It happened this weekend – I took a trip in my car, and did not
have with me that all-important item: a large plastic box to hold
the odds and ends. The end result was that I lost about 90 minutes
looking for something!

To keep a decluttered car, not to mention your sanity, you need
to keep a large plastic box in your car.  In this box, you keep
your odds and ends contained. When there are too many odds and
ends, then it’s time to sort out that box, so it doesn’t become
a junk repository.

It’s incredibly easy to have a decluttered car, and this can
really spur you on to declutter the rest of your world.

I’ve used cardboard boxes, but I don’t recommend them, because
they can get thrown away by someone (including you) thinking
they are not important! Yikes!!

But here’s what happened – when I was getting the car washed
at the local car wash, I took out that Car Organizing Box to
clear out the car (and because it had some CDs in it that I
didn’t want to lose to some light-fingered car washer. I’ve
already bought the greatest hits CD of “Queen” twice as it is).

But after the car was brand spanking clean, I did not put the
box back in the car. So off I went, with my CDs and papers and
books just sitting in the passenger seat (inviting disaster,
that’s for sure).

I was traveling to visit my daughter, and as soon as she got
in the car, she promptly threw all my stuff from the front seat
to the back seat.  I freaked out as usual, but she assured me
that she had been very careful… that’s the moment I should
have headed right for the nearest Target and bought a new
plastic box, but noooo….

When it was time to drive back, I was going to listen to a marketing
CD, one that is part of a program I’m paying $300 a month to be part
of… and it was missing!

I looked for that CD for 90 minutes, called the hotel, called my
daughter, visited parking lots we’d been to the day before to see
if it was on the ground. 

Miraculously, that CD did appear “out of nowhere” – I think my
own driving dislodged it from being stuck in the side panel that
I’d looked through at least 3 times…

The moral of the story is – don’t let up on the basics. Make your
life OH SO much simpler by having that plastic box in your car -
and putting everything in it. It’s like an extra giant glove
compartment. It is a lot better than CDs sailing under the car seat
as you drive, or papers flying out the door when a child opens them
on the other side… and you never knew it happened.

And if you’re not the most sedate of drivers, then get a plastic
box that has a lid on it! That’s even better protection.

A decluttered car is so easy… and I always recommend it to
soothe your nerves and encourage you to be ultra clutter-free
in your daily life!

Happy reading and decluttering!

With love,
Mimi Tanner
Author of Declutter Fast – How to Get Your Home In Order Almost
Immediately!
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