye level and make it easy for the kids to see where they’re at with filling it in. Having this big schedule on the wall has helped keep out whole family aware of what’s coming up.  And it’s helped us scheduled fun family activities (and a few dates for my husband and I).

What do you do to keep your family organized?   For extra fun this week Fleece Fun is giving away the horizontal calendar featured in this post!  One of you lucky readers will win it!

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