Anyone who spends a lot of time in their car will know how quickly things can start to feel untidy. Day-to-day use means our cars can easily turn into a dumping ground for all sorts of clutter, waste and junk – especially if children are regular passengers in the backseats.
When it comes to keeping your car tidy and organised, the same rules apply as they do in our homes: everything should have a proper place. By taking the time to upgrade your car’s storage, we promise you’ll find it much easier to keep things tidy and organised going forward.
Here, we’re sharing six essential organisation and storage tips to keeping your car tidy.
1. Organise Your Boot Space
The boot is an area that can really suffer from mess and clutter, so you’ve got to keep on top of tidying it. Some people have a tendency to just launch things in, but it’s better to get organised so you can always guarantee there’s ample room for your essentials.
A great way to organise your boot is with storage dividers; boxes and baskets work well. That way, you can easily compartmentalise everything in your boot, and even make it easier to carry shopping indoors too.
2. Make Space for All Those Day-to-Day Essentials
There are a few things we all keep in our cars for everyday driving, but these can often end up rolling around in the boot or footwells; we’re talking de-icer, ice scrapers, cleaning wipes, hand gel – you get the picture. Wouldn’t it be great if all these odds and ends were in one place, so you aren’t left scrambling around on a cold morning?
Well, one little gizmo we spotted has the answer: the Ikea Flört. This nifty bit of storage may be designed for remote controls, but it’s perfect for cars too. Just add it to your driver or passenger seat, and you’ll be able to keep all those essential bits and bobs within easy reach while you are driving.
3. Maximise Boot Space with Shower Caddy Storage
Depending on your car, boot space may be limited, so anything you can do to free up precious litres is a win. And, there’s an easy way to do just that by getting yourself a set of over-door storage hangers.
With multiple pockets for those essential bits and bobs, you can hook these over the back-seat uprights and make use of the vertical space. This is a great trick if you carry things like screen wash, wet wipes and a first aid kit in your car, keeping everything together without compromising on the space you need for groceries, luggage or the family dog.
Plus, you can get the same effect by hanging them from the front seats facing back – ideal for keeping children’s essentials within each reach.
4. Put those Rear Passenger Seats to Use
If it’s normally just you and one other passenger in your car, you may be missing out on lots of usable storage space by not utilising the backseats. Rather than cramming everything into the boot, or else throwing things into the back without thinking, you should use the space wisely by adding handy baskets that effectively double your amount of usable and organised storage space.
5. Colour Co-ordinate Your Glovebox Storage
Gloveboxes, like boots, are among the messiest, most untidy parts of a car – accumulating all sorts of junk like old CDs, receipts and parking tickets. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Instead of letting your glovebox fall into wrack and ruin, we have a solution: use different coloured storage bags to keep all those daily essentials organised and in one place. Coloured, zip-top pouches like these are ideal for organising your glovebox, especially things like documents, devices, keys, toiletries and cleaning products. They’re also handy for those who need to keep their receipts altogether for invoicing purposes; just another simple change that can make your life a whole lot easier.
6. Keep those Wires Tidy and Out the Way
Drivers are more connected to their cars than ever, but our reliance on portable devices does have an unwanted side effect: wires. If you’re charging your phone or connecting to an infotainment system, there’s a chance a cord will be trailing across the gearstick, handbrake or steering wheel, which not only looks unsightly, but could interfere with your driving.
A simple tip to avoid this is to buy new, shorter wires specifically for use in your car. Failing that, there are lots of cord tidies out there you can use to keep everything neat, organised and out the way.
We hope this guide helps you take a fresh approach to organising your car’s interior. For more useful car care and maintenance guides, take a look at the Simoniz blog. To learn about our range of interior and exterior car cleaning products, visit the products page.