Thank you all for your great ideas on getting my office organized. My friend Joanne is coming over today for lunch and I am looking forward to getting her two cents in person. When I get some of your suggestions implemented, I will post a new picture of my office. Doesn't that sound like a HGTV show? "Stay tuned for the big reveal of Wendy's new and improved office, where she can actually find things!"
Okay, so are you ready for organizational issue #2? The car. Out of respect for Pete and in order to not ruin my father's entire day, I am not posting a picture of the inside of our minivan. Instead, I'll give you a true story from last weekend which will illustrate the state of our car pretty well. Last Saturday after Sarah's soccer game we headed downtown to Elitch Gardens (an amusement park). On the way there, Sarah decided she did not like the outfit she had picked out. I said, "I'm sorry, that's too bad." Sarah replied, "Isn't great that our car is full of stuff, I'll just find another outfit." And she did - shirt, shorts, and even another pair of socks. Sarah was thrilled, I was horrified. Why is all this stuff in our car!
Twice this summer, when we have been out of town, my wonderful father has completely cleaned out our car. Within, days it is full of stuff again. My dad likes to tease the girls that they shouldn't bring anything they like out to our car because we must have the rule that once something goes in the car it can never return to the house. Ahh sometimes it feels that way.
So here are my questions; what does the inside of your car look like? If it doesn't look like mine, what family rules do you have in place to keep it cleaned up? Do you have any nifty car organizing tricks to share? Bring on the suggestions, I can't wait to read them.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
The mobile playroom/kitchen/laundry room/garabe can
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Ah yes... I know what you mean. Here is what has helped us. Every few weeks we go to get our van washed and vacummed/cleaned inside. This forces me to throw the garbage out and fill a box of "STUFF" which I then take inside the house where I will trip over it until all the STUFF is put away.
i actually find this getting a tad easier now that the kids are getting older and aren't falling asleep as much in the car. Now they just have to bring in what they brought out. I like the idea of going to get the car washed every couple weeks that is a great incentive!
i am also trying to decide what to do about food/drinks in the car...that used to get nasty. Since we got a new car we had a no food/drink(other than water) rule...we will see how long that lasts!
Target also sells great car organizers that you hang over the front seats that way the kids have a place to put stuff and when it fills up they know it is time to bring it in
We have a no food/drink in the car rule, except water. Kacie has to bring everything into the house after school--back pack, lunch box, etc. or it is fair game for me to throw away--this is how I throw away alot of the McDonald's etc toys.
Kacie isn't aloud to bring toys into the car unless it is a long drive. To avoid the screaming fit, about wanting to bring something into the car, I tell her its a bad choice because it will lost or left behind. I tell her that she won't get it back if it is gone. Sometimes I let her bring the toy and I make her carry it the whole time.
My car is messy with "neat sheets" and camp chairs that we use at the park. Sometimes I have a "swimming bag" or "ice skating" bag. I always try to keep an extra bag of diapers and wipes. Stuff just piles up. (Currently I have several samples of floor tile and countertop materials in the car.).
Wendy, after today's blog I must confess that I am hoping your dad comes to clean out your car before we carpool to the mountains! As for my car, it doesn't look too bad (just don't ask Robert his opinion) for a mom-o-van. Just don't try and move the booster seats- I think they are glued down with snack debris. Our car rule is that no one goes from car to house without having something in both hands. That way at least some of what finds its way into the car eventually returns to the house
And I thought it was just me! What I try to do and sometimes actually do it, is to clean out the inside of the van once a week. Ok...it usually turns out to be once a month, but I always feel much better once that is accomplished. I throw away gargage, put dirty socks and clothes in the laundry, and make sure everything goes back where it belongs (it is tempting to keep it in the box I put it all in:-)) We have also enlisted the help of Cassie and Adam in this endeavor...I guess it is a matter of time when we can reclaim our cars/vans:-) I look forward to other ideas! Take care! Enjoy the fall!
I think it really helps me that I have a honda accord instead of a minivan or an suv. There is less room, so less stuff accumulates there. Sort of like how your stuff seems to expand and multiply to fill the space of your home, so it is with your vehicle! I admire and envy those moms with a "no snack" policy for the car, but it is just not in me to enforce that. So, mostly I have clementine peels, crushed cheerios, and the occasional petrified raisin gunking up the backseat. I plug in the shop vac once a month and clean everything out, which takes only a couple of minutes, and is incredibly satisfying.
first, go get yourself an anal husband.
second, understand that you need to keep the car somewhat clean otherwise said anal husband gets really annoyed.
has! i jest, sort of. eric really can't stand it so we don't let it get too bad. of course his version of bad and my version are not exactly the same. we only have water and vacuumable snacks i the car. no meals. and we take a lot of long trips, but that means stoipping, getting out and eating somewhere other than the car. we try to plan our trip around meals like some plan around sleeping schedules. works for us because jackson won't really eat a "meal" sitting by himself in the car seat so we can't do it anyway. also, since we do take so many weekend trips we're constantly unloading EVERYTHING and starting from scratch. only the essentials stay in: portable potty, umbrella, reusable grocery bags, box of tissues, case of movies (OF COURSE!) and a handful of regular car books and a few cars.
perhaps you can leave a box or bag in the back seat and thigns can ONLY go IN there and once it's filled something has to come out before anything else can go in?
Our car is a mess! We just came back from Estes Park and there was hardly room for the kids to get in and out. The thing that works for us is that my husband takes a laundry basket out there about once a month and pulls everything out of the car. Then I sort through the basket and put everything back where it should go. I admit we are bad with food in the car. The kids would not have breakfast some days if it didn't get put in a bag. And milk... you have to love it. We lost one sippy with milk for about a month. We couldn't find it anywhere but it definitely was making its presence known. Finally, we found it under my sons car seat -- not under the car seat; under the seat the he sits on, on the seat. Wow! Whenever my husband complains, I just mention that his car is kind of messy too and he doesn't have four other people contributing to the mess. That usually quiets him. Or he is biting his tongue. Good man.
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