Let's be real...most of us do not have a car that looks immaculate all the time. While I wish mine did, on a very practical level.. I just really will never be vacuuming my car weekly or have a file folder with color coordinated tabs for each car service I ever receive. I've read blogs with crazy long check lists and others with some really helpful tips but here we want to give you the basics.
I'm learning with you so in the spirit of transparency, here are some pictures of my car in it's typical state.
I recently moved from a two door to a four door car and I'm LOVING it! However, I've found that it's easy to just keep piling things in because I have more room now.
I've come up with a plan to keep my car more organized and I'm excited to share a few tips with you.
1. The center console is your friend! Having never had a center console before, I'm super pumped about making good use of it. The lower compartment is ideal for chargers, wet ones, and umbrellas. The upper compartment is the perfect place to keep a few pens, spare change and business cards. Living in a downtown neighborhood, I park on meters frequently and the change slots are super handy so I don't have to fish through my purse to find quarters. Am I the only person that actually uses this feature? Maybe, but I love it!
2. Door pockets and seat pockets: I try to keep these empty other than an umbrella. I never think to check seat pockets so anything that goes in will probably never come out.
3. The trunk is tricky-- it's out of sight which is good, but can also turn into a dark pit. My goal is to only keep car trouble necessities (ex. jumper cables, tire pump) a yoga mat, and a picnic blanket in it. A crate or basket works well to contain those items so they aren't rolling around when you drive. One other idea I had was to keep another box in the trunk to collect items I don't need that are thrift store bound. If I can get the items into my car, I'm way more likely to drop them off in passing instead of letting them sit in the corner of my kitchen for months.
4. Rule of Thumb: I've been trying to create the habit of taking everything in to the house at the end of the day rather than telling myself I'll do it later. So far it's been working fairly well. My trending exception is when it's raining. I don't have a garage so it's not practical to lug things through the rain rather than taking them inside the next day.
Practical things to keep in the car:
Umbrella
Bobby pins and hair ties
hand sanitizer
chap stick
wet ones
miniture accordian file for coupons
reusable shopping bags
Check out The Container Store if you are looking for containers specifically for cars and travel. Their foldable boxes look pretty handy!
