Anyone have a sort of Command Centre?

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With a dd due at Nursery in a few months and a second baby on the way, I feel I need to become more organised. DH and I both work ft (shifts for me, too) so at the moment I simply stick my rota on the fridge and text the Childminder the days and times she will he having dd.

Im envisaging years ahead of letters from school, friends addresses and phone numbers, doctor and dentist appointments and all the extra gubbins on top of managng two kids.

Anyone have a bit of a command centre - places for letters, calendar etc somewhere in their home?

What is essential? How did you introduce it? We dont have masses of space but plenty of bare walls.

We have a desk with large planner style calender, noticeboard AND year planner above and shelf with box files to one side. All household and family admin happens there.

Could you have something fold down if you don't have much space?

I could probably manage a console width table in the hall and theres a big blank space above it which would probably suit - its a lo g slim hallway though so Id need to be able to get the buggy past.

Do you have like an office style wall planner (ours is big red and white thing at work) - am I being really precious to want it to match the room its in

DH tracked down a duck egg one to match our colour scheme (he's a bit anal) but it's all tucked behind a door anyway. No idea where from

We have a family calender with pockets (medical appointments and urgent to-dos) a column for each member of the family and 2 spares for extra notes. Teens fill in their own and I fill in what I can. DH fills in when he is home and keeps a Google calendar for his things. (He would like us to fill in the Google calendar but he was sharing it with his parents and I felt that was inappropriate.) All appointments and things I am needed for (family taxi driver) I need to put in my diary so I can arrange it and my work accordingly.

We have dresser drawers by the table (near calendar) where school/non urgent letters go once they have been acted upon. Letters needing action go in my spot on dining table until I get them done (or by phone if that is what is needed). Post for DH goes in another drawer. It is organised chaos, in other words!

Oh sorry. You are worried about things matching too. Worrying about things matching is not necessarily anal, it's nice. Duck-egg wall-planners are getting into distinctly anally-retentive territory however...

Loads of pinterest inspiration, have a look there. I'm still tweaking our command centre. Unfortunately we don't have room to have it all in one place, so we have wallet-keys-phone etc at the entrance, and then a big whiteboard in the kitchen, and then a separate board for meal planning.... Currently we do calendar stuff online but I imagine that will change as dcs get older and we need something more visual.

Oh, and notice boards supposedly for business cards and quick reference for things like school/emergency numbers, photos of friends and family. I need to tidy all that up, it is mostly out of date and has far too much layered on!

I stopped putting wallet/keys/phone by the entrance when we were burgled. Too easy for it all to gwt swiped!

LOL @ command centre. In my house it's called a diary.
In the days when it was manic, with clubs and activites and whatnot, I made a point of having a conversation every Sunday dinnertime about who was doing what and when in the following week so everyone was up to speed.

We don't have any children yet but we have always had a magnet board. Since moving we had to leave ours behind but I ordered a gorgeous new one from a Etsy shop in America.

So we keep all our bits to remember, vouchers or small items there. I file all the bills and anything else in some ring binders. Then for anything else like calendar dates, me and my DH both have iPhones so I share events with him there

Here's an idea.

Google pinterest family noticeboard or variations on family organisation. Billions of ideas!

Oh yes, bank statement s, insurance,passports and important documents are filed right out of the way. Harder to find by a casual visitor.

White board in utility.
4 DCs so each has magnetic clip with name on.
All school/ club stuff goes on child's clip.

Have to sort clip when it gets rammed full and starts dropping on floor!
Board looks tidy ish!

We use google calendar so DH can change his on call duties more easily.

On sunday evening we have a right what's happening this week discussion.

When we enter into school territory I think we'll have a whiteboard somewhere with what's happening this week.

Bit of a mishmash really...DH and I share a Google calendar, plus there is a calendar in the kitchen where I write things down. We have a big shelving unit in the dining room where letters etc. live in big piles interleaved with children's drawings

Erm, we have a big fridge and some really cute ladybird magnets...

I have a little cardboard filing cabinet that lives in the kitchen and matches my kettle n toaster with a drawer for everyone.

A calendar with a column for each of us inc. the guinea pigs and a notice board for things that need to be completed and returned (school permissions, rsvp's etc). I also print out a weekly timetable at the start of each term for regular activities.

Basically, the rule is that if it's not in the calendar or on the timetable, it's not going to happen. We're at the stage now where we're fighting for weekend slots.

Family calendar with a pocket, column for everybody (try and get teens to do own).

Pinboard/magnetic whiteboard. Occasionally I write out a timetable for a particularly busy few days on it, this is mostly for DH as he needs a visual.

I also introduced last year a ringbinder with plastic pockets where I put things like Scouts termly schedule where they are out of the way but can be accessed.

My mind works like the family calendar, I have a picture of where everybody is, what they are doing tonight/next week and how its going to happen. Most of the organising is so that everyone else knows too, including the person doing it.

Planner calendar on back of kitchen door.

Other "command centre" is me, yelling from the sofa!

Several mini 'command centres' here.

Front door:Hooks by front door one for each person. Coats, bags etc on here. Basket for shoes. Come in door...immediately put all school bags etc on hook. Sort one by one after tea and repack, straight back on hook. Bowl for keys.

Kitchen:Letters from school x a million: a magazine file for each child on shelf in kitchen. All letters in here. Basket alongside for vouchers, tokens and other stuff that might need to go out to shops/school. Basket next to plug for all chargers. Phones live here.

Kitchen wall: family calendar with a week to view and columns for each person plus a spare one where I meal plan. Mainly filled in by me and DH but teens write their stuff on. If it ain't on the calendar with an appropriate amount of notice, it ain't happening. (DS1...10pm the night before is not appropriate amount of notice!)

Transfer calendar info to diary each week and vice verse. Diary kept in my bag and updated all day every day with things to do etc.

Car: swimming kit/sports kits live in the boot of my car, used, washed and re packed into bag and put back in the car as soon as used. I buy At least two sets of everything so there's always stuff clean and ready to use (charity shop/hand me downs,nothing expensive). Money for parking, spare sunglasses, baby wipes, carrier bags and old flip flops, an old raincoat, pen and notebook- has covered most emergencies when out and about. (Total set of Spare clothes for small children, obv!)

General: in airing cupboard I store old wellies, goggles, beach towels, snow boots etc never throw away so always have a hand me down pair for younger children. Keep old sheets for dressing up, making dens etc.

Cupboard under stairs: old day sack with plastic cups, blanket, baby wipes for making quick picnic for walks, park etc.

We have those wooden ikea box files (one for school stuff, one for work, one for general crap that doesnt go elsewhere). Then we also have the wooden ikea drawers (in sets of 2) - have 3 kids, so they each have a drawer for important stuff (eg homework etc), then a spare 4th drawer again for crap that doesnt fit elsewhere, must clean it out soon

We also have a family calendar, and magnetic pegs on fridge for pinning stuff. Each child has a peg / coat hook in hallway (with their initial as the hook - buy on notonthehighstreet, very anally retentive but looks nice ) and they must hang up coats, school book bags, footy kits etc everyday on their own peg or else I spontaneously implode

Oh, plus I have a weekly planner (pheonix trading) that i complete if the week is looking really manic (i.e. so manic that I won't remember to look at calendar).

Seems to work ok for now....

Magnetic white board in utility room - want to swop for big pin board as things keep dropping off. Yes to repacking once done for swimming kits and gym kits, live on hooks next to utility room.

2 clipboards for school letters.

Family calender (national trust one) INSIDE the tea cupboard on door so seen several times a day. 5 columns - one each, and a family joint one. We each get a little smiley sticker on it too if we done exercise (outs self)

A general colour system - DS1 - blue, DS2 - green

The rest is chaos....!

I have a google calendar but generally just hope for the best!

we have 5dc and everything is generally under control, If i had a notice board it would end up unused in the shed I am better just winging it!

By the front door: shoe racks (named), coat rack (named pegs)

In the utility room: swimming and sports kit, in named bags/pegs. Gets washed, dried, and put straight back in the bag, so on sports day I DC just grab their stuff and it's ready to go.

Kitchen wall:
1/ Calendar from www.kitchencalendars.co.uk - all term dates/birthdays added when I order it. A column for every one, one month to view. If it's not on the calendar, it's not happening.
2/ Dry wipe board: for all shopping lists, remember X notes
3/ Magnetic board: for all party invites, cubs/brownies schedules, school trip letters. A pin board would be better.

I also have a desk area with envelopes, cheque book, writing paper, pins/elastic bands. There was a whole thread that should be in classics called "how do I get organised" - that had loads of tips. Basically I try for a 'one-touch' system - if a letter comes from school, it gets dealt with on that day. Same for invites. If I get an email, I print it from my phone and then collect from the printer and put it on the notice board.

Third the "give a child a colour" idea: ours have the same colour for name labels, bags, towels etc.

I buy a 5 column calendar every year, all stuff gets written on in pencil (except for birthdays which obviously never move), schools sometimes change dates etc so I find rubbing out easier then having lots of crossings out. I go through the book bags as soon as the DC's get in, read the letters and put stuff on the calendar then.

There is a magazine file in the kitchen for post and other letters that still need dealing with. Once something is dealt with it goes date order in a box under the stairs, that box gets sorted out twice a year, once when we start lighting the fire in winter and once again in the spring before we stop, any 'shredding' goes (in a controlled and safe fashion) on the fire as I find it far more satisfying faster than shredding

It's a bit of a lazy system but I've tried to make as many bills bank accounts paper free. Anything to do with budgeting gets done on excel.

Any bits of paper that are waiting to be returned to school are kept on a magnetic peg on the fridge door. I have a stack of envelops on top of the fridge to make things faster.