Back To School Tips From One Organized Mama: The Family Command Center

There is a saying that goes for writers, "write what you know." In this case I'm writing about what I'd like to know and what I've been learning from doing research on this segment called, Calling All Organized Moms! Please Share Your Secrets!  I'm not going to lie to you, I've never been accused of being organized. Sure there have been times in my life and certain instances where I have been organized, even really organized - but as a mom in general there is a lot I still need to learn. However, I'm totally willing to learn. That is the first step!

I've received many emails and messages about the various methods moms' use to organize their household and for my first featured post on Organized Mamas, I'm super proud and excited to share with you one of the most organized mom's I know - our cousin, Jenn who is One Organized Mama! She is the wife of my husband's cousin, James and I've seen her mad organizing skillz first hand, so it was no question that I wanted to ask her to please, please, PLEASE fill us in on her secrets. Luckily for us, she was happy to!

Jenn has some really great tips for getting your house ready for the onslaught of papers, books, toys, shoes, backpacks, lunch boxes, playdates and school activities that come from every day life with kids, but especially when your kids are going back to school.

Meet Jenn -

Clean up after yourself. 

House elves don't work here.

Hi, my name is Jenn and I am a list making, calender keeping, post-it note sticking, red pen checker kinda gal! I am a total nut when it comes to having a calendar and list in every room and I have to make them every week and review them every morning - especially during the school year. With both girls in school, one in girl scouts, cheer and language club, plus playdates, grocery shopping, errands and various appointments, I needed to get it all together.

Home Is Where The Heart Is.

I am a stay-at-home mom to two awesome little girls - very busy little girls! Lillian is six years old and Madelyn is three and a half. My Hubby works in the Country Club/Restaurant Industry and just when I think I understand his schedule, club season changes, weddings are booked, events are planned and it becomes crazy at his place of business - so long story short he typically gets one day off a week. I try not to complain because during the summer he is usually home a lot more and well, he loves what he does and it allows me to stay home and focus on what is important... our girls. 

Jenn has a few signs in her house to remind her and her family about the important things in life. 

Always Remember To:

• Count Your Blessings
• Live Simply
• Dream Big
• Be Grateful
• Give Love
• Give Lots
• Laugh Lots

How can you get away from all of the daily tasks needed to run a busy family household and still Live Simply? 

Hold tight because Jenn has some great tips for you:

The Family Command Center

I felt so overwhelmed with all of my various lists and calendars in different rooms so I knew I needed to consolidate everything to one location in order to be efficient in my organization. Thanks to Pinterest I got some great ideas on a Family Command Center!

Picture taken by Jenn H. -  Family Command Center - My Tales From The Crib - 2013  

... so this is my FCC which is my new favorite area of our house! Not only is it a monthly and weekly organizer, the girls have their shoes, toys, library and school backpacks all in one place. My Hubby has given me an official title ...other than Mom of course, I am now the "House Manager" (heeheehee!!)

Picture taken by Jenn H. -  Family Command Center - My Tales From The Crib - 2013  

Not only can the Hubby see whats going on at a glance, he can add things to the calendar too like date nights, nights he might be home early and even days he has off. The girls love it too! 

Picture taken by Jenn H. -  Family Command Center - My Tales From The Crib - 2013  

I was so tired of collecting shoes after everyone went to bed I decided to put in a shoe rack and let me tell you I have not seen a missing shoe for the past few months! Even the Hubby and I put our shoes there when we come in from the garage. 

Which saves us time getting out the door in the morning.

Picture taken by Jenn H. -  Family Command Center - My Tales From The Crib - 2013 

My favorite part of the Family Command Center is probably the labeled baskets. One for each girl! After they go to bed I spend barely 10 minutes collecting all of the toys off the floor and I throw everything in their own basket. When they do their chores the next day it is their responsibility to clean out their own basket and put everything back where it belongs. 

Remembering What Is Important

The Family Rules:

• Keep your promises
• Share
• Think of others before yourself
• Say, "I love you"
• Listen to your parents
• Do your best
• Say, "please" and "thank you"
• Always tell the truth
• Laugh at yourself
• Hug often
• Use kind words
• Love each other

Anyone can learn to be more organized and make a Family Command Center that fits your family's needs and personal style. You can see from the picture below that you don't even need that much space to accomplish your own FCC.

Picture taken by Jenn H. -  Family Command Center - My Tales From The Crib - 2013 
Way to make your small spaces count, Jenn!  

Getting Organized Doesn't Have To Go Over The Monthly Budget Either!

Before you hit your favorite department store, look around your house to find things you already own to use in your Family Command Center like bins, hooks, dry erase boards, etc. I used an old shoe rack we already owned and I found cheap frames and scrapbooking paper in the clearance isle. Check your dollar stores, discounted stores and clearance isles for cute items that are very useful and very inexpensive. I bought the Family Rules plaque at Marshall's for only $4.00! The baskets were the most expensive purchase at $6.00 a piece at World Market and I found the little chalkboards for just over $1.00 there too. I hope to replace my dry erase calendar with a trendy chalk board or framed dry erase board someday but for now what I have works great!

Good luck with organizing!!

We appreciate all of your great organizing tips, Jenn! I've started using your tips and tricks in my own house and we've already seen an improvement! Are you an Organized Mom and would like to share your tips?  Click here to see how your ideas can be featured on our blog or if you have a just few tried and true tips that help you get through the day/week we'll take those too!




Can't think of anything specific?  We're looking for organizing tips on:

• Creating a weekly/monthly menu
• Tips on cheap, easy, cute and yummy school lunches
• Homeschooling: Getting/staying on task!
• Creating a monthly family budget
• Tricks on tackling laundry/dishes/bills/toys, etc.
• Tricks on tackling a stubborn area in your house: closets/garage/toy room/family room, etc. 
• Simple ways to go green and help save the Earth.
• What do you need tips on??  Please share.

Thanks for sharing!  Was this helpful?  Let us know below!  

Click here to read more Back To School posts! 

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The Ricki Lake Show Made a Huge Impact On My Closet!

I watched the premier episode of The Ricki Lake Show today and it was really great. She's so spunky and fun and she has such a positive energy so it was really enjoyable to watch.

One of the segments was about a woman who at a young age had lost her husband while he was deployed in Iraq and he never got to meet their infant son. She was a single mom for several years but is now happily engaged. However, our pain manifests itself in many different ways whenever we have a traumatic experience or when we are dealing with stress, sadness, etc. and her's manifested itself into an extremely messy closet. She was hanging on to the past with her mess not knowing how to let it go. She kept avoiding cleaning it out and would find a million other things to do instead. Since she was a busy mom, a messy closet never took top priority. I can relate. I get so overwhelmed sometimes with being a stay-at-home-mom and the day-to-day mess of dishes, laundry and toys that major things like organizing closets, drawers and garage boxes get pushed aside.

Until today!

I was greatly inspired by The Ricki Lake Show today and the themes I took away from it were to: 

• Just do it
• Stop procrastinating 
• Just start somewhere

So I looked in my closet and I started taking everything out that no longer works, no longer fits, no longer looks good, is no longer in style, etc.  Since becoming a mom, especially a SAHM my style of cute skirts and dresses with high heeled boots and funky purses has morphed into anything and everything that is comfortable and made out of cotton.  My purses are now filled with diapers, wipes and worn out baggies of sticky raisins and stale cheerios.

Then I moved on to my drawers because my kids were busy entertaining themselves with some "new-to-them" books they found in their rooms. I have been alternating books from the different places we keep them (both kid's rooms as well as a bookshelf in the livingroom) and adding in books of the season that I (try to ) keep away in a box so they are special again when the time comes.

Who wants to read about Fall and pumpkins when it's blazing hot beach weather outside?

Since they were busy doing something productive with their time (reading!) I tackled my drawers and again pulled everything out that no longer fit, no longer looked good, or was too warn out and frumpy.  So....um...now my closets and drawers are pretty much bare!  I had a lot of "frumpy mom clothes" I was hanging on to.

Which leaves me to ask, "Hey Ricki, are you doing a makeover show anytime soon?  I know of a mom who is in desperate need of a new look!  Me!"  ;-)

I was so inspired with the instant gratification of the new changes and how much less stressed out it made me feel that I tackled my daughter's room and her closet!  We made two bags: one to sell at our next garage sale and one to donate.  The stuff we were keeping we found a place for it to live, hung it up or folded it and put it away. But the bottom line here is we did not stuff it under the bed, in the closet or stash it away on the shelf to "deal with later."

We handled our mess!  

Once that was cleaned out and I got the kids on board with helping too we moved into the living room where a lot of their toys live in various baskets and boxes. I decided to move every single toy into the play room (where they should be anyway) and just left the bookshelf full of kid's books as well as a little climbing structure we keep in the house to give our toddler a clean, safe place to climb. But really it just keeps him from dive bombing the couch all of the time. Now he only dive bombs it some of the time. 

But basically we reclaimed our living room.  It felt awesome!

After putting all of the toys in the toy room I saw just how much kid stuff we have and having it all in one spot gave me a bit more clarity to go through it. I was able to see all of the duplicates, what was broken or missing from a set, what had been wandering from basket-to-basket and room-to-room in search of their long lost match or missing piece (that is never to be found because toddlers like to throw things in the trash), and what needed to be tossed, donated or sold because we've outgrown it or it no longer makes the cut. Having everything in one spot made it quicker to go through it and store it properly as well.

I was so inspired with change that I finished the dishes, started dinner and banged out a few loads of unfolded laundry... and put it all away!

Unheard of!

It took a bit longer because I was teaching my preschooler the art of folding the socks into little balls and I was teaching (or at least trying to teach) my 23 month old where the clothes go in the drawers. It turns out that I really didn't need to actually fold it once we were done with the lesson anyway, but that's OK.

The task was complete. The clean clothes were put away!

So thank you to The Ricki Lake Show for inspiring change in our house with your very first show and for helping this frazzled mama feel a little less frazzled!  You also gave me a reason to shop for some new clothes!  I learned that you just have to start somewhere and make small changes.

Small changes morph into bigger ones and soon enough you'll be done!

UPDATE 1 Day Later:

The ripple effect from my one day of cleaning and purging just a few of our "junk spots" has already made a drastic change in myself and in my family. We woke up to a clean living room and the kids woke up to clean bedrooms. The few things that were left out took minutes to put back in "their place." This started the day off calm and relaxed. It made it easier to leave the TV off because I wasn't trying to buy extra time to get things picked up while my two kids were already climbing the walls.  The house was calm and quiet even though we were wide awake and ready for the day.  I wasn't preoccupied with the thoughts of, "how in the world am I going to get this done today with the kids under foot?"  or "I have a few "free" minutes but where do I even begin?"  Instead we ate breakfast, got ready in a flash and joined some friends at an indoor play place for a few hours which left the kids happy, laughing, smiling and worn out. Both took an afternoon nap at the same time allowing me the free time to go through more boxes of...ahem...crap in the garage.

It was a good day! 

The kitchen/dining room is next.  "Yea, that's right kitchen...I'm talking to you."  It has become our dumping ground for art supplies, art projects, purses/backpacks/lunch boxes, lost toys, mail, paperwork and random things that have no business being in the kitchen on the island.

But for now I smile and exhale because the living room was an amazing work of progress!

*Are you an Organized Mom?  Please share your secrets so the rest of us (myself included) can learn a thing or two!

*heart*,

 Coco Cana

Let's keep the conversation going over on our facebook page, My Tales From The Crib!

Or join me on twitter @coco_cana

How Ironic #1

It's ironic that I couldn't find my organizing book, "The One-Minute Organizer" anywhere and then when I did finally find it, it was stashed under a pile of crap.

*sigh*