Organizing a Kitchen Command Center

This month I am going to be tackling the paper chaos for my Household Organization Diet {you can find the March To Do List here}. Between all of the junk mail, bills, kids papers, coupons, etc., paperwork can quickly pile up and important papers can easily get misplaced.  Having an organized system for dealing with everything is a definite must!

  If you are at a loss of where to start, begin where all of the paper actually enters the house and just follow the paper trail from there.  I think that it is very important to have a "landing zone" or command center somewhere in your home - the closer it is to where you are used to dumping everything the better!  We have ours set up in the kitchen but a mudroom or laundry room is another popular place to create one.

So where to start?

Gather up all of your papers.  Sort them into three piles: keep, recycle {or garbage}, and shredding {for any paperwork that has any personal information on it}.  Group the papers from the keep pile into categories. This can include {but is certainly not limited to}:

• bills to pay
• events
• kids papers {lunch orders, school notes, book orders, sports/activity schedules, etc.}
• coupons
• records to file {i.e. tax forms, pay stubs, investment reports, etc.}
• personal papers {you may want to have a file for each person in your household}

For each of your categories, create a designated spot that they will go.  You can use a portable file system, wall mounted files, or even a cupboard.  Just find somewhere that will work for you.  I made this wall mail system a couple of years ago and it works out really well for me. 

The file pocket on top is basically where I put any papers that need to go down to our home "office" in the basement.  It includes bills that need to be paid online, paperwork that I need to look up information to complete,  and any other papers that need to be filed away {I will cover this in a later post}.  The send pocket holds papers that can easily be completed and sent back to wherever it needs to go.

I also have a set of drawers on the counter.  The top drawer holds coupons, gift cards, receipts that I only need to keep temporarily, and any fliers that I want to refer back to.  The second drawer holds the kids' papers - school forms, the week's spelling words, kids activity forms, etc.  I have our phone book in the bottom drawer and also place numbers or address that I have jotted down until I have time to transfer them into the book.

I used to use a chalkboard calendar on the wall but found that it was too hard to keep up with and I had to keep another calendar anyways to keep track of months ahead.  Instead of writing everything down in two places, I now just keep one calendar now in the keyboard drawer {since we don't keep a computer here} and just have fun decorating the chalkboard for the different seasons.

{yes, I still have my Valentine's Chalkboard up!}

The drawers store all of our office supplies, stationary, and the kids homework items. When I have notes to write down, I try to use ONE notebook to write things in instead of having sticky notes and random pieces of paper everywhere.  Everything stays in one place and I can always refer back to it if needed in the future.

I have a designated day each week to go through the paperwork and tidy up the command center.  It only takes about 5-10 minutes but I find that the paperwork really catches up with me if I miss a week or two.

Okay, so there is my command center.  Now it's time to come up with yours!  It may take a little trial and error, but once you get things set up, it will be well worth it.  Here are some other command centers to inspire you...

{The Caldwell Project}

{Better Homes and Garden}

 {Patina White}

{Better Homes and Garden}

{Domestic Imperfection}

{Better Homes and Garden}

{Apartment Therapy}

{House of Rose}

{The Lily Pad Cottage}

Hope that gives you some inspiration to create {or update!} you own command center!

**NOTE:  This post is part of my Household Organization Diet series.  You can join in anytime - just start with these two posts here and here.  If you are looking for past projects, you can find them all on my Pinterest board}.

Have a great week!  

I linked up with Flamingo Toes, Chic on a Shoestring, Liz Maire Blog, Lil Luna, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Lolly Jane, Skip to My Lou, Under the Table and Dreaming, Craft-O-Maniac, Uncommon, I Should be Mopping the Floor, I Heart Naptime, Be Different Act Normal, Whipperberry, 504 Main, Tidy Mom, The Frugal Girls, Jennifer Rizzo, The 36th Avenue, Stone Gable, Mom on Timeout, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Not Just a Housewife, Creative Juice and Home Stories A to Z.