Organizing your vehicle

Since we are concentrating on our vehicles this month, I thought I’d re-post this one from the archives. This is how I organize my own van although keep in mind I no longer have a baby but a toddler so things do look a little different now.

Remember the baskets I purchased just the other day? Well I finally came up with a great use for the second basket. I decided to use it for the baby toys in the van and it is just the perfect size. I am so happy because I was using a different basket before but it was just way too small. Don’t these toys look so nicely organized and tidy sitting in their beautiful container like that…..yah right….don’t let me fool you….by the time we get to wherever it is we are going you can find these toys literally thrown all over the vehicle…sigh….but at least clean up is a snap.

Since I was taking a picture in the van anyway I thought why not show you how I organize the area between the driver and passenger seats. We have a mesh netting type thing that came with the van that hooks to the sides of the seats….inside this I have three baskets….two are for CD’s (one for grown up CD’s and one for the kid’s music) and one bigger basket for all the miscellaneous crap essentials that you need while driving.

Here is a close up shot of the CD baskets. They are awesome…I purchased four of them at Zellers many years ago but have also recently seen them for sale at Staples.

Okay so now let me go through the red basket with you because I know you are just dying to know what I keep in there…lol.

1. First in a separate container (inside the red basket) I have a mini hairspray (for last minute emergencies!), hand lotion, bandaids, Nutrigrain bars and a pen.
2. In another separate container I have our sunglass cases, gum and a package of tissue.
3. Then I have a big ol tub of wet wipes because as all moms know you can never have too many of these.
4. Next to the wipes is my coupon case. I like to keep the case in the van so it is one less thing to remember to grab as I’m going out the door. I don’t like to keep it in my purse because I keep my purse to a bare minimum….in fact my purse is just one of those wallets on a string.
5. Finally I have my emergency baby feeding kit which contains a bib, facecloth and spoon and no I haven’t used it yet but I like to be prepared…lol.

The bigger kids have another container for their electronic games and gizmos that slides under the seat in the back. Sorry I forgot to take a picture of that one.

There you have it and as you can see even our van can’t escape my freak like obsession love of baskets!

Originally published January 25, 2007