Organized Kitchens Home Tour with Top Organizing Bloggers

Do you love home tours as much as I do?  I just love gleaning ideas and inspiration from others.  Today, the Top Organizing Bloggers have teamed up to bring you the Organized Kitchens Home Tour.

We’ll each be sharing a space in our kitchens to inspire you!  Today, I’ll be sharing my kitchen command center. Check out the links to the other blogs at the end of this post. About two years ago, I came across the idea of storing important paperwork in a kitchen cabinet.  Actually, the idea wasn’t totally new to me since my mother-in-law had been keeping notes, pending papers, and phone books in her kitchen cabinet for years, but somehow it didn’t really click for me at the time.

When I saw the idea two years ago, I loved it and wanted to implement it in my own kitchen, but didn’t think I had a cabinet to spare.  I decided to rearrange some things and was able to find the space.

Let me just state this as clearly as I can: this has been one of the single most helpful things I have ever done in managing my home. 

Does a command center have to be in the kitchen? No.  I use a cabinet in my kitchen, because the kitchen is centrally located and we tend to spend a lot of time there.  You could use a nearby bookcase, shelf, corner nook, or even just create a space on the wall!  The idea is the same: create a space where you can deal with important paperwork immediately – preventing you from creating “temporary” piles that can too easily turn into “permanent” piles.

So, what do I keep in my command center?  Anything and everything that is “pending” and needs further attention such as:

• Bills to be paid
• Bills to be filed
• Tax receipts
• Receipts for store returns
• Bank deposit receipts
• Paycheck stubs
• Coupons
• Pending paperwork {field trip permission slips, notes, hubby’s to-do list (a.k.a. honey-do list), etc.}
• Sale ads or coupons for department stores
• Gift cards

My command center is also a perfect spot for a “mini office”.

• Scissors
• Markers
• Pens
• Tape
• Stapler
• Label writer
• Charging cords
• Post-it notes
• Command strips
• Washi tape
• Calculator

 

My favorite part of my command center is the inside of the cabinet door where I created these door pockets with scrapbook paper and a laminator.  See how I made them here.

When mail comes in, I immediately trash or recycle the junk mail, and put the bills in the “bills to be paid” pocket.  That way bills never get lost in a pile of mail.  When I am ready to pay bills, I take them from the pocket and file them in my bill organizer.  If it’s a one time bill that I need to file in my filing cabinet, I put it in the “bills to file” pocket.  Then, when I get a chance I can easily file those.

See more details on what I keep in my command center here and here.  You can also check out my series on How to Organize Your Kitchen Frugally in 31 Days here.

The Kitchen Tour-

Click on the links below to see the rest of our organized kitchens (and make sure you’re following me on Instagram for a great giveaway that starts at 8am EST 10/1/14):

Organized Kitchen Drawers – Clean Mama
Organized Coffee Station – A Bowl Full of Lemons
Organized Pantry – Organizing Made Fun
Organized Fridge and Freezer – Organize and Decorate Everything
Organizing with Lazy Susans – I’m an Organizing Junkie
Kitchen Baking Zone – Goodbye House, Hello Home

And don’t forget to follow our Top Organizing Bloggers Pinterest Board to see what we’re pinning!