Keep The Family Vehicle Clutter-Free With These Simple To Follow Tips

Is your vehicle cluttered? Does it often feel more like a large garbage can with wheels than the shiny, sleek machines you see in car commercials? It is possible to keep the family vehicle clutter-free if you are willing to follow a few simple tips.

Keep The Family Vehicle Clutter-Free With These Tips

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1. This Rule Is Hard But Is The Number One Way To Reduce Clutter

Don’t eat in the car. Most of the clutter in our vehicles is food wrappers so if you don’t eat in the car, you get rid of those. I know this is a harsh rule to stick to–especially with today’s busy lives. Which is why there are five points to this article and not one. However, try your hardest not to eat in the car unless necessary and you will see a dramatic reduction in trash and crumbs in your car.

2. Do This Each Time You Get Out Of The Car At Home

Make it a family rule that no one leaves the car without something in at least one hand when you arrive at home. If you must, put on the child locks and don’t undo them until everyone shows you that they have something in each hand that doesn’t belong in the car to bring into the house and put where it belongs. Once this becomes routine most of your problems with vehicle clutter of all tips will be eliminated.

3. Keep These Three Things In Your Car At All Times.

In the pocket found on the back of the driver’s seat in my car, I try to keep a handful of empty plastic grocery bags that I can use to gather trash as needed. These bags are super handy for tip four. When we eat in the car (yep–we don’t obey rule one), I pass one around when everyone is finished eating and have them place their fast food containers in the bag.

I also like having a roll of paper towels in the car to clean up any accidental spills or other accidents (if you are a mom you know what some of those “other” accidents might be). I also keep a small packet of these in the car for cleaning up sticky spills and hands.

4. Use Those Few Minutes

When you arrive someplace a few minutes early, use the time to empty the trash from your car and gather the other types of clutter into one place. If there is no trash can in sight, grab those bags I told you to keep in your car in point three and gather up the trash into one bag so that you can quickly grab it and trash it when you get home. Gather the random items that belong in your home into another bag to make it easier to transport too.

5. Don’t Just Sit There

When you are not the one filling up your car use the time to tidy up. My husband is usually the one to fill up the car when we are traveling together so I have learned to use that time to toss trash. I do a complete walk around our vehicle opening each door, looking in all door compartments for waste, feeling under seats for hidden garbage, and tossing it all in the trash bins the gas station provides near the pumps. When the children were younger and with us, I would ask them to clean their areas and pass the garbage to me to toss.

OK–so tip number one isn’t going to be realistic for most families, but tips two through five will be. Follow these four tips consistently, and you will see a significant reduction of clutter in your car since vehicle clutter for most people is primarily made up of trash and items that belong back in the house.

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