Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Best Organizing Tips for Your Car

Hello! Welcome to my blog where I will let you in on all of the best organizing tips for every area of your home! Organizing doesn't have to be hard. Attacking it just a little bit at a time is the best way to approach it. And, the dividends you will receive by having a neat and organized home (and life) will far outweigh the time you spent on these organizing tips. Ready - lets get started!

Today's Topic: Organizing Your Car

Some people treat their car like a member of their family. That could be good or bad. Good if you treat it like a favorite aunt. Bad if you treat it like an annoying little brother. Your car is your link to the outside world, and, as a result, your message to the outside would also. What message are you sending?

If your car is a mess, you are sending the message that you are a mess. If your car is neat and orderly, you are sending the message that you are neat and orderly. Which message do you prefer to send? I'm guessing you don't want to present yourself to the world as a mess. So, here are some easy tips to find your car again. Trust me, it's there somewhere under the clutter.

equipment needed: garbage bag, laundry basket, small cardboard box or plastic cubby
  1. As usual, grab a big garbage bag and remove all the garbage from your car.  Ask yourself why you are surrounding yourself with garbage. Get a trash bag for the car, use it, and empty it when it full.   Here's one of my favorite car trash bags. Make sure it is easy to empty, otherwise you are setting yourself up to fail. And it might be time to rethink the eating in the car gig. Not good for you, not good for the car. Just don't do it.
  2. Gather up everything that should be in your house, but isn't. Put it into the laundry basket. Carry it into the house and put it  all away NOW so you won't have to face it later. Get into the habit of whatever you brought into the car that day goes back in to the house at the end of the day. Train your kids and/or husband to do this also. Simple rule : If you carried it in, carry it out.
  3. Take a look in your glove compartment. Do you really need the pizza coupons that expired last year? I think not. Things that belong in a glove compartment: mini umbrella, maps, car manual, pen, pad. Things that don't belong in a glove compartment: old candy, old receipts, map of a state you've never been to and is on the other side of the country, expired coupons. Things that never are in a glove compartment: gloves. Go figure?
  4. If you have cubbies between the seats, clean'em out. Decide what needs to be stored there and get whatever you need to do it. CD's should be in a CD holder that stores a bunch of them, not floating around in their jewel cases. Same goes for cubbies on the doors.
  5. Take a deep breath and open up the trunk or whatever is at the back of your car. Take out everything. What needs to go back? Emergency kit, jack, box or plastic cubby to hold the reusable bags you bring into every store. You do do that right? If not, why not? My guess is that you never have the bags with you. Storing them neatly in the car solves that problem. Just get into the habit of going to the trunk/rear well before you go into any store and grabbing the bags. Before you know it, it will be second nature. And once home, after you unpack the bags, put them on the table next to the front door so your next trip out will result in them being put back where they belong. In the designated box/cubbie in the back of your car.
  6. One of my favorite additions to my trunk - a bag sorter. This contraption, which I originally got as a gift and had no idea what I would ever use it for, has become one of my favorite organizers. It folds flat when you are not using it, and easily pops open when you are. What does it do you may ask? It holds your bags upright in the trunk! Filled bags easily slip into the wells and stay upright all the way home! No more chasing items around you trunk when unpacking. And it's easy to fold flat again to reclaim your trunk. Here's the link:  trunk organizer
  7. Get in your car and drive to the car wash. Make sure they clean the inside of the car too. You can't beat the job they do for the money. Quick, easy, and it smells like a new car when you get back in!
That's it! Follow these tips and your car should be a great extension of you!

 If you would like more organizing tips, find more in my eBook, 30 Days to an Organized Home, by clicking on the title. Also available on Kindle. And now BookNook.

be organized!.....evelyn

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