Mission Accomplished--Family Command Center

Before: This cabinet had become a dumping ground for things that didn't have a home, mail, misc. junk. It always drives me nuts. It seems like I would clean it off only too find it looking like this all over again by the end of the day.

After: The family command center:

on the top I set up a basket to keep my planner, spiral bound to do list (from Buttoned Up), outgoing mail and a sticky note pad for messages. My shredder so I can shred junk mail & bills that I don't need to keep for tax purposes as soon as they come in or are paid. My pot that Bella made for me on Mother's Day her first year of preschool (she was 2) that holds my pens, pencils and scissors and a lighter to light the grill and our phone. Above it...my trusty dry erase calendar. Each family member is assigned a color & there is a key in the upper right hand corner (by now they all know which color is them bc I have had this system in place for sometime. Of course, a clock above it all. The only thing I plan on adding is a long hanging file holder so that I can put the kids' school stuff in it that will need to go back & that I can put things that need to be put on the calendar. (I am hoping to find one of these this week.)

Hanging on the side (not sure if you can really see it or not) is a yearly calendar for me to put things on that cannot yet be put on the dry erase calendar. It's hanging over a towel bar that is on the side against the wall.

The drawers now only contain what needs to be in them...things like extra tide pens to throw into my purse, a lint brush for touch ups, paper clips, pencils, keys, sewing kit, white out, batteries, etc.

This is the bottom of the cabinet:

Bills & other things that need to be mailed out but are not ready to go to the mail box yet are in here.

Phone books, address books, note books, and other books the I need on hand are held in this basket. Beside it is a Tax Folder for 2009 from Buttoned Up (http://www.getbuttonedup.com/) which I keep all of my business receipts and all business related documents that I will need for my taxes when I make my annual visit to my accountant. There are several other Buttoned Up products in this basket, I have a book for information on the dog and a family emergency planning book. I love Buttoned Up's products in case you can't tell. My favorite has got to be the Family Agenda (http://www.amazon.com/Buttoned-Up-Inc-1064-Family-agenda/dp/B001HZD2L6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=miscellaneous&qid=1247923691&sr=8-2) It's awesome!

In here are my control journals (one for all year & my holiday one), my folder that I keep all our flex spending receipts in as the accumlate during the month, my Vera Bradley Folio (http://www.verabradley.com/Site/Store/ProductDetail.aspx?dept=7041&sku=7030%3a1621) which I take with me often when I have appointments or errands to run. It has pockets that I can slip my receipts into, etc. so that they don't get lost in the abyss of my purse, and a Real Simple Bill Organizer.

There's my family agenda & Buttoned Up Cross It Off spiral bound to-do list. I usually toss it in my purse & use it to cross things off as I run errands. There is also a remote control in there that need to go back to Walmart on my next outing.

So there you have it....my family command center. What do you think? It took me several hours to weed through all of the junk that was in this cabinet and find new homes for some of the things, but I did it! Now I don't dread looking at this cabinet or having to dig for things like bills, cards, etc. It's all there & I know where it is. I am going to pin tags on each bin that says what it holds so that DH doesn't decide to rip through things...as he often does when looking for something...this of course drives me insane! I am hoping that this will eliminate that issue!