Family HeadQuarters Board

If you live in a family, one of your biggest organizational headaches may be everyone else! Or so it seems. Keeping a family organized and everyone knowing what's going on can be helped so much by having a Family HeadQuarters Board. This command central could be a whiteboard, chalkboard, even an empty picture frame, but it needs to contain space for essential elements:

1. A Calendar: This is the heart of the HQ Board. Although moms and dads should use their own personal calendar for the real working memo of what's going on, this calendar is designed to show family events or things everyone needs to know about. Keep track of concerts, games, extended family events, FHE, and on and on. Got little children who can't read? Draw pictures! When I went to my daughter's house recently to help with her new baby, I found my "picture" drawn on the days I was coming. Fieldtrips, ball practice, play dates, Sunday -- those boys know their schedule and what day it is.
2. Message Space: Is your family notorious for failing to pass along phone messages? Does someone shout and important message to you as they run out the door? Do you tell one child about something but forget to tell another? The message space is for both in-house communication between parents and children ("Please have your green shirts clean for the family pictures on Saturday"), and external messages ("Dad, call Bro. Smith -- he needs to borrow your sprayer.") With a little training, everyone will learn that this is the place to look for and leave messages.

Other optional items can enhance your HQ board such as:

• Job Charts (no more excuses)
• Laundry days - yes, they can do their own!
  
• Special reminders that need to go to all the family -- and you don't want to nag by reminding them over and over -- just write it down (and cute helps)
• Menu Plan (great if you have kids asking "what's for dinner" all the time -- and if you want someone to start the meal before you get home)
  
• Game schedules
• Short To-Do Lists - (best if they involve the whole family)
• Shopping Lists or those little things you need to remember to pick up
• Command Hooks can hold keys -- kids keys, spare car keys, keys to the lawn tractor, etc.
• Anything your family needs to know

Dress it up with fun pictures and decor (vinyl clings work great) and you've got the perfect place for everything FAMILY to go.