Tidy Mom Camp - Day 2 Command Center!

Hi there. Today we're going to focus on creating a command center. And if you don't have one or you don't know what one is, a command center is really a central hub. It's a place in your home where you can find vital information that you need to stay organized and keep your family on track. Just like right here, I've got a coffee station. This is where everybody goes in the house to create, make their coffee. So the mugs are here, the coffee's here, the coffee makers here, anything they want to add into it is in this area. So it's a one stop shop. And everything they need to make their coffee is here. So it works perfect. So with our command centers, we want to make sure that our command centers have the information that we need to stay on track. Catch any, you know, potential scheduling conflicts or anything that we need to take care of during the week, so our weeks run smoother. The things that you want to have in your command center would consist of a family calendar, a menu, grocery list, potentially chore charts, if you have younger kids, an inbox. I love to have a little space where I can put things that are must do priorities that I need to do. Pay a bill, fill out a survey, do some sort of medical document. I love to have that in my command center. You can keep it in your office, but I choose to keep it in my command center. A binder with important information that you might need to be visible. Like if you want to have a schedule for schools, for church, for sports, for work, an emergency contact lists, any notes for babysitters. If you have somebody coming by to take care of your kids, or if you have a pet sitter, you might have some important information for your pet and then anything else that you want to have that has to do with the running of your house. You've likely seen pictures on Instagram or Pinterest on different command centers, or your friends and family have some. And as you know, they're very unique. And the nice thing is you can tailor it to your design style and you can tweak it to make it function the best for your family. So I love that. So I suggest starting with some of the core items that you need to have in a command center and then over time, revise it and change it however you want. Okay. I want to show you how easy this really can be and can be done just in a matter of minutes. So I have two plastic containers here I got at an office store. They were buy one, get one free $7 and 50 cents each. So I spent $7.50 on the baskets. And then I have command hooks that are on the wall holding it up. So it's renter friendly if you're renting, but you won't damage your wall. Just make sure you get good strong ones depending on what you put in the baskets. But I have two baskets. I have a binder that has important information, like any information for a pet sitter, anybody who's going to be here taking care of our house, any type of maintenance information, all of that can go in that binder. It's not used on a day to day basis, but it's good to have it accessible and everyone knows where to find it. So this is a good. This is located in a good common area of our home and it works out really well. So one of the things that I like to do is make sure that I always have my daughter's school schedule. I cannot tell you how many times I'm always looking for this paper, but it shows what day she has off, when does she have a break, when does she get out of school, when does school start? So that's always in here and it's in a folder called school. I also. We also like to keep track of like our menus. We have our menus and we either keep this here in the on command center or sometimes it's in the kitchen. But we also have our grocery list, so it's important to have that handy. And when the kids are wondering what's for dinner, they they can come look and they know. And I also love to get them involved with the creating of the grocery list. But that's a whole other topic. I love to have a folder for any extra curricular activities. So if you have kids that play sports or you play sp, you have a different work schedule. It's nice to have that if it's something you can print and have accessible. So I like to have that in my command center. And I love to have a to do folder. Right now, thankfully it's empty, but I like to have a to do folder for anything that I need to pay anything I need to follow up on. I don't just put junk mail in here. Nothing goes in here except for things I need to take action on. So my goal is always to try to have this empty. But if it's not empty, I try to get to as fast as I can. But that sits in our command center. And then I think the most vital part of a command center for a family and, and the way that you can reduce overwhelm is having a shared family calendar. You can have a calendar on the wall that's a whiteboard. Marker. Marker. You can have any type of calendar that works for you. But what I like to do is I like to have a simple printed one that I can take and I keep it here in the command center, but I like to be able to grab it and sit down at the table and be able to fill it out. That's really important to me. So the things that I would put in my calendar would be my schedule, my husband's schedule, the kids schedule. And if, say somebody has soccer games on Tuesdays and Thursdays, mark them off. We know who's taking somebody anywhere they need to be taken. We know who's making dinner. We know if we need to be in two places at once. So we need to divide a conquer. If you have a shared calendar, it makes all of that visible, simple, and so much easier to navigate. You're not navigating things at the last minute. I love to put on here. If the kids get an invite to a party or you have a birthday coming up, put that on here. There's nothing worse than all of a sudden realizing that somebody has a birthday party to go to. You don't have a gift and you're not ready. So anything that has to do with a family, put on this family calendar. And you will avoid so many conflicts. And it'll help make sure you stay on top of things and you're not dropping the ball. This is a game changer. And again, this is a simple one. You can even print out blank templates from the Internet for free. But having a shared calendar is amazing. And to me, it's one of the best parts of a command center. So down here on the bottom, you can also put little hooks and put a clipboard for each of your kids with their names and you can put their chores there or you can have them put their homework, whatever you want them to focus on. So again, customize it however you want, but start with the basics, keep it simple, and then revise it over time. So post in the Facebook group. Let me know if you have a command center, what your favorite part is. Maybe if you need help, maybe you have something that I didn't discuss today that is really important to keeping your family organized and top of things. You're not dropping the ball. Post it in there. I'd love to go back and forth with you and help brainstorm ideas and join me for my for the Facebook Live today. And we can talk about all of your wins and any answer, any questions you have. See you soon. Bye.