To keep your car from having trash all over it, you could try keeping a grocery bag in the passenger side of the door to use to pick up the extra trash.  I keep a sticky note pad and pen in my drivers side door to write down things I need to pick up or notes about things I don’t want to forget and attach it to my dashboard to remind myself.

In my glove box I keep a Ziploc bag of band-aids, Neosporin and antiseptic foam wash for any cuts or spills we may have along the way.  I also keep an envelope of coupons for dry cleaning, restaurants and tokens for the train at the zoo.  I can’t tell you how many times we were at the zoo and I had to buy a new pack of tokens for the train so now I keep them in the car!

A trick I use to keep my boys occupied while in the car is I keep books in the back pockets of the front seats.  I switch them out monthly and every now and then I run to the library and stick them in for a surprise.  I also keep a clipboard and pencil with a word search and maze book to keep them busy.

When the boys were younger I used to keep a backpack in the trunk of the car filled with “just in case” stuff.  That included old clothes of shorts, tees, sweatshirts, pants, unders and old swimsuits.  I realized when you have children you just never know what may come up and so this way we were always ready to do anything whether it was walking in a creek or playing on a splash pad.  Please make sure you have jumper cables and an emergency kit in your car as well.  Part of my emergency kit was bags of fish crackers, water bottles and an instant powder pack of Similac and a bottle.  Again you just never know when you might need something extra in a pinch.

Author Michelle Lehman of Organizing Solutions “Clear the Clutter” Michelle is a Professional Organizer in the Tulsa area. Her articles have been featured in the Tulsa World, The Oklahoman, and The Chicago Post-Tribune & Chicago Sun-Times.  Michelle appears on Newson6 KOTV and Fox23 News This Morning giving organizing tips and recommendations.
Photo Credit © Stephaniefrey | Dreamstime.com

Tags: car, organizing, time mangagement