In the interest of full disclosure, below is a picture of my office/command center (or what will be my office/command center when it is re-done) in all of it’s current chaotic glory…
Office – Before
Believe me when I tell you that this is not easy for me to share. I fully admit that I am much more of a control freak than this room would imply. I have a few excuses reasons that it looks this way:
- I have not yet found the appropriate (or appropriately priced) furniture for this room, and as such am using three card tables and several tens of storage boxes for function and ambiance.
- This room will also contain my craft room, so it is also housing sewing/papercrafting/gift-wrapping/miscellaneous crafting supplies.
- This room will also contain my library (i.e. all the books, cookbooks & photo albums in our house, which are currently in some of those storage boxes, plus three in another room)
- This is where much of the information for our home resides (manuals, coupons, gift cards, invitations, receipts, and random notes/shopping lists from 7 weeks ago that got mixed in with the receipts in my purse).
- I am a bit of a magazine
hoardersaver - I am dilly-dallying to avoid the wallpaper removal portion of this project.
- The dining room table has been providing a suitable work space, even though I have to get up and come into this room every two minutes or so to retrieve a printed item/paperclip/anything else that I would normally have within reach if I was actually working at a desk in my office.
So, while that whole project gets figured out, to get by I have designed my own Home Planner, which is my “mobile command central” of sorts. I have tried multiple free (and not-so-free) apps for my phone, tablet and computer to manage all of household information, like calendars, to-do lists, shopping lists, parties, travel, and all the other important stuff we’ve got going on. There have been a few that are pretty and a few that are functional, but nothing that is all-encompassing. I always need several apps to cover everything, and none of them talk to each other. Plus, I am a little old school – I really like the feel of a pencil in my hand. So, while this may not be the most pretty or hi-tech, it’s got everything that I need for now. And it fits in my purse.
First, I designed all of the pages simply and in a way that made sense to me. I have published all of them in the Printables section, if any of them might be of some use to you.
Now, you can use whatever sort of containment device that suits your fancy. Most folks would probably choose a 3-ring binder and call it a day. I, however, developed an affinity for classification folders early in my previous corporate life. Since I’ve got a few of those lying around, I got creative.
I needed more spaces than one folder provides, so I got out the stapler and 3 folders. I found that if I stapled the edge of the front cover of Folder 1 to the binding behind the front cover of Folder 2, and the edge of the front cover of Folder 3 to the binding in front of the back cover of Folder 2, I got a pretty nifty fold-out book that would offer me 12 pages to attach my worksheets, as well as some blank areas to add pockets, put sticky notes, or tape other pages.
Then I laid out my pages in the way that suited me best. Calendars first, then other frequently used planning sheets, and lastly reference pages. I like it because I can pretty much bend and fold it however I want for easy access and writing.
I made a similar book for my Blog Planner – watch for that post coming soon!
Hopefully you will be able to find some of these pages that can help you pull it all together – even if it just for notes for the baby sitter or a better way to plan your day.
I’m always open for new ideas, so if you need help with a worksheet that would make your life easier, or a question about the ones I’ve provided, drop me a line!