A family command center helps to reduce clutter and keep your home organized. Use this list of essentials and simple tips to create one for your house.
A DIY family command center is the perfect way to organize your household. No longer will you enter your house only to trip over shoes and backpacks or have an unsightly pile of mail greet you. All of the essentials everyone needs as they leave have a home and it prevents total chaos when they return.
Creating a command center does not have to be difficult or expensive and it certainly does not require a lot of space. Follow these tips to build the perfect one for your home.
How To Build A Family Command Center
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Command Center Must-Haves
Below is a list of products you will need to create your family command center:
- File folder organizer
- Hooks
- Storage bins or boxes
- Labels
- Dry-erase calendar or wall calendar
- Charging station
- Decorative tray or bowl
- Shredder
- Waste basket
Find A Location
The first thing you need to do is pick a location for the command center. Ideally, it should be near the main entry of your home because this is where the most clutter tends to build up. Also, it is great to have everything you need as you leave close to hand and a place to drop those items when you return.
Decide What To Keep There
Assess the items that are constantly left near your main entrance and decide if you want to continue storing those things there. Mail, schedules, phones, wallets and keys are items that I would suggest making room for.
Find a different home for newspapers, art projects, sports gear and any other random clutter.
Elements of A Family Command Center
After you determine what you will store, create an organization system. This can be a combination of a file folder organizer, hooks and storage bins. Organizing does not need to be expensive. You can manage clutter on a budget with cheap organizing hacks.
Ensure each family member has a dedicated space to store their stuff. Remove the guesswork from your storage system and use labels so that everyone knows where items need to go. Make it as simple as possible and it will be easy to maintain the organization.
Color-code storage bins and folders and assign a specific color to each family member. This will make life easier especially if you have younger kids. They will recognize their color quickly and know exactly where they need to put their things.
Having an easy-to-use storage system is a great way to hold your family accountable for organizing their possessions. There are no excuses for not knowing where to put things.
Use Vertical Space
Utilize any wall space that’s available to you. This is especially important in small spaces.
Hang a large wall calendar and have markers or pens nearby or use a dry-erase calendar. Use this calendar to write important dates so you have a visual reminder of upcoming events. Appointments, birthdays and even deadlines for school assignments should be copied onto the calendar to keep your whole family on track.
Take Action
Include an Action bin for anything that needs your attention—items like bills, school notices, appointment letters and invitations. As soon as the action has been completed or the date has passed, remove these from the bin and store or discard as needed.
Power Up
A charging station is an excellent home command center idea. We take phones, tablets and other electronic devices everywhere we go so having them fully charged is always a good thing. Get a model that fits multiple devices simultaneously.
Make It Pretty
I don’t know about you but when an area of my house looks good, I want to keep it that way. Place pretty flowers, real or fake, in a vase and maybe even a few family photos or a meaningful quote.
Pretty can also be functional. Use a decorative tray or bowl to house keys, sunglasses and other smaller items.
Make Tossing Junk Easy
Keep a shredder and waste basket close-by. These make it very easy to discard junk mail or documents that contain sensitive information like your banking details. The more convenient you make it to get rid of things you don’t need, the more organized your space will be.
Keep It Clean
Edit your command center regularly to make sure that clutter is not piling up. Despite your best efforts, life happens so make it a habit to check through any papers etc. and get rid of anything you no longer need or transfer items that don’t belong to their rightful homes.
A family command center goes a long way toward keeping your household organized and reduces clutter by the main entry of your home. Use the tips that I provided as a guide for you to build the perfect one for your needs.
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