Anyone else feel desperate to get your house in order this New Year’s week? Luckily, Jennifer Bardorf, a professional personal organizer and owner of Neatspaces, in Wellesley, MA, is here ALL WEEK LONG—yay!—to solve common family organizational dilemmas. She’ll tackle one HHK reader dilemma each day this week. Check in every morning as we transition from 12 Days of Christmas to 5 Days to Organize—I promise you’ll be inspired.
Q. It is so hard to keep our car clean. We try to limit snacks, but sometimes need to eat on the go. The kids always seem to leave jackets, wrappers, toys, etc. in the way back despite being told to clear everything out of the car. What are some ways to keep up with the mess in the car?
A. I have a newish car and I thought for about 10 seconds that I wouldn’t allow snacks in it, but it’s just not realistic for us. We’re on-the-go straight to activities from school and the kids need to eat. There are also clothing changes that need to happen at times, and lots of other stuff that comes in and out of the car necessarily. But that doesn’t mean your car needs to look like a cafeteria or mud room. There are a couple very simple things you can do to motivate kids to keep their spots in the car clean.
First, you have to be disciplined to remind your kids to take their stuff out of the car every time you arrive home. I am constantly reminding our kids to take their things and trash out of the car. The more consistent you are with reminding, the more they’ll do it, and the more they do it, the sooner it will become a habit for them. Plus, if all of you are removing things from the car everyday, when you do a bigger clean once a week or month or whatever, it won’t be such a big task.
Second, make it easy for kids (and yourself) to get rid of trash. We tell kids to throw their bags and wrappers away in the nearest trash can as soon as they’re done with a snack in the house or in public; why don’t we make it easier for them to do this in the car? There are a few trash “systems” specifically for this purpose, like the TrashStash Car Litter Bag ($15 at The Container Store). But I just keep a stash of plastic grocery bags in the glovebox of the car and just “hang” one from my glovebox door at all times. It’s not the most attractive solution but it might be the simplest and least expensive one. When it’s full I simply tied it up and throw it in our household trash bins.
Have an organizing dilemma of your own? Check out Jennifer’s website and contact information, here.
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