The following is a guest post about how to organize your glove box from regular contributor, Kalyn at Creative Savings.
I’m not a huge fan of cleaning {I still clean, I just don’t like it!}, but Spring is the time of year when I dive into the nitty gritty of my car, vacuum, organize, and give it a general tidy up session.
Plus, having a clean car helps you avoid the mad dash of throwing everything into your trunk when you realize you have to give someone a ride…although, I’ve definitely done that a time or two!
Despite how often I try to keep mine clean, it seems as though cars were destined for clutter. The cup holders, side compartments, seat pockets, big trunks, and of course, that little glove box can be filled to the brim within days, simply because I’m too lazy to gather everything up that needs to be thrown away.
But tackling an entire vehicle can be really overwhelming, so if you’re short on time, choose just one of the above areas to focus on. My task this season? Organize the glove box.
My glove box can quickly turn into a nightmare. I usually have it stuffed with restaurant and store coupons, manuals for cars I didn’t even own anymore, and let’s not even talk about expired insurance cards! It’s definitely not the most convenient place to find my registration were I to ever get pulled over…ahem.
Organize Your Glove Box
1. Clean
Pull every single item out of the glove box and clean up the dust and crumbs that somehow found their way inside. If it’s vinyl or plastic, just a simple solution of dish soap and water will do. Mine had a sort of velvet interior, so I just used a lint brush to gather what had collected.
2. Sort
Go through all the papers you pulled out and throw away anything you don’t need anymore.
- Shred expired insurance cards, especially if they have personal information on them
- Weed out car manuals you don’t need anymore.
- Throw away expired coupons, and set the ones that are still good aside. If you’re looking for a better way to organize coupons, you may want to reference my post on The Quick Start Guide to Coupon Organization.
- Get rid of anything else that doesn’t belong!
3. Organize
As you place items back into the glove box, work on making them a lot easier to access.
- Place insurance cards and registration into plastic sleeves.
- Bookmark pages in your manual that you refer to often so you don’t have to always search for them. I marked How to Set My Clock, and How to Reset the Tire Pressure Light, since those are instructions I usually need most!
- Have dedicated sides for papers and other items.
4. Add new items strategically
This is not an excuse for more clutter, but rather a way to give your glove box purpose.
For instance, I have been meaning to create a mini first aid kit for our car, and this task finally convinced me to do it. I found a small cosmetic bag that I wasn’t using, and put a few Band-Aids, ointment, gauze, tweezers, mini scissors, and emergency phone numbers in there.
I also like to store extra napkins from fast food restaurants to wipe up spills if needed, and placed our Food Passport {ideas for restaurants to eat in our area} in there as well.
This project only took about 15-20 minutes, and it’s so exciting to actually know {and can find!} all the important things I need in my car. From now on, anytime I’m tempted to stuff something else in my glove box, here are the questions I’m prepared to ask:
- Should this be thrown away?
- Do I really need to keep this in the car?
- What can I take out in order to fit this inside?
Whew. That should definitely help.
Now that my glove box looks so clean, pretty, and organized, it might just inspire me to tackle the rest of the car. Notice, I said might. I wouldn’t want to get too carried away!
What do you keep in your glove box?
Kalyn Brooke is a full-time writer and blogger at CreativeSavingsBlog.com, where she gives a fresh perspective on frugal living, and the kick-in-the-pants you need to create a budget from scratch. She lives in beautiful Southwest Florida with her news-photographer husband and the most adorable bunny you’ve ever seen. She loves making to-do lists, reading good books, eating chocolate peanut butter ice cream, and pursuing big dreams….all carefully planned out, of course.
Morgan - MorganizewithMe! says
OK this is such a fabulous post. I’m taking away the use of tabs in my owner’s manual (that is genius) and I really need to make a simple emergency kit. Thanks for the great simple tips!
Stephanie says
This is such a great idea! I need to do something like this with my glove box, because as of right now its a mess!
Kalyn Brooke | Creative Savings says
I’m not sure why, but they tend to get messy SO fast! Probably because we can stuff everything behind “closed doors”, and no one suspects a thing. 🙂
Ahorsesoul says
I also have take a photo of what’s in my glove box and scrapped a page about it. Wouldn’t you love to know what was in your grandmother’s glove box? One day that will be you so document it now.
Janey Angus says
Great ideas! I need to look for some pencil pouches that fit. And I <3 the Scentsy scent circle!
Kalyn Brooke | Creative Savings says
They make the car smell so nice – I always buy extra!
J.Lee says
I have a small box that housed travel sized q-tips repurposed for iphone ear buds, another for actual q-tips and flossers, gum and teeny lip balm. i have wipes and lotion and a small first aid kit in my car. a few good little toys or puzzles for the kids that they have never seen.. in case of grumpies.
Kalyn Brooke | Creative Savings says
So many good ideas, especially the toys!
Kelly Hatcher says
This is a great idea! My husband is a diabetic so we need to keep a few supplies for his testing of his blood sugar levels and his ability to take a shot if we don’t make it home in time. We had been using ziplock bags but i think the idea of a makeup bag is so much better. Thanks for the wonderful ideas.
Sabrina says
I love this idea. The sticky roll for removing the dirty is ingenious. I will try that one.
I have a What to Keep series. In one of my posts I created a list of items that should be in the car. Check it out if you want.
Thanks for sharing.
Marjorie says
I think your instruction to “weed out car manuals” is irrelevant. A car has only one manual. I wonder why there would be more than one in there!
Kalyn Brooke | Creative Savings says
I would have thought cars only came with one too, but actually, my car came with 5! There were a lot of different ones for tires, repairs, roadside assistance, and warranties. They were all pretty thick too, which made them take up so much space. I guess it would differ depending on which car you buy. 🙂
Sorcha says
I also drive a Golf. I like to keep my registration/insurance card ziploc-bagged in my drivers side glove box. Then there’s no hunting elsewhere for it.
Peace!
PS Came here from Pinterest 🙂
Geri says
I love the ideas you gave for the glove box!
Especially, the cosmetic bag, who would have thought
I keep my insurance, registration, and AAA cards in a car wallet which makes them easy to find when needed.
Alyssa says
Great tips! Correct me if I’m wrong, but I recognize that purple bag! Lo Loestrin? Lol!
Cathleen says
I even put in the glove box a list of emergency # and my medications,
kathy neal says
I like those ideas, I recently was in an accident and found so many things I needed to let emergency personnel know what to do with me. so I put a copy of my meds, and who to call in case of emergency and also a will. I never knew the questions would be so important and when you by yourself this really helps who to call. also thinking of putting a stun gun too.
Karen says
I keep a pair of disposable gloves (latex or other) in my glove box in a cosmetic zip bag like you show. I also keep a leatherman in it. You’d be surprised how handy both can become, especially if you don’t shy away from roadside finds…I stop and look at and/or take anything that looks interesting.