Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Command centers and staging areas :-D

Military has hundreds of years of effective organization habits and inventions. It's a great idea to apply their ideas to the family lives.

To get a family working better, it is good to have a command center.

I prefer my command center to be somewhere centered, undisturbed, where everyone knows the bulletin board is to be found and other important information.
I need a small book shelf, a table, a chair - I think a secretary is great for this purpose.

I have several binders in my command center, one household binder, one for cleaning, home and interior decor, one for bills and guarantees and other such papers and one for all the other important papers.

There needs to be a calendar, with the whole month visible at one glance, and a "week ahead" schedule.

There needs to be the menus and shopping lists

There needs to be a place for the post

There needs to be the chore lists and to do lists.

There needs to be a white or black board for writing notes to the family, and a memo board to put all the important little notes and cards etc. up, so that one knows where to look for them.
There also need to be the whiteboard pens, chalks and other pens close by, easily accessible.

I don't have the gadget charging area in the command center, nor the keys. Those are in the staging area (aka launch pad), which is - and in my opinion should be - separate from the command center. 

In the staging area one empties one's hands as one gets in through the door. There are all the things that are to be taken with one when one leaves home, their bags, keys, wallets, telephones and other such things, sun glasses, hats, and everything else. Because of this, it should be as close the door as possible.
Ours is right next to the door, but the charging center is by our bed, because my bed is my office.
Every member of the family has a basket where they will leave their things, and where the things they need to remember to take with them are left, like lunch etc.
There is also a clip on the door for all the letters to be posted, store bonus coupons and other such things.
I have the library books in the staging area as well. All the library books are in the book shelf in the entryway, they are fetched from there to be read and returned there, and there is also the library bag with a pocket for the library card there, so that it's easy to just take the books and return them-

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