Command Central

Today I am joining Organizing Junkie's Monthly Round-Up--this month's challenge is the command central area. I love orgjunkie.com, but this is my first time participating in a Round-Up. Yes, my command center needed a cleanup, but mostly I just wanna win the goodies. This is, after all, my "year to get organized" (though, at the rate I'm going, it's more likely to take a decade), so I need all the tools I can get. ;-) So here goes....

I set up this area a couple of years ago and it still works very nicely, but as you can see, it got a bit overgrown and needed a good de-cluttering. BEFORE:
AFTER:

Ah, that's better! I sorted through everything and purged a ton, I even ended up with an empty slot. So here's more about how my command center works....

First, the two organizers are from Pottery Barn. I never buy from PB because it's so expensive (instead I just drool over the catalogs), but when my generous sister gave us a gift card a few years ago, these are what we chose. Organizer on the left: top drawer has stamps and a variety of note cards, bottom drawer has several lists, addresses, computer passwords. On top are my envelopes and that box is full of broken Christmas ornaments, not really a part of my command center, but whatever.

Organizer on the right: the three front cubbies hold (1) notepads and checkbook, (2) pens, pencils, highlighter, sharpie, and (3) return address labels and church tithing envelopes. Behind that, the middle slot holds coupons on the left and bills-to-be-paid on the right. The back slot ended up empty(!), so I'll leave it for papers from preschool that need action.

The stuff that had been piled by the phone included things I didn't want to lose track of, but I didn't like having a pile there--it was ugly and also made it difficult to open the bottom drawer of the organizer. So I threw the stuff I was keeping into a picnic silverware sorter behind the pretty organizer--the stuff is easy to find, but hard to see.

Also, you may notice in the before picture that there were folders along the left side of this area. I have folders for bills/budget/tax docs, moms club, "refrigerator stuff" (these are notes, recipes etc, that I would've posted on my fridge, but it's stainless steel so not magnetic) and extra return address labels. I moved those into a magazine file, further reducing my command center clutter.

To see more of the command central Round-Up, go here. Or you can stay here and click around, I have an "organizing" tab on the sidebar, or you can learn more about me and my kids with the "about" label. Thanks for stopping by!