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Embrace the back-to-school season and the Mommy New Year with an organized and fresh smelling car. Follow these five car organization tips to ensure you enjoy the ride.
Most call it Back to School. I call it the Mommy New Year. And, it brings with it all the things loved and loathed about the actual new year. Routine, organization, exercise and diet.
This summer, routine was for suckers. There was no routine and we LOVED it. But, let’s be honest – for a family of five, you can only manage life with no routine for so long. If we keep this up, none of our kids will know the alphabet, forget college. My life would be an utter disaster, and I’d gain 5-10 pounds every 10 weeks. Alas! Can’t have that.
So yes, we are gearing up to wake up bright and early on Monday. My diet and exercise plan will go into high gear, and I’m gonna get my life organized again. I’ve already started with my car. ‘Cause let’s be honest, once school starts back up, I’ll be in it as much as I am my office. May as well make it a place I enjoy being.
Here are my basic car organization tips:
1) Start with a clean slate. My inspiration for this whole car organization started with a smell. The smell of death, emanating from my car. I wasn’t sure what it was or where it came from. But, if I was to not set my car on fire, it needed to be managed. So, to start this process I insist on a clean slate.
Get your car detailed or do it yourself. I had the pros do it, and it was sooo worth it, but either way, you’ll be glad that when you get to organizing your car that it’s already clean. To get more details about the detailing process, visit my post here.
2) Make your nose happy. Again, once you start with a clean slate, all dirty diapers, sippy cups with spoilt milk, forgotten leftovers from days gone by, and cookie crumbs should be gone. Now, take a deep breath! Still smell kinda funky? Yeah. It’s called kids.
I use Yankee Candle Smart Scent Vent Clips to help mitigate this. They install right onto your air vent and do an amazing job of keeping my car smelling fresh. (Be sure to follow installation directions carefully!) I particularly like the Clean Cotton fragrance – perfectly clean smelling without overpowering.
You can pick up the American Home™ by Yankee Candle® brand car fragrance products in the auto care section of Walmart. For $4.94 you’ll get 30 days worth of fresh smells. That’s less than seventeen cents a day. What else can you get for seventeen cents a day?
3) Protect thy car. Once clean, make it easier to keep it that way. I have protective mats under each car seat and kick mats in front of each car seat to help reign in the mess. It’s not fail-safe – if you allow your kids into the car with muddy shoes and proceed to hand them a bag of goldfish, you will have a mess to clean up. But, it will be an easier mess to clean up.
I also corral trash in these scented diaper trash bags. My car has this little hook-thing (maybe for your purse?), and I use it for trash. Makes it so easy to collect loose trash during a ride, and then I just chuck it and replace with a fresh bag when I get fuel.
4) Keep emergency supplies by the ready. Deodorant, sunscreen, ibuprofen, toilet paper, check, extra American Home™ by Yankee Candle® brand car fragrance accessories? Check. Chargers for every device. Ever made. Pens and breath mints. Wet wipes, and lots of ’em. Plus, a clean outfit (and underwear) for each kid, and diapers for the babe. I put in his current size, plus one size up. Never know when I’ll get around to restocking. Oh, and a medical supply kit for bleeds, bites, stings, splinters, etc. I hate to think what etc. in this case means.
5) Entertainment that doesn’t require chargers/batteries. Inevitably, no matter how prepared we are with #4, there will come a time when you don’t have the right charger, or (god forbid) you forgot the device. Road trips without Kindles and car pool lines without cell phones are misery. In cases such as these, I keep a few goodies on hand for each child. They contain a few toys that they can play with while in the car. This is not a box for every car trip. It’s for hard up times.
Is your car ready for the Mommy New Year? What American Home™ by Yankee Candle® brand Car Fragrances are you most excited about?
Haha, your video certainly inspires me to get up and get cleaning out my car! We love Yankee Candle car jars! #client
Do it! You’ll feel so much better afterwards! 🙂
Great content and tips that every car owner can follow through it.