Organize + Energize: 5 Tips to Organize Your Messy Car

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Kristin MacRae, GoLocalPDX Organizing Expert

Are you embarrassed to have people sit in your car? Do your friends insist on driving because they don’t want to get into your car? It’s time to organize it and keep it organized! You can do it in less than 30 minutes.

Follow these 5 easy steps:

Throw away all trash. It always amazes me when I see trash in cars. I want you to open all of your car doors, and trunk. Grab a garbage bag and start tossing. Going forward, when you get out of your car, your trash goes with you. If you are heading into a store or market, there are always trash cans around. Grab your trash and throw it out. Just for the record, don’t throw your trash out the window. It disgusts me when I see people do this. How lazy are you that you can’t throw it away when you get home?

Declutter. Now that all of the trash is out of the way, it’s time to declutter. What else is in your car? How important is it to you? Make your piles of keep and toss. Don’t worry about how you are going to organize the items you are keeping, just declutter and create categorized piles. The minute you think about how an item is going to be stored, you’ll lose focus, get distracted and nothing will get accomplished. Your project will also probably take you twice as long.

Organize. You are finished throwing away the trash and you’ve decluttered. It’s now time to get organized. You should have categorized piles. Is there anything that you don’t need to keep in the car? Do you need to keep all of your receipts in your car? They should be stored in a file cabinet in your home. What other items do you have that can be kept inside your home?

Contain. There are so many great organizing products available for your car. Do you have children? There are organizers that hook over the seat so they can store their books, crayons, or electronics. Do you keep items in the trunk? There are great trunk organizers available that will contain pretty much anything. The glove compartment can be used to store your car manual and you may even be able to store your sunglasses and any other small items. Don’t forget about inside the armrest. It’s a small space, but if you maximize it, you may find you have more space than you need. The inside of the door is a great place to hold your hand wipes, if you use them. I like to keep them handy and they fit perfectly in the door pocket. Get creative. Think about what you want to keep in your car and then maximize the space and organize.

Give your car a bath. You now have an organized car. You can see the seats and the floor! Give your car a good cleaning inside and out. When you’re finished, you will feel like you have a brand new car.

Just like your home or office, you can maintain organization in your car just by creating great systems and following a routine. It’s that easy!