does anyone have a command centre/board...

[GreenGoth89]

or is it yet another bored American housewife/pinterest obsession?

I have a small door at the bottom of our stairs (the meter cupboard) which I want to have a space for a calendar (possibly superfluous as we use google calendar linked to our phones, but might be a helpful reminder), a white board (and markers attached), a wire thing for post to go in (because otherwise it gets lost on the coffee table), and any school stuff for DSS. Is there anything else which is worth using? A small cork board for any other bits? I'm not sure how I can do this cheaply and also not make stuff stick out too far as it is at the bottom of the stairs - theres a large step at the bottom so theres a fair bit of space but as I have mobility problems I don't want it to be any more difficult to navigate.

I have not idea where to find the wire A4ish baskets and whether its even worth doing??

Right, I have one. Been a SAHM for 11 years and like to get stuff done in the week Monday to Friday in school hours. That way I am available for homework help/encouraging.

I have a laundry schedule which includes a uniform wash done on a Monday so no ironing required over the weekend. I basically do 2 loads a day, there are 4 of us and I wash bedding every week. Start of the week has stuff that needs ironing, by Thursday washing is bedding, then towels so no ironing.

Bin gets emptied on 2 particular days so no over flowing bin ever. It gets taken out as we leave the house for the school run, even if it is pouring with rain because you are out in it anyway.

Command centre wise, I have a calendar (my own design, printed over summer with birthdays already in from mail merge in Excel) magazine rack on wall with a section for each family member then a section each for shred, file, action. Plus a laundry schedule (mainly for the children to see for favourite items) I also have a cleaning schedule on it. Certain things are done on certain days like hand towel change. This is on a pinboard from Ikea and painted white.

The children are 13 and 10 and strip their own beds, put it in washing machine and put it on. They then make their own beds too.

I have a folder with all the school stuff in, this is stashed in a cupboard in the kitchen. I also have a 3 weekly menu plan which we try to stick to. I order food shopping online because it is easier than physically going to the supermarket. I only iron stuff I absolutely have to.

I have found that without the schedule I could just let stuff slide till the next day, then the next day, whereas with this I can see what I need to do and get it done.

I have the command centre because it looks pretty

Ds1 also has a command centre for homework in his bedroom it keeps him on track with what needs to be done.

Those squares on the door are 40cm X 47cm which isn't the right size for A3 boards - which are 30x42, but A2 is 42x59 so that's too big. I've found some sticky cut to fit whiteboard stuff which could work and I find a frame (but I'm really not sure where from and what size), but cork board is still an issue, as are wall mountable magazine files, i can't seem to find any!! Any ideas? I could have the use of the windowsill but my DP would prefer not to lose precious seedling raising space.

I have a notice board, blackboard next to it and calendar.

Hanging from the end of the notice board are 2 bull dog clips - one for each child's stuff from school

The blackboard shows a "week" and each Friday I transfer what is written on the calendar to the blackboard.

This has worked for us for years

I sort of do. Next to the front door I have the organised mum family planner, we use a column of this for childcare arrangements and another for meal planning. There's a pocket at the back for tickets and anything else that needs to stay safe. Underneath there are kid height hooks for coats and school/childminder bags, opposite is a set of pockets with hats, gloves, sun cream, bug spray, dog lead and poo bags and so on. Beneath this are 2 flexitubs, one with kit bags (ballet, swimming etc - kit gets washed and back in its bag) and another that shoes and wellies get chucked in.

It's helpful but a work in progress.

It sounds like you have thought through what your household needs so I think it will be successful.

I have an Erin Condren diary which I put all appointments in as I receive them, any paper work goes in the pockets or between the pages of the diary I will need them, I keep this next to my place on the sofa while I am at home or in my bag if I am at work. If I am out and about and need to remember something I add it to the notes section of my phone and add it to my diary later.

Good luck I think your command centre will be great.

GreenGoth sorry it looks like I killed your thread.

No it's fine I just want to see some pictures! I want to make mine look fairly eye catching rather than boring or messy and I'm still struggling with the application of these ideas?

I would send you a picture of my diary sat on my sofa but I don't think it will help at all; I found these online and they all look cute and organised.

Do post a photo when you get it done, would love to see it.

should be fine - I have a massive pin board by the front door, with the family calendar (one with a column for each family member) and can pin school letters, medical letters/appts, certificates and stuff. I generally clear it out at the beginning and end of the holidays, and at the beginning of half terms. Means that anything pinned up is generally not more than six weeks old, and everyone can pin/take down what they need. We do have six people in the house though, two of whom have disabilities, so that's why ours is so massive.

Good thread.

Off to build my command centre.

I think you can get magnetic paint so you could paint one section with magnetic paint and use it to hang stuff and one with blackboard paint and your wire baskets at the bottom?

Have you looked on Pinterest?

I have a magazine rack (the metal one from IKEA): the top rack holds school letters (each child has a designated plastic wallet which i slot letters i have to keep into and then place in the rack), middle rack holds "other" letters that are important such as medical appt letters and the bottom rack currently holds my recipe folder. Bills that need paying are paid straight away or attached to the rack with a magnet and a what it is/date to pay by (i.e. credit card 01/09/16) is written on the envelope so we can see instantly what is to be done. All post is dealt with straight away and dates jotted straight into diaries - we still get a pile building up i.e. filing/catalogues etc but I sort it out 2-3 x a month.

I have a menu (on a piece of paper as I found it easier to do each week when menu planning than the whiteboard we tried first) on a noticeboard plus a calendar (for the date as I use my phone as a diary as I can take it out and about with me) and a shopping list. When the children were small, we used to have a magnetic weekly planner showing their after-school clubs etc.

We used to use a family calendar all the time but with dh having his own diary for work plus I need to have one I can pop in my bag (now my phone), we found it easier just to have a quick chat at the start of the week as to what was happening in the week ahead plus any important dates are added to both our diaries as they pop up. No evening/weekend booking occurs (barr the dc's activities as I do those usually) without a quick check with each other that nothing else has popped up/been forgotten.

I intend to get a basket per person to sit on the stairs (for stuff to go up stairs). We used to have a basket each for gloves etc and a designated coat hook/shoe rack but that had to go when we changed the layout by the front door - it will be coming back but will move to the under-stair cupboard.

It works for us but I would like a blackboard for a permanent menu/shopping list at some point. I say give it a go and be prepared to adjust it slightly if it doesn't work as well as you planned - you'll only know once you've tried it!

I have! I love it. Didn't realise it was a 'thing'. I have posted a pic of it on MN before but it's not on my phone anymore. I basically just have one of those multiple-frame photo frames which I put white paper in, and use them like a whiteboard so I write on the glass. There happens to be 9 frames so I have one per day, a shopping list and a notes. Each day I write the meal plan, chore of the day, and exercise. It's stuck on the end cupboard in the kitchen (full length) and the rest of it isn't pretty, I just blutak stuff up. Keep meaning to buy those in-tray things from IKEA.

My filing was transformed by tip on MN. We use lever arch files and then file stuff in date order. No sections. Started when we moved house. Just write Sept 16- and when it is full put the end date and start another.

Of course you still have to go through paperwork and action/file/bin but you don't have to faff with the filing. So everything - insurance, council tax, utilities is in the file in date order so usually quite easy to find and you know where it is.

I was in tkmaxx yesterday and they had organiser panels which cling to the wall. One pack had a cork board panel, a weekly black board with chalk pen etc. Can't remember name but you might be able to trim to fit your door.

When my DC were smaller they each had a clip on our big white board. When the clips got full and started to drop off board it was time to thin out!

My dinning table has drawers. One of them is a 'command centre'. It has envelopes, stamps, a little box with coins, pens, scissors etc.
I have a leather folder tht lives in the magazine rack in between the sofa and the table. All letters etc get put in this folder and dealt with twice a week.
I also have a life planner that lives in the same magazine rack. It gets checked every evening. It has it's own shopping list you can rip out.

I have a birthday calendar and a birthday cards folder, it has12 pockets for cards, I buy 'bulk'.

I don't like stuff on display though.

www.amazon.co.uk/Waterproof-Blackboard-Chalkboard-liquidchalk-microfiber/dp/B016IOZSLC/ref=pd_lpo_60_tr_t_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=C9F41PDT82MVZFJS0DGS

What about some of this stuff, cut to fit your panels?