You and your family have a lot of information to keep organized.  Between activities, appointments and tasks, managing your family information can seem like a full-time job.  Keep your family organized by creating, updating or enhancing your family information center into the active storage area you’ve always needed.  With these easy strategies, you’ll be able to keep everything together and just where you need it.

Find a visible location that works for you.  We keep all of our calendars, newsletters, coupons, notes and items in our Family Information Center located in our kitchen.  Since we’re in this room so much, it makes sense to have this important information stored together right where we see it every day.  Find a place in your house that you can keep all family information and supplies together and educate everyone else to do the same.

Organize storage spaces effectively. We don’t have much storage space in our kitchen, so a multi-shelf storage area was just what we needed.  Each shelf has a select amount of items that are used nearly every day.

• Top Shelf: Sticky Notes, Flashlights (used daily for kids investigations for adventures and lost toys), Tape, Stapler, Gift Cards to use, Lip Balm, Nail Clippers
• Middle Shelf: Letter supplies, Box Top collection, kid’s piggy banks
• Bottom Shelf: Small Tools, Super Glue, Cook Books including my Recipe SparkBook

A shelf may not fit in your Family Information Center, so use whatever you have available – maybe it’s a drawer and a cabinet, maybe it’s a shelf.  As long as you can make it work for you, it works!

Keep Work in Progress projects in sight. When I need to put things away I often load them on the top shelf of our Family Information Center.  I walk by this about 100 times a day, so it provides a vivid reminder of tasks to accomplish. Each time I walk by it, I try to put something away or put something there that needs to be put away later.  The shelf isn’t very big, so it makes me keep the items moving into their correct location regularly.  As you’re headed somewhere in your house, stop by your Work in Progress section and try to take something with you that also goes in that location.

Keep family information together & organized. I use my electronic calendar for work tasks, but for home, I find it easier to put everything on an “old-fashioned” paper calendar that hangs in our kitchen.  I’m able to see the whole month at a time and plan for upcoming evening and weekend activities.  We also keep school newsletters, our budget worksheet and my workout tracking list on this bulletin board.  All items are tracked regularly so we know exactly what we have to do, to spend and to meet our goals. When you keep everything together, it makes it much easier to stay updated on important information.

Give the kids their own space. Many times, your kids have just as much to keep organized as you do–sometimes even more.  They need a place for their own tasks, activities and important information.  And by giving kids their own space, they can make it their own and are more likely to use it regularly (with your help).  If you can, set up the Kids Information Center with or near your Family Information Center.

Give your To Do Lists prime location and manage them regularly. I keep all of my to do lists in our Family Information Center and write new items on them regularly.  When I have a few bonus minutes, I find an item to complete.  By keeping the task list in a prime location, I’m able to use it as a helper that saves my sanity many times over. By writing everything down on this active task list, you make it easier to reduce stress and get everything done–in its time.