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Blog: Easy Organizing For Active Kids And Busy Parents
 The Ultimate Family Command Center
Tame the Papers, Conquer the Junk Drawer, and STILL Have Time to Pass Along Silly Emails
My fellow Mom friends often send me those silly little only-a-Mom-would-appreciate email forwards. You know, those messages with the jokes about un-appreciative kids and hubbies, expanding mid-life bellies, and musings about a day with no toilets to clean and an exotic, handsome manservant who cooks dinner AND picks up your kids from soccer? Usually I enjoy a laugh, sometimes pass them on, and then go about my day.
This week my good friend Amy passed along a great video clip of a comedian who condenses everything a Mom says in a typical day down to less than 3 minutes AND sung to the tune of the William Tell Overture. This one I not only laughed at and passed along, but the thought of it stayed with me as I prepared to write this entry on the Ultimate Family Command Center. How many times a week, or even a day, do you answer the same questions about where things are in your house? "Where's that piece of paper with my friends phone number?" "What happen to that credit card bill that was due sometime this week?" "Where's the take-out menu for the pizza place?" "Who has the invitation to the party the kids were invited to this weekend?" "I need a pencil and paper to take down a phone message!!!"
Most households relegate these kinds of things to that infamous junk drawer. It may be in the kitchen, or in an office desk. (Or maybe you even have multiple junk drawers.) Some place where you throw those little bits of miscellaneous papers, clippings, mail. We've all been guilty at one point or another of this form of organization. But when it comes time to find these various objects, how easily, and better yet, how quickly, are you able to retrieve them?
According to a study conducted by a Boston marketing firm, the average American burns 55 minutes a day, roughly 12 weeks a year, looking for things they know they own, but can't find. (Newsweek, 6/7/04). Nearly one hour, wasted! EVERYDAY! I don't know about you, but I could definitely use an extra hour every day! Imagine getting back 7 hours a week!!!! Sure we'd fill it up with SOMETHING to keep us busy (without that hunky manservant, SOMEONE needs to take the kids to soccer and clean the toilets!).
The Ultimate Command Center
Similar to an airplane's cockpit, which is a place for everything the pilot needs to communicate with those on the ground and simultaneously control the aircraft, the Family Command Center is a central place for managing household communication and running the family's day-to-day activities. Basically, a Command Center manages 4 activities: input (papers coming in), processes (what we need to do with those papers), output (papers going out), and references (similar to the pilot's flight manual, the Command Center's Family Resource Binder contains important reference documents needed to maintain the household's activities) . It is the go-to spot for all the things you need to help your house run smoothly.
When I put a Command Center together for a client, I encourage them to locate it in a central location, preferably, near where you most often enter and exit your house. Since the kitchen is usually the hub of the house, an ideal location is in an upper cabinet in the kitchen near the phone (for a picture, check out the testimonials page on my website, www.DandRCustomOrganizers.com. There are pictures of two different Command Centers I've recently put together). But you can also create a space in your home office. If you use your computer a lot for scheduling or contacts, you might want to locate the Command Center near the computer. Just make sure it's a functional space and that the location works best for you.
Find a way to incorporate a corkboard or magnetic board. I usually try to attach a corkboard directly to the inside of the cabinet door using wood glue. This keeps the board out of sight, but very accessible. Use this board to post a list of frequently called numbers, lunch menus, invitations, grocery list.
Setting Up the System
There are different supplies and products you can use to put your Command Center together, but the basic set-up includes slots or cubbies for each member of the family for those papers that come and go on a daily basis. This is the place for mail, for you to put your child's signed permission forms or lunch money. It is also useful to have a slot for incoming bills, as this will be the place where you sort the mail every day.
Now, when you first implement this system it may be hard to get your kids, or even your significant other, in the habit of checking their slot for outgoing papers and using your slot for incoming paper. So I like to place little surprises in the slots occasionally to motivate them to use it. A piece of candy, a new pencil, love notes-just something to create the habit of using the system.
This file system will help eliminate some of those paper piles on the kitchen counter and make it easier to locate the items when you need them.
Next, you'll need an "organized junk drawer" for all those office supplies you're constantly asked for over the course of a day. This will be their new "home." Each item will have it's own space and the major rule here is, ALL ITEMS MUST BE RETURNED TO THIS SPOT WHEN YOU ARE DONE USING THEM. The goal here is for everyone to know where these items can ALWAYS be found. You can purchase inexpensive containers to store pens, pencils, notepads, etc. Or, you can re-purpose items you may already own. Small bowls, trinket boxes, or even clean baby food jars can store rolled stamps or rubber bands. The top of a glass butter dish can keep your pens and pencils together. An empty mint box could contain your paperclips. Have fun with it and make it as creative and attractive as you'd like, that way you'll probably be more likely to keep it tidy and organized .
The Command Center is also a great place to keep all those things that seem to disappear when you're rushing out the door (your keys, cell phone, maybe even a purse or wallet). The great thing is you can customize the Center to fit YOUR needs.
Finally, the Ultimate Command Center is not complete without the Family Resource Binder.
Family Resource Binder-Your Family's Flight Manual
The Family Resource Binder is an invaluable component of your Command Center. Now there are companies out there that will sell you their version of a Family Resource Book, but honestly, this is so easy and inexpensive to compile on your own, I haven't found the need yet to invest in pre-made books for my clients.
Basically, this binder is THE source for information your family uses on a regular basis. The basic supplies are a binder, labeled and tabbed dividers, and plastic sheet protectors. These items can be as plain, cute, or fancy as you wish.
Once you get the notebook materials, next you'll need to figure out the most useful categories to include. Again, this will vary based on your lifestyle and activities, but some basic categories include:
· Phone Numbers: for school, work, neighbors, activities, physicians, babysitters. You could even include a page in here FOR the babysitters with all your emergency contact #s, poison control, next door neighbor, your cell phone number, bed times, allergies. Just update as necessary.
· A School Reference Section is a must if you have school age children. School calendars, teacher information, classroom newsletters. It's nice to keep the school or district monthly newsletter here for future reference, too. Just rotate out the expired ones each month when the new one comes home. And be sure to purge unneccessary information at the end of the school year to make room for the next year's info.
· Another great section is Take-out Menus: Be sure to include only those you frequently use, and keep corresponding restaurant coupons in this section when they come in the mail or in the newspaper so they are handy the next time you order.
· If you are active in your Church or Synagogue, this is a great section to have to keep current newsletters, committee information, and upcoming events
· A Community Section is useful, too, to store the township newsletter, information about local recycling/garbage pick-ups, information about neighborhood events, etc.
Remember, the goal of the Family Resource Binder is a place to store all those miscellaneous but much needed pieces of paper that come and go daily. We know we need to keep them for future reference, but they aren't really worthy of taking up space in a file cabinet and they need to be easily accessible. These are the papers that inevitably end up either lost in a junk drawer, or at the bottom of a stack of other such papers.
One of the most important things to remember to insure the success of this system is to make sure everyone in the house knows about the Command Center and is familiar with how it functions. The key to success is to have the entire family involved and using the system. You may want to even ask your kids or spouse for suggestions of what to keep either in the Command Center itself or in the Family Resource Book.
Also, remember that it is OK to let this system evolve and change as you use it. The perfect system doesn't exist, but we can get pretty close if we remain flexible.
If you have any questions about setting up your own Command Center or Family Resource Binder, please shoot me an email at [email protected]. And if you have any emails about that hunky, handsome manservant, you can send them my way, too!
Coming Next Week: "Containing Kids' Collections." If you have kids, chances are they have "valuable" collections and treasures cluttering up their spaces. While collecting is not inherently a bad thing, not having those collections contained can be a great source of aggravation for parents. Next week we'll talk about how to contain kid's collections in easy and inexpensive ways. Have a great week!
Simply yours,
Debbie
posted on: 10/19/2007 9:00:00 AM by Debbie Jordan Kravitz
category: Family
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Easy Organizing For Active Kids And Busy Parents
by Debbie Jordan Kravitz
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About Debbie:
Debbie Jordan Kravitz is a Professional Organizer, Author, and Owner of Virtually Organized by Debbie LLC. She is also a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization (NSGCD). Debbie's goal is to help her clients customize, organize and simplify their lives so they can spend less time searching for their things and more time doing the things they love.
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