Customize Your Family’s Communication Center & Start the Year Off Right

They key to a calm and organized home is communication. Each member of your family has their own schedule – work, school, sports, clubs, meetings, visits. With everyone busy, communication is necessary to keep the family organized and not overwhelmed. One great way to handle this is to create a family communication center in your home.

There are so many creative ways to develop a communication center for your family; you are only limited by your imagination! One great resource for ideas is Pinterest. To get you started, your professional organizer in NYC shares how to create an ideal communication center in your home to allow your family to stay organized throughout the year.

What you will need…

You will need a space. The first step is deciding on a location for your communication center. It doesn’t need to be very big, it could be a small desk in the corner of the living room or a designated spot on the wall. You choose the best space for your family, and preferably somewhere that is central like in or near the kitchen.

You will need a calendar. You can use a calendar mounted on the wall, a whiteboard, or even something like this weekly calendar from Post-It. One home organizing idea that is essential is to make sure the calendar has a prominent spot in the communication center so it is extremely visible.

You can choose your own extras. What is the purpose of your communication center? To keep track of family schedules? Or are you also using it as a place to take phone messages, or keep track of school forms that need to be signed, or a place to store your keys? Define your objective and then get creative so that you can organize your station in the way that best suits your family. You might need:

• cork board: you can hang important notes or forms that need to be signed, or even invitations or to-do lists.
• files: this space can be where you create your paper management system. Set up action files for calls to be made, filing, and bills to be paid. Also, set up reference files for each of your children so that important notices from school as well as their after school activities will have a home.
• bins or bowls: you can store your keys, push pins, markers, envelopes, stamps – whatever tools are essential to supporting the activities that will be handled in your communication center! Your goal is to assign a specific spot for every item.
• notebook: to take notes, messages, make lists – have a designated spot for a notebook or notepad and something to write with.
• charging station: this can be your central location to charge your cell phones, tablets, and kindles.

Location. Location. Location. This is the key to creating a truly effective communication center. In terms of its appearance or the items that you keep accessible in this space….it’s your choice as the area should be customized to meet your family’s needs! Now is the time to take back control of your family life with these communication center tips from the professional organizer in NYC.