If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by your family’s schedule, you might benefit from a “command center”: a centralized location that houses all of your family’s information.
But then, if you go to Pinterest, you might be overwhelmed even further by all of the command center options out there. Let me tell you, there are some moms who get really into these things. They are absolutely amazing.
But most of them are way more than I need.
When I decided to make a command center, I simply wanted a place where I could see our family’s week at a glance. I keep our main calendar on my phone so I can refer to our extended schedule anytime I need, but from a day-to-day operations standpoint, we only care about a week at a time.
So that’s what I made. It’s small, it’s simple, and it keeps track of all the things me (and my kids) need to know about each week.
Even better? Nobody needs to incessantly ask me what’s for dinner anymore. And it’s incredibly easy to update each week, which means I can keep up with it (which is more than I can say for some of those other monster systems).
I don’t want to say it was life-changing but…okay. Maybe I do. It’s made a huge difference in our home.
Here are the things I felt were important to include:
- Weekly Menu
- Daily Activities
- Kids’ Chore Chart
- Grocery List Requests/Reminders (outside of our standard weekly purchases)
This project was really inexpensive and super easy. Here are the supplies I used:
- Chalkboard (Hint: Check your local thrift store. I got mine for $4!)
- Ruler
- White Permanent Paint Marker (look in the Poster Board section)
- Twine
- Command Hook
- Chalk Pencils
- White Chalk
- Eraser
Before I started doing the actual project, I sketched my vision for the chalkboard on a separate piece of paper. Then, I did the math and wrote out exactly how far from each edge each grid should start, the amount of space between each row and column, and everything else. I knew I’d be unhappy if the finished project wasn’t symmetrical, so it was worth it to invest time up-front to make sure I knew exactly where to place each line.
Next, I rubbed chalk all over the chalkboard (this seasons it so it erases better later), erased it, and wiped it off with a wet paper towel.
Then I drew the grid lightly with a chalk pencil and ruler (they have a much finer line than regular chalk) and traced over it with the white permanent paint marker.
Once the painted grid was dry I added the days of the week and other labels on the board, then tied some twine on the back and hung it up on a Command hook. It’s super easy to take down each week, fill out for the following week, and put back up on the wall.
This simple tool has made things run so much more smoothly. The kids know what we’re having for dinner, I don’t get asked about our weekly schedule, and they (and I) know which chores still need to be done.
I encourage you to design something similar for your own family according to your own needs. Don’t get overwhelmed by the month-long calendars or huge command centers on Pinterest. Often simple is best, and with just a little effort you can come up with something that meets your needs without going overboard.
How do you manage your family’s day-to-day?
Read more of Kristina’s contributions to allmomdoes here.
