I asked you:  The one place in your world that was always messy, and you candidly answered!

There were some vastly different answers, obviously all of your circumstances vary, and what you need to get organized is different. Some of you are single, some married, some have children some don’t, and your home and work environments differ.  But when we tallied up the responses, there were three definite “winning” areas.  And you may be surprised to learn which is at the top of the list when it comes to organizing your life.

The winner was – your car! Second place was the main entrance / exit door or hallway and, closets and dressers, tied for third place.

Let’s tackle organizing your car! First I’ll give you a few tips to purge it and then a few more to help keep it organized going forward.

Before you even begin to tackle the clean up, I suggest you book and appointment on your calendar.  Cleanups and organization are not on our top ten list, so chances are if you don’t actually set aside a time slot it will be on your “to-do” list and keep getting rolled over to another day.

Also before you actually begin I suggest you give a little thought to how you use your car.  If you use it mostly for work, how many hours are you in it? Do you have to transport clients? Do you have to carry change of clothes or files?  If you are a Mom or use your vehicle only for pleasure your usage will be different.

Once you have assessment your vehicle usage needs you will be better able to decide on the good organization storage.  Here are a few ideas – depending on your needs.

TIPS:  Here are a few tips to help you clean up your car.

• Set up a trash can or bag, and have 3 other boxes or bags close by. Depending on vehicle usage you will sort everything in your car into one of those 4 places.
• Pull everything out of the vehicle, the glove box, console, loose CD’s and door storage as well as child seats and immediately throw out obvious trash.
• Sort everything else into the 4 other boxes, piles or bags.  What items go into what piles will depend largely on your car usage!
• Items you need or use often: pen, paper, meter money, glasses, registration, insurance, kids’ books, music, blue tooth headset, hangers, important phone numbers.
• Items you need occasionally: tire pressure gauge, ice scraper, music, workout bag, maps, tissues, snacks, handy wipes, maps, electronic device chargers.
• Items you will need in an emergency:  emergency / first aid kit, flash light, spare clothes, diapers, snacks, jack, roadside flares, jumper cables.
• Items that need to be returned to your home or garage: CD’s you got tired of listening to, workout clothes, books, files, receipts.

As with any re-organization you may put things in a place that turns out not to be such convenient, so it’s always a good idea to reassess after a few weeks or a month.

TIPS: To stay organized – remember bad habits take time to break, and good habits take time to create.

• Practice using new homes for items, see what works and change what doesn’t.
• Never throw anything on the floor of your car.
• Keep a supply of spare trash bags or one trash receptor in the vehicle.
• Create a recycle bag for cans and plastics.
• Empty trash and recyclables weekly.
• If the kids carry stuff to the car – they must carry it out.
• If you take 2 new CD’s to the car – take 2 CD’s back into the house.
• Pay kids an allowance to help you vacuum and keep the car clean.

Next up – Organizing your Entrance / Exit home hallway areas more efficiently so that you and your family can live a more organized life!