Organize + Energize: Organize Your Car in 5 Easy Steps
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
What do you have in your car right now? Are you embarrassed to have people sit in your car? Do you throw everything in the trunk when you know you are going to have passengers in your car? Do your friends insist on driving because they don’t want to get into your car? It’s time to organize your car and keep it organized! You can do it in less than 30 minutes.
Follow these 5 easy steps to get an organized car:
1. 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, make a habit of throwing out your trash every time you get out of the car. If you are heading into a store or market, there are always trash cans around. Grab your trash and throw it out. When you get out of your car, your trash goes with you. If you don’t want to go that route, keep a large Ziploc bag and throw your trash in it. Throw out the bag at your convenience. The main goal is to not to let it take over your car.
2. 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 plug away and make your piles. The minute you think about how an item is going to be stored, you will lose focus, get distracted and nothing will get accomplished. Your project will also probably take you twice as long.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST3. Organize. You are finished throwing away the trash and you have decluttered. It’s now time to get organized. You should have one pile of keep items. Go through your keep pile and categorize what is in the 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?
4. 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 you may need. 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.
5.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 are 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 a routine. You now have systems set up in your car just like you do at home or at the office. It’s just a matter of creating routines from the systems. It’s that easy!
Kristin Carcieri-MacRae, the founder and owner of Organizing in RI, has always enjoyed finding creative ways to streamline the environment around her. She has appeared on air on Patricia Raskin's Positive Business Radio and her articles have been published in the Rhode Island Small Business Journal and New England Home Life. Kristin's CD, Organizing Basics, is a 1-hour guide for the person who wants to get organized but doesn't know where to start. She is also available for organizing workshops. Tune into her weekly radio show, Organize, Energize! on Mondays at 8:30am on http://www.talkstreamradio.com.
Related Slideshow: 5 Organizing Blunders
Avoid these mistakes and your project will take less time than you expected. You won’t be as stressed or as overwhelmed as you anticipated. You will be amazed at what you have accomplished. You will be motivated and energized to tackle another project.
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