Getting Organized - Family Command Center

One of my goals for 2012 is to get organized. I'm taking this a little at a time (of course). We had have a junk drawer that was filled with pens, markers, scissors, tape, twine, and any other miscellaneous items you could imagine. I'm sure we're not the only ones like this, but I needed to start to corral things so that like things were together. All the pens were taking up the majority of the drawer. We also needed to organize mail, write the meal plan, a calendar for important appointments/activities, a place for note cards of a pad of paper and pens (easy to find working pens) so we could quickly make a list. So, I was reading The Complete Guide to Imperfect Homemaking's October 31 days series and came across this post about command centers. I knew I needed to do it!

In the post, Kelly had great ideas. I needed something simple and space saving. Enter Landee See Landee Do with the following:

So cute right???

I loved it! Not only did I love it, but I could do it! So easy and on the side of my fridge? I'm sold!

Here's my version of this command center - Mind you, I only have the side of the fridge, not a wall covered in steel- don't I wish I did!

This was modified for our family. I have a white board (1 of 35 I bought for my classroom- well made out of showerboard) for messages, grocery lists/needs. The green box is from Target and cost $4.50. It holds key notes for things (window measurements, room measurements - things I'm always looking for), blank index cards for lists or recipes or whatever, my sharpie for freezing food, and dry erase markers for the board. The pen holders are cans covered in scrapbook paper that match the mail holder that is on the other side of the fridge. The pen holders are held on by magnets from Walmart ($3). The calendar hanging vertically is our family calendar/meal plan calendar. I write out the meal plan and any appointments/events on it. This has worked for us for a year. If it ain't broke, don't fix it is my motto. The bottom calendar is for lil man. He uses it to color while I cook and do food prep.

Lil man's calendar will be moved eventually and I'll put his laminated chore chart and some toddler/preschool activities (maybe a magnetic board for matching colors, etc) in its place.

Is it as beautiful and Pinterest worthy as Landee's, probably not, but it was cost effective and works for my family which is what is most important! So easy to do and cheap.