It is easy to become obsessed with organizing your home, but what about organizing your car? Have you forgotten about that? I had until I came across some tips for keeping your car organized on GraceBrooke.com.
Grace says:
“With more hours logged in our cars than ever before, our cars have taken on the role of our second home.”
This is so true so we really ought to give some thought to organizing them.
Why?
Aside from the making your car a comfortable clutter-free place to be for you and your passengers, safety is a key factor that should urge you to take a look at your car today. Just check out this quote from the National Roads and Motorists’ Association:
“If you need to brake suddenly from about 30 mph, large items in the back seat could hit the driver with similar force as falling from a two-story building. Small items can increase their force 20 times its weight in a crash. Plus, loose objects can become lodged under the gas or brake pedal and cause an accident.”
Source: Consumerreports.org
Is your car a clutter magnet?
Mine definitely is. From supermarket receipts that I have to use to get out of the car park, to my son’s socks that he wears to karate but never bothers to put on coming home. Then there are the plastic bags that I take back to the supermarket to reuse that get kicked around in the back seat along with a little trash bag that I always forget to empty. Until today that was when writing this spurred me into action …
Here are Grace’s tips:
Use your glove box for more than your registration documents. Uh oh. Mine is already crammed full. Maybe I’d better declutter it first. Oh yes – there were 4 years worth of insurance documents in there.
Use storage bins in your trunk to keep a handle on the miscellaneous items that might be in there. We have a large trunk as our ‘car’ is actually a pickup so we’re actually quite organized in there. We use those stretchy bungee cords to keep maintenance equipment safe and sound and attached to the side. I would love something to keep my groceries stood up though. Note to self: order some of those foldable plastic crates with the rest of the Christmas presents!
Keep a small trash bag in the car and empty it every day. I do have one but it ends up getting kicked around the back seat foot well so I need a better solution. I quite like the look of these hooks which would raise the bag off the floor and keep it in sight (reminding me to empty it).
In the short term I have put a bag in the side storage compartment as that is where I usually stuff used receipts, snack wrappers and parking tickets. I have also tied one onto the headrest in between the two front seats that it is easily accessible for all passengers.
Use organizers for your specific needs. Loose objects lead to clutter and could also cause injury as mentioned above. There is a huge range of ‘car organizers’ out there to keep your ‘stuff’ in check such as trunk organizers, passenger seat organizers to keep your things handy, back seat organizers to keep the kids toys tidy, pockets that hang from the vents for your cell phone or other accessories, visor organizers, trash bins, storage containers that fit in the cup holders, glove box organizers, side of the seat organizers, and much more. You can also use standard organizers such as file folders to hold maps etc. Try and avoid keeping anything on the floor and make sure that whatever organizer you use (whether purchased or homemade) it can be secured well.
Here is one of my favorites – simple yet functional and affordable – a three pocket storage net.
Clean your car. The chances are that you will be more inclined to clean the inside of your car if you clean the outside of it.
Here are a few more tips of my own
Use those storage solutions that are already built into your car. You may find that you have plenty of little cubbies to use to store things withouth needing to buy any organizers. We have a sunglasses holder and we’ve never lost our sunglasses since using it! How about the center console? Most are pretty small but a notepad and pen and a few tissues or baby wipes will never go amiss.
Whenever you introduce a new item into your, take one out. Items where this rule would easily apply are things like CDs. Keep 5 say in the car and then swap them out with new ones, don’t just add to the pile.
Keep a spare bag in the car to collect up the items that accumulate so you can carry them into the house easily.
Get your kids into the habit of returning toys they take into the car back into the house. My son is a major contributor to the clutter in our car so I am going to implement this from now on.
Use a ‘grip it’ shelf or drawer liner on your dashboard. You can buy much more than you need for about $3 a roll. It will cling to your dashboard and you can then ‘stick’ your phone or sunglasses to it.
Do something with those loose coins that all cars have. I currently keep a few that fit my supermarket’s trolleys loose in the cup holder but might ‘stick’ them to the drawer liner instead or make a little pouch and velcro it under the lip of the seat for somewhere a bit more out of sight.
Identify your problem areas and find solutions
Ever car is different so when you come to organize yours, look at WHY it is cluttered and then decide HOW you can fix the problem. Think about what you have trouble finding as well as what doesn’t need to be in your car?
My main two problem areas were having nowhere easily accessible to put rubbish and not having enough hands to carry things that accumulate in the car back into the house. Both were easily sorted with a plastic carrier bag!
Organize your car today
No-one wants to drive to work or school in a car overloaded with clutter. It just adds stress to the start of your day and who needs that.
So take Grace’s advice and:
“Just remember that a clean car in the morning comes from a clean car at night!”
