Super Saturday-Car addition

YEAH!  Today is the day that you can put together everything you could possibly need for your car.

A Super Saturday indeed!

Last week we learned about an EMERGENCY CAR STORAGE KIT, today, the rest.

Let’s talk GLOVE BOX first.

What should be in your glove box?  The baseline essentials ONLY!  If you have ever been pulled over and asked for your information and you open a glove box full of nonsense and are missing a current insurance card…it is not pretty. 

You need: proof of insurance, current registration papers, a phone list (ward, family, etc.,) a small notebook and maps.

What else can you think of that is essential for your family?  Include these things as well.

Every other paper item, concerning your vehicle, can be kept in your MAINTENANCE BINDER that you can store in your emergency box in the back of the car.

Let’s move on to that MAINTENANCE BINDER that I just referred to.

This little ditty is GREAT!

My sister has one of these for each of her cars, and I loved it so much, I made one for each of ours.

This can be as simple as a 3-ring binder and some plastic page protectors.  I used a protector for each of the following, and, of course, labeled each one accordingly. You can also accomplish this just by making a file folder with your home bills to store these important papers.

Oil change

Tires

Repairs

Maintenance work

Past registrations

Miscellaneous

**Having all of these records together has proved invaluable in maintaining our cars.  We can see where and when tires were bought, when the last oil change was performed, etc.

Now let’s talk about CAR HABITS.

Car habits are the patterns that we do that keep our car clean, organized, and maintained.

The following are the things that I consider “habits” that we do to keep our cars nice.

Wash/vacuum-We live in Colorado, so washing the car weekly is never an option.  It must be done. Find a place locally that has the best price for what you need.  For those of you locally, I love the car wash off Lincoln & Jordan.  If you wash your car before 9am, the drive thru wash is only $4 and you can vacuum your car for free.  No trying to guess with quarters, AND your children can stay in the car while it is washed and you vacuum yourself.  They give you a damp towel for the interior and Tootsie Pops for the kids.  How can you beat that?  No matter where you live, find a spot that works for you and have a day that you get it done.  I go on Fridays.  I fill the car with gas, wash and vacuum the car and have everything ready just in time for it to get crazy messy on Saturday and Sunday!

Quick pick-up-This is what I consider emptying of the cars.  This is one of our children’s chores on the chore chart, so ideally it gets done everyday, but realistically it is every other day.  Take an inexpensive laundry basket and have them empty everything out.  I keep a basket in the back of my suburban for returns, mailings, dry cleaning, etc.  It works great, because when I am out, I can look in that basket for everything that needs to be taken care of and complete those tasks.  Every time I find something in the house that should be outside in that car basket, I just place it on the garage stairs and add it when I get in the car to go.

Gas-look online and find the two cheapest gas stations in your immediate area, and try to frequent these places the most.  If you have a habit of filling the vehicle on certain days, you can ensure that you get the best price on your schedule.

Here are a few pictures of things that I use to keep the car organized, AND have everything I need when traveling and completing errands.

This first one is our dry cleaning bag, the second, reusable bags for grocery shopping and easy clean out, and an activity bag full of easy things to do for ballgames of older sibling, meetings for mom, exercise class, etc.

These items above are just reusable and recycled bags that I use for easy containment of different car related items.

There it is!  Did I leave anything out that needs to be covered?  Do you have another car organization challenge that we need to talk about?

Just email or comment.

GO, GO, GO!  It is easy, so get it done this weekend!

For tomorrow:

For Special Sunday I have a little surprise.  Work hard today to complete this week’s challenges and tomorrow…tune in!

I’m off to finish a little bit of everything that we covered this week!

See you tomorrow!

~Laura