Get organized: Family Command Center

Every year I resolve to be more organized in every aspect of my life… and every year I try.  Then another year comes along and I do it all over again.  It’s not that I don’t accomplish things, I DO! It’s just that with 7 people in my home, gathering 7 people worth of things, having 7 people’s schedules, and a hubby that doesn’t want a bigger house… Getting organized is a continuous process in my home.

My husband was recently called to a very busy calling in our church and, with his schedule filling up quickly, he wanted to be sure to know what is going on here so that he could still make time for family things.

He requested that I make this simple calendar wall into something more of a command center so that he would be more aware of what is going on in our family.  I looked at lots of pictures for ideas of what to do but when it came right down to it, I did what my family needed in the space that I had.

The first thing I did was ask my husband what he needed to see on this wall that would help him.  He told me what he hoped to see there, and the journey began.  The things he wanted to see were:

1. Calendar

2. Menu plan

3. Chores

4. Our weekly ponderize scripture

5. A spot to hang keys (because I am always losing mine).

6. Then, because I love decorating for the holidays, I decided that I wanted some space for holiday decor.

I already had the calendar and menu planner so I decided to work around the two of those.  I started by trying to draw it out on graph paper to figure out spacing.  On the paper each square would represent an inch. It was hard to really see how it was going to look. It still looked different on paper and the spaces between everything looked bigger than it did on the wall.  

So I decided a different route that  would allow me to see it on the wall.  I pulled some packing paper out of my recycle bin (thus all the wrinkles) and traced the frames and items I had onto them.  Then I cut them out and hung them on the wall with tape.  This was so much better.  I liked this lay out and the two spaces at the top I could use for holiday decor.

I began hanging things up that I already had.  Then I bought or made the things that I wanted to add .

I didn’t want to make a million holes in my wall as things will likely change in the coming years.  I love using these command strips to hang light things that don’t need a nail.

Here is the finished product.  I made notes of where I bought things or things I made.  In the coming weeks I will share tutorials on the individual items that I made.

And here is the picture without all the arrows.  I am so thrilled with how this turned out and I am excited to see how smoothly things run from here on out. HA! of course we will still have bumps in the road but I hope this at least helps my hubby know what is going on as most days we feel like we are just crossing paths and don’t always have time to sit down and really plan things out together.

SEE THE HAPPY!

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