Could Your Car Use a Good Clear-Out?

If your car is anything like mine, it can easily become a gathering place for library books, empty water bottles or coffee cups, dog towels and dog hair (OK, maybe your dogs don't go everywhere with you, but mine get to ride in the car a LOT!), a sweater or two, and all the other little bits and pieces of life that accumulate. (And once the snow flies, I'm also carrying around an ice scraper, jumper cables, mittens, and sand and gravel from my shoes.)

So why not take some time this week and give yourself the gift of clearing out your car?

It makes such a difference in how you feel when you're in the car.

I like starting on the inside because it feels so good to clean out the stuff (and then getting the car washed is like icing on the cake)!

Step 1: Get a trash bag or plastic grocery bag for everything you'll be tossing. Start going through your car, tossing anything that is clearly trash (or recycle the papers, etc.).

Step 2: Look at the items that are not trash. Do they need to stay in the car, or do they belong someplace else? If they belong someplace else, create small piles next to your car (one pile for items that need to go in the garage, one pile for items that need to go in the house, etc.) Simply put the items in the piles for now; in other words, don't start going through the house to put them away yet. Stick with clearing out your car for now.

Step 3: For items that will stay in the car, do they have a 'home' in the car? Do they belong in the glove compartment? Or have they been living loose in the car up to now? It is easier to keep a car neat and tidy if everything has a home. If you have kids that keep small toys in the car, for example, it will be easier to keep things neater if you have a plastic bin or toy bag where everything goes. I do the same thing with stuff in my car...I keep a small plastic bin behind my seat where I keep my Kleenex box, compact local phone directory, and library books/books on tape so they don't start scattering all over the car.

Find a home for your sunglasses, your water bottle, your maps, whatever you keep in the car on a regular basis. You may need to get some kind of organizer once you have decided what will stay in the car...a bin or two (again, my favorite easy organizers), an organizer specifically designed for cars, a plastic filing cabinet (if you keep lots of maps and papers, for example), plastic bag or two for trash if you accumulate a lot of containers/trash when you're out and about, CD organizers, and so on.

Step 4: Once you have cleared out the stuff, it's a great time to wipe out and vacuum the inside of your car (or take it directly to your favorite car wash/car detail place and have them do the inside and the outside - what a TREAT!!!) If you clean out the inside yourself, still schedule a car wash for the outside...your car will be very happy.

Step 5: Once you are completely finished with the inside of your car, take each little pile you have created next to your car and put those items where they belong.

And then enjoy driving your cleared-out car!

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