How a Family Command Center Can Keep You Organized This School Year

What Is a Family Command Center (and Why You Need One for Back to School)

Somehow summer is over and it is time to head back to school. You may find your house is overflowing with extra papers from school along with backpacks and lunch boxes strung throughout your home.

If you can’t see your kitchen counter from all of the sports schedules, picture forms and permission slips that need signed, take a deep breath. You don’t need to throw everything away or spend the day on Pinterest for inspiration to fix the mess. You just need a family command center.

What is a family command center anyway? It is simply one dedicated spot in your home where all the “stuff” of your family life lives. Whether it is the many different schedules that need to go on the family calendar, or your family chore chart, you can call one area home for these kinds of things.

Having a family command center should mean that no one is hunting for a permission slip at 7:45 a.m., while also trying to find a matching shoe. This doesn’t have to be a big deal, cost a fortune, or even be that beautiful. It just needs to function well for you and your family.

Here’s how to build one this back-to-school season, without spending a weekend (or a paycheck) on it.

Ways to Create Your Own Family Command Center

Think of your family command center as mission control for the school year. This should be the one place everyone in the house knows to check when they don’t know where something is. And, it is the one place you know to put things, so nothing falls through the cracks.

Back to school is exactly when this matters most. You’ve suddenly got new schedules, new supply lists, new sports and activity sign-ups, and a dozen new pieces of paper coming home every week. Without a system, all of that ends up as a pile on the counter. Don’t feel bad though, we’ve all been there.

The good news? A command center doesn’t require a full home makeover. Even a small bulletin board, a repurposed closet shelf, or a rolling cart can do the job. The goal isn’t perfection. We just need to have one spot instead of six random piles to look in.

The Must-Have Elements of a Command Center

You don’t need all of these on day one. Start with what solves your biggest headache right now, and add the rest as you go.

• Family Calendar – Monthly wall calendar , whiteboard, or bulletin board with a printed calendar for the week on it. Just somewhere everyone can see what’s happening this week.
• Place to sort papers and the mail – A simple file bin or wall pockets for permission slips, school notices, and forms that need signatures.
• Family launch pad – A spot by the door for backpacks, shoes, lunch boxes and anything that needs to go out the door in the morning. (Ours is in our garage, right outside the door on the way to the car).
• Your chore or task chart for the Family – Even a basic list keeps kids accountable without you having to remind them ten times.
• Notepad or whiteboard – For grocery lists, quick reminders, or notes between you and your partner.
• Electronic charging station – One spot for phones, tablets, and laptops to charge overnight so mornings don’t consist of someone about to fail their test because they can’t turn on their computer.

Budget-Friendly DIY Ideas

You can totally create a family command center without spending much at all. Let’s get crafty and create something works for your family.

• Use what you already have – An empty wall in the entryway, the back of a closet door, or even a kitchen cabinet door can become your command center for free.
• Dollar-store and Amazon finds – Simple wall pockets, a $10 corkboard, command hooks for backpacks, and a $5 dry-erase calendar can go a long way to making your space work well for you.
• Short on space? Use a cart. – A small rolling cart with bins works just as well as a wall setup, and it can tuck into a closet or corner when you need the space back. This is a great option if you’re renting or just don’t have an entryway to dedicate to a command center.
• Repurpose before you buy – A large, old picture frame can become a dry-erase board with a sheet of paper behind the glass. An organizer and hooks on the back of a door could be backpack and shoe storage.

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What Calendar Works Best for Your Family?

Your family gets to decide what will work best for them. If they are old enough to have phones, then digital might be the way to go. If you have little ones, a basic wall calendar is probably better. There is no one right way to do this as it all depends on your family and the age of your kids.

• Paper/wall system: Great for younger kids who can’t read a digital calendar yet or for families who like seeing everything at a glance without opening an app. And, it is much easier to highlight things or add sticky notes for attention too.
• Digital/shared calendar: This can work once kids are old enough to have their own phones, or for co-parenting and coordinating with a partner’s separate schedule.
• Hybrid approach: Most Moms I know use both kinds of calendars. They use a shared Google calendar for the basic schedule. Then, they use a simple wall calendar or whiteboard for the more detailed at-a-glance version everyone in the house can see without opening their phone.

Choose whichever works best for you. Use all the things that you will actually implement and keep up with.

Keep It Running All Year Long (Not Just the First Week)

The hardest part of having a command center isn’t setting it up, it is keeping it going past the first few weeks fo school. Most people’s enthusiasm for being organized leaves once the newness is over.

Here are a few things that can help you keep it going for the whole year:

• Do a 10-minute weekly reset. – Pick a day (Sunday nights work well) to clear out old papers, update the calendar, and reset the chore chart.
• Get the kids involved – Even young kids can put their own backpack on a hook or move their name to “done” on a chore chart. The more ownership they have, the less it falls on you.
• Give yourself grace – Some weeks it’ll be perfectly organized. Other weeks it’ll be a pile of papers you haven’t looked at since Tuesday. That’s normal, the system just needs to exist so you can reset it, not be flawless.

If you want a more complete system for keeping your household (and yourself) sane this school year, my Home Harmony Stack walks through the three daily routines every working mom needs. The command center is just one example of routines that can make your life easier.

Last Thoughts

A family command center is the place for the “business” aspect of your family to live. It is great for schedules, papers, and the other daily chaos that comes with a new school year. However, the real beauty is it gives you back your time when you spend less time hunting for permission slips and more time on the things that matter.

So start small and use what you already have. And then assess and build from there. Don’t forget to give yourself grace as you figure out what works. Every family’s command center is going to look different because they are as unique as your family is.

What does your family command center look like? I’d love to hear your setup in the comments below!

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