Key Takeaways
- Learn how to organize a car, no matter how messy.
- Find checklists for cleaning and organizing your interior.
- Learn three techniques for keeping your car organized.
If you have a busy lifestyle, you probably spend a lot of time in your car. If so, you’ll enjoy this useful guide to organizing the interior of your vehicle. It is designed to make the interior of your car a stress-free zone, and can be tailored to fit almost any lifestyle or usage profile.
Why Organize?
A well-organized interior benefits everyone. By keeping track of important items, you’ll worry less about forgetting something, and you’ll have fewer distractions. You’ll feel less stress, and you’ll be able to concentrate on safe driving.
Before You Begin
The first thing to do before organizing any interior is to reset it to factory condition, or as close as you can get it. That means removing everything, deciding whether it is essential, and cleaning the interior.
Clean the interior of your car thoroughly. Vacuum the floor, use plastic-safe antibacterial wipes on the dashboard and door panels, and deep clean areas with heavy dirt buildup. Use the following checklist to catch everything.
- Dashboard
- Steering wheel
- Rear deck
- Multimedia screens
- Door panels/compartments
- Visors & ceiling
- Interior & exterior glass surfaces
- Glove compartment
- Seatbacks
- Under seats
- Floor
- Upholstery
- Trunk
Identify & Group
Identify essential items and non-essential items. Throw out non-essential items or find other places to keep them.
Group essential items according to how you use them. For example, books and pens are supplies for school, so they should be kept close together.
Typical groups include the following, depending on your lifestyle.
- Daily carry-alongs (glasses, phone, thumb drives, etc.)
- Materials for school/work
- Electronic gadgets
- Kids toys/games
- Sports equipment
- Car care & maintenance (jumper cables, jacks, cleaning supplies)
- Emergency gear (first aid kit, food & water, warm clothing)
Accommodating Your Groups
The key to organization is keeping all of the items in a group together. Put all of the essential items you want to keep back into your car, group by group. If you run out of space, a storage container may be helpful.
Center Console
Center console storage compartments are prime real estate for your daily essential carry-along items. Buy one that is large enough to hold all of your essential daily items (if possible), with a lid to keep them out of sight.
Seatback
Depending on your vehicle, a seatback organizer can be a great way to add storage options. Organizers with expandable soft pockets work well for keeping oddly-shaped tools and other items safe and still close at hand. They are perfect for folders, books, and laptops.
Glove Compartment
The glove compartment is a great place for small items like your vehicle registration, proof of insurance, pens and pencils, a bag of snacks, or digital gadgets.
You can purchase glove box organizers or use desktop organizers, depending on the style and size necessary.
Trunk
Your trunk is the place to put the things you seldom use but need to have, like emergency roadside gear. It’s also perfect for bulky items like firewood, groceries, and even custom car parts to enhance your ride. If you’re upgrading or replacing components, you can find quality performance car parts to keep stored and ready when needed. The right trunk organizer will help keep your spare tire, jack, and other tools together, and leave space for pizza, laundry, a broken water pump, or a box of new gas struts.
Roof
If you need to transport large items regularly, and your trunk is full, consider using the roof of your car. Rooftop storage containers can be purchased with soft sides, hard sides, and lockable compartments.
Maintaining Organization
Now that you have a clean, well-organized interior, you want to keep it that way. Three strategies that work for many people include:
- One minute cleanup. Every time you leave the car, take one minute to pick up trash and put things away. It doesn’t have to be perfect; you don’t need to take longer than one minute, and just get the easy stuff. Carry disposable bags and a container dedicated to this task.
- Weekly cleanup. This may work best for drivers who don’t make many trips or have fewer essential items. Use as much time as you need at the end of the week to do a thorough job.
- Daily reset. With this method, you completely clean out your car at the end of every day.
Time to Go!
Having a clean and tidy vehicle interior is a joy in itself. After you spend a day in your newly organized ride, you’ll wonder why you didn’t organize it earlier. You won’t be stressed about losing small items, and almost everything you do in your car will be easier and more efficient. A clean car makes every trip safer and more enjoyable!