A graphic of an organised command centre containing a table, noticeboard and a clock

Episode 21 – What is a Command Centre?

In this podcast, Lesley and Ingrid talk about what a command centre is and how it can help you live a more organsied life. A command centre is a very grand word for the central area where, whoever is involved in managing the daily and weekly routines, keeps all the important stuff together. This is very often in the kitchen, but we’ll discuss different options of where this command centre can be and what kind of things you would find there.

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Transcript of this podcast episode

Intro  0:07  
Welcome to today's episode of The Declutter Hub Podcast, your channel for super easy, no nonsense advice on how to declutter and organise your home. Please welcome your host professional organisers, Ingrid Johnson, and Lesley Spellman.

Ingrid  0:29  
Hello, and welcome listeners to Episode 21 of the declutter hub Podcast. I'm Ingrid and I'm Lesley, if you have clutter and want to sort it out, this is the show for you. In today's episode, Lesley and I are talking about command centre organising. Now, it's just a very grand word for the central area where whoever is involved in managing the daily and weekly routines, keeps all the important stuff together. This is very often in the kitchen, but we'll discuss different options of where this command centre can be, and what kind of things you would find there. Now, it's a very fancy word, isn't it? Command Centre, but I completely get this because you know, there's so much going on in my house, Lesley, that I definitely have a command centre. So let's talk about what it is and where it is, and what is involved and what you can put there. And I think, yeah, I love it. I love a command centre, it feels very in control.

Lesley  1:27  
I think it's going to be absolutely critical. And particularly if you've got a young family, you know, if you've got kids at school with all that comes along with that, and we all know what that is, then you need to be an organised ninja organising ninja really don't Yeah, and to keep all that together, particularly if you're going to work as well is a lot to deal with. And so I think it's really important to have all important stuff close by in an area that you're going to use very regularly. And so this is what some people refer to as a command centre. Now, I did have a command centre, I didn't call that command centre. I called it a noticeboard. But anyway, I did have a command centre when I when my kids were younger, but now it's different. I'm in my office, that's my kind of hub of the home, if you will, it's not the hub of the home, because I'd be sad, wouldn't it if it was in my office, but the hub of the home is the kitchen. But here's where I spend a lot of my time. And certainly a lot of my organisational things are in my office. And so I don't therefore need it to be in my kitchen or utility room. But certainly when I was when when my kids were younger, I definitely needed that in the kitchen where the kids were all the time.

Ingrid  2:33  
Yeah, to be honest with you, I think my command centre is kind of spread out in a couple of little places. But because everything is always there in the same place, it feels like although it's not one specific place, it's very close together. So part of my command centre is on the door of my utility cupboard. And it's like a dodgy little door, but it's got my pinboard it's got my calendar. And right across from it, there's a little area where I have my purse and the case gets backpacks and where stuff kind of lives that's in transit all the time. So although I might not have one perfect wall with perfect hooks, and baskets, there is an area that I use all the time where stuff almost gets dumped. But it's the place where the daily thinks that we use all the time is kept at hand. So it's close at hand and you know what you're doing, what's living there, where's it going, and you can plan from that kind of onwards.

Lesley  3:29  
And it's the same principle as everything that you got to have a place for everything and then put everything back in its place. And so if you know then that that's where kids school shoes or bags or whatever is gonna go then you've got then you've got somewhere to put it and store it and you know where to find it. So it's, it's all about these weekly routines and getting things or getting your family organised. So it lasts just a little bit less stressful than it normally is. And, you know, as we said, you know, when you've got a young family, there's a lot of things that you have to think about every week, and a lot of things that you need in your command centre, I feel a bit of a fraud. I mean, the reality of it, you know, we were Google just before we came, started the podcast, we were sort of googling some images of command centres. And even were like, wow, they are incredible. So if you want to look around and and be inspired, please go into Pinterest because there's some fat people but these people have got full 10 foot by seven foot walls for their command centres. And so the rest of us have not got that it might be on the fridge, it might be on the side of a kitchen cabinet. It might be stuffed into a laundry room, it might be in your sort of vestibule porch, you know, so lots of us have not got the space to do these ultimate kind of command centres. But the idea of this is to say have a central place, have a pinboard and have some important things on there that you're going to need all the time.

Ingrid  4:47  
Okay, so let's then discuss what does a command centre looks like? I agree if in my case it has a calendar. It has a pin board. You might have a whiteboard with some magnets that might be a cup of hooks or a basket So, it might like in my case, not be all in one place, but in two or three different places, but still the same stuff lives in the same place every day. So don't get completely overwhelmed when you see all these beautiful print pictures on Pinterest. Because, listeners, my command centre does not look like that. But it

Lesley  5:18  
is very organised and other commands.

Ingrid  5:22  
It is all about being on top of things. So let's then discuss what kind of stuff will you find in a command centre? Or what would be

Lesley  5:31  
useful? And this is, obviously this is going to be different for different people really, isn't it depending on what makes you tick. But I think the kind of things that you would want on that. So let's let's break it down and say it's not a command centre. It's just kind of a notice board or a pin board or a whiteboard or something like Yeah, yeah. And that we're talking about the kind of useful information that you might have on there. As a matter of course. So first of all, if you're a meal planner, I think an awful lot of people have got a meal plan for the week. And you know, and a lot of people are just writing that on a whiteboard Monday, we're going to have this Tuesday, we're going to have that and so on. Yeah. And then sort of branching off from that, then there's a grocery shopping list as well. Yeah. So you can write on there, when you know that things are running down, and you need to get them just to jog your memory. And also, it's not just you here, you know, we're talking about family, you know, so what I do now my kids are old, it's not going to write things down. I can't write things down, because I've not got command centre, but if I did, so mine's always like, right, okay, I'm going shopping, what does everybody need? And mine's done more on a family Whatsapp group than it is on a you know, but that my kids are in their 20s. And, you know, different different things. So, yeah, so I think meal planning is definitely going to be on their shopping list is going to be on there. I think it's really important to get a grip of kids activities after school clubs, that kind of thing, and a kind of family calendar. So you know, who has to be where, at what time?

Ingrid  6:50  
Yeah, definitely. I also have a class list with a list of names of my kids classmates. So I have that at hand. I've got a list with the holidays, the school holidays. So I know it's in my calendar. It's in my diary, but I also have it printed out. And I've got it pinned to my board.

Lesley  7:10  
So it's an easy reminder, isn't it? Because it's in a really easily accessible place. And again, you know, we talk all the time on this podcast about barriers, and it's not a barrier, getting your phone out and checking it and you know, and all that kind of stuff. So it's just there. Yeah. And anybody can refer to it. And I think it's important to know everybody can use that command centre, then as well. Everyone can refer to it's not just you. Yeah,

Ingrid  7:31  
I've got a pen. there so I can write stuff down. What else is there or there's loads of stuff there. My letter from the council when they collect the recycling and the rubbish?

Lesley  7:44  
Yeah, like the Winkley dates? Yeah, exactly. That's really important. Complaint.

Ingrid  7:49  
Yeah. And normally, I've got the date that the books needs to be returned to the library, I can get a little printout tiny little printout for when the returning date of the of the books is. So that's on the pinboard

Lesley  8:04  
I think useful phone numbers as well. Yeah, emergency numbers, doctor's numbers, things like that people tend to write those on the whiteboards, it doesn't have to be everything. And there's going to be different things for different people that sort of made them tick. And quite often, when I'm working with older clients that need to jog their memories with things, we have all the useful emergency numbers that they've gotten. So write all those down as well on a command centre.

Ingrid  8:26  
Also an appointment letter for hospital appointment, or orthodontist or dentist or it gets a little card when they arrive when your next appointment is. And of course I put that on my calendar. But I also keep the little cart to the side in case I written it down Rome or Yeah, it can happen. Yeah, we're all people. So I always want to keep that little thing, the little card there until we've had the appointment. And then it's getting shredded or recycles and taken off my pinboard

Lesley  8:55  
Yeah, I think people also sometimes put letters from schools, you know, useful information from school that comes back, and things like that, some people will put inspiration. So if they put something out of a magazine that they love that they want to look out for when they're shopping or something like that, those kinds of things can go on there. I think one thing, so we're talking about a lot of things here. So the one thing that I do want to say is your command centre, pinboard, noticeboard, whatever that might be, needs to not be overwhelmed with tonnes and tonnes of stuff. Otherwise, the stuff that's on there will no longer be important and something that you will and can't serve any more as a visual reminder. So you need to make sure that it's quite organised and as clutter free as possible that and that all the information on there is relevant, up to date. And current Yeah, so don't be stuck in 27 pieces of artwork from your kids over the top of your meal plan and things like that and don't have a meal plan from four weeks ago and things like that. So it's got to be any system is only as good as the information that you put on it. And so it has To be so like everything else, you have to declutter your command centre every week as well.

Ingrid  10:04  
Yeah, yeah, I think that's really, really true. And, you know, besides having that pin board or notice board, I think the next step is to talk about kind of the area where I collect stuff. So my, for example, in my house, my kids shoes and their coats live at the front door, when they come in, they take the shoes off to hang up their coat, and then they walk into the kitchen. And so that's where the lunch boxes go, and the backpacks go and where my purse goes. And where my charger of my phone is, where you might want to think about getting a hook where you can put your keys, if you're forever losing your keys, may be somewhere close to your command centre can be a hook where you put your keys on, or so that's kind of my place where things gather.

Lesley  10:51  
So I'm just like, I think, like a sort of launching station, it sounds like some kind of a crazy Moon Landing type thing, doesn't it? We've got a command centre and a launching station. But what it is, is, you know, the command centre is where everything's happening, and you're in control of everything. And the launching station is right, what do I need to get my day off to a great start? Yeah. And so, you know, for me, when the kids were younger, you know, I would make sure that things like shin pads were there, I would make sure that swimming kits were there because I didn't you know, the last thing you need at 25, per se in the morning, when you're about to go out to school is trying to find a pair of shin pads for football practice that night. So things like that would go there. But again, if you're going to put kids shoes, or school shoes and stuff like that, that don't have all their shoes together, it needs to be just the important ones. Yeah. Now, if possible, you know if space allows, and it's always if space allows. Yeah.

Ingrid  11:39  
And I think for me, what I also use my launching station for is to put a stack of batteries that I want to put back in a recycling bin in the local supermarket. That's where the books that need to be returned to the library go. That's where a pair of shoes that needs to go to the cobblers lives until I can bring them

Lesley  11:59  
medicine bags for life that you take out with you when you go shopping. Yeah, exactly that same. You just need to grab it and go. Yeah, it's a kind of grab and go section. Yeah, and so yeah, no, it's really, really important that you've got that in your home. Yeah, these are these things, you know, we should do a challenge people, you know, how long is it? Does it take you to find all these things in the morning, and they need to be central. And that's what's really stressful. I mean, I don't have that anymore, because my kids are not that young. But, you know, remember that time it's so stressful in the morning, when you're trying to get your kids out school, get them fed and get them there on time. And somebody's stressful. So the more you can do to organise that the better.

Ingrid  12:36  
Yeah, I could not agree more. So think about indeed the location in your home, it may be maybe you come always in coming through the back door, maybe you need to have something in a back door, maybe you've got a utility room, or maybe it's the hallway or the kitchen. You know, you don't want to have an upstairs in your spare bedroom. That does not make sense. It needs to be close to a front or back door or the place that you come in and out all the time. That's where all of this kind of stuff needs to live. I think.

Lesley  13:03  
Yeah, that place of most traffic really is Yeah. And clutter free. Certainly it needs to be decluttered in the same way as everything else is decluttered. Yeah. Well,

Ingrid  13:13  
listeners. I think that's it for this episode. And we hope you've all enjoyed listening and are inspired to take actions. Do you have command centre in your home? Are you now thinking after listening to this episode, I actually need to create one or mine is a bit messy and I need to do some work on it. We have lots of checklists that are useful for your command centre on a declutter Hub website, like a daily and weekly cleaning list, a daily planner and to do list, a seasonal cleaning list and a weekly meal planning checklist. Have a look on Instagram and Pinterest for inspiration. And, of course, feel free to share your photos on our declutter hub community on Facebook. So thanks for taking the time to listen today. If you'd like to get more tips and advice, please follow us on social media. We are an Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and ever live we support a Facebook group community where we check all things clutter. We'd love to see you there. If you don't want to miss the next weekly episode, subscribe to the declutter hub podcast on iTunes or Stitcher and it will pop into notifications each Friday. Thanks for listening and see you next time.

Outro  14:24  
Thanks for listening to this week's episode of The Declutter Hub Podcast. Check out declutterhub.com For more inspiration, and don't forget to tune in next week.

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