How We Built a Family Command Center for Under $30
(Photo Credit - Summer Mincks)
Recently I posted a few Instagram photos of my new favorite thing: my family command center. I have wanted one for a year or so now, in the hopes that it would aid in my organization of my family, and more importantly, make things easier.
As anyone who knows me knows I am a wee bit of a Type A Control Freak. I’m not ashamed to admit it. It’s part of my wiring. Coming from a military-esque family with strict rules and even stricter schedules, the concept of “If you’re not 10 minutes early – you're late,” is practically ingrained into my soul.
And really, a large part of me is ok with that. I keep our family in line and organized.
But…a small part of me wishes I could relinquish a wee bit of control.
Ok so having a family command center seems almost counter-productive to that “getting laid back” attitude. I get it, it sounds ridiculous.
“But Summer, if you want to relinquish control, why are you creating something that gives you more control?”
So, hear me out.
The fact is that ultimately this helps to relinquish my controlling behavior down to roughly one day a week.
What do I mean by that?
Well, I update our information once a week (barring the occasional pop-up event that I add to the calendar). Every Sunday morning, I update our menu, our weekly to-dos, the kids' chore chart, and more. And then for the rest of the week. I simply refer to the calendar.
When someone asks what’s for dinner…I tell them to refer to the menu.
When the hubby asks what’s going on for the weekend…I tell him to look at the calendar.
When the kids say they’re bored…that’s right, I refer them to their chore charts and remind them of everything they have to get done before their fun.
(Photo Credit - Summer Mincks)
It makes it so much easier on not only me but on all of us. It’s working to teach the entire family how to be organized without me having to pound it into everyone’s head like the control monster I know I tend to be.
So, this ultimately helps me to relax. Just the fact of having each week relatively planned out, helps me to take a breather.
So, what type of family needs a command center?
I’ve compiled a list of ideal families that would benefit from a command center.
1. Any family with one member or more.
2. Any family that has appointments.
3. Any family that eats.
4. Any family that has things to do.
5. Any family.
I think you’re starting to see a pattern here by now. Any family who is willing to take a few minutes each week to update their center will benefit from having a command center.
So now that you are looking at getting one of these handy dandy doo-dads for yourself, where do you start? And how do you not drop a hundred bucks on calendars and shelves and fancy dry erase boards?
Let me tell you how I did it, and how I did it for under $30.00.
First off you need to find the section of the wall you wish to use. For us, we chose about a 5ft by 6ft section of wall across from our kitchen. I wanted something relatively centrally located in the house and something where we could all easily get to it. Because it is out in the open I also wanted it to look nice.
It is also worth mentioning that you can, and you should completely customize the command center to suit your needs. For example, we have two calendars up, because, honestly, we need to see two months at a time. With things like Arwen's appointments and Timothy’s recording sessions, we often book months in advance, and it helps to be able to at least see what is coming a month in advance. For your family, this may not be necessary, or maybe you need to see three months in advance. Just remember to set up the space to suit your needs.
Once you establish what sorts of things you need in your space, how much room you have to do it, and what you hope to get out of your center, it is time to purchase your supplies. I knew that I wanted to be as budget-friendly as possible, with a max budget of $50. But, because I’m competitive I wanted to beat that. I knew that multiple dry erase boards would be pretty spendy, hence the dollar store picture frames. The awesome thing about dollar store picture frames is that essentially you can print out any background you need, like menu pages, To-Dos, and more and simply put them in the picture frame. Instant dry erase board tailored to your needs.
As for the chore charts I created those through Microsoft word and created the template using the table tools. I did the same thing for the menu, To Do, and Don’t Forget Pages. I’ll post a link to all the docs created below for free download to use if you so wish.
(Photo Credit - Summer Mincks)
Let’s move on to the supply break down. Below is a list of supplies I purchased as well as a list of decorative pieces that are not necessary but did add into the look of things. I will also list where I found the supplies along with their prices. It should also be noted that we did purchase a laminator and used it in the process of making the chore charts, but this is not necessary. We had wanted a laminator for quite some time and had to jump when we found one extremely marked down at Walmart.
Supplies:
2 Dry Erase Calendars - $9 x 2 = $18 - Walmart
2 Black Metal Organizers - $1 x 2 = $2 – Dollar Tree
3 Picture Frames - $1 x 3 = $3 – Dollar Tree
2 2-Pack Clip Boards - $2 x 2 = $4 – Walmart
1 Pack of Gorilla Strips - $2 - Walmart
Total: $29
Ok, so these next items I didn’t factor into my cost as they are not required but can add to the Pinterest-Worthy-Fancy-Pants style of your command center.
Bonus Items:
2 Wall Decals - $1 x 2 = $2 – Dollar Tree
2 Decorative Mirrors - $1 x 2 = $2 – Dollar Tree
Extra Dry Erase Markers - $2 – Dollar General
Next line up your overall design. I’m big on symmetry so we made sure to line up our items in their item type order. From there we began the process of sticking things up on the wall. We have very thin paneling walls currently. Eventually this will be remodeled, but for now, we had to make sure that our items were secured, but also light. The baskets you see in the pictures are not only secured with the gorilla adhesive strips but also with two pushpins on either side for added security.
(I made my poor husband hang everything because eye-balling symmetry is totally not a strong skill of mine. Photo Credit - Summer Mincks)
Now that the command center has been up a while, has it helped?
The short answer, yes. I love the ease of keeping all of our family information in one place and having things color-coded help the kids to know what type of events or holidays are coming up. And having their chore charts on the clipboards makes it easy for them to go and find out what they need to get done each day.
I also added an envelope with bonus chores where they can earn things like stars or points for special items like ice cream dates, a movie, or any other fun event with mom and dad.
Are there things I would have done differently? Yes.
I wish that I had stuck the calendars up using Velcro. I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m pretty short and I have to get a step stool every time I want to write something on the calendar. Plus, I struggle with writing on a wall, so it would be much easier if I could take them off the wall to write on them.
(Photo Credit - Summer Mincks)
But with that said I love my command center and how convenient it is. Do you have a family command center? Or plans to put one up? What things do you add to make it work best for your family? Let us know and show us some pics. Be sure to tag us and I can’t wait to see what you create!
File Downloads:
