Organization - Meridian,ID

I also have a honda pilot. I put all trash in the bottom door compartments. This way, when it is full, all trash is together and I just empty that.

Target canvas boxes for the back of the car are good too. If you want honda parts or just ideas for organization, you can go to their website and look under accessories. They have an organizational system for the cargo area. (I wouldn't spend the money at the dealership, but they can show you some good ideas.)

We have a BMW and a Wrangler - both smallish cars. We both work full time. We have a 22 month old. There is no trash or debris in either of our cars. How do we do this? We take everything out when we get out of the car. Items that are used by the baby get unloaded when the baby comes out. Items that are ours also come out. Nothing accumulates. For me, I cant even imagine using the floor as a trash can. First, stop eating in your car. Second, every single time you stop anywhere, use their trash can - gas, grocery - bank, whatever - just take your trash out and throw it out. Don't let this stuff accumulate.
I'm not making any judegments, but just trying to share a totally different approach. For me, it is not acceptible to eat in the car (if the baby needs a drink from a sippy, that is fine, but how long are you really in the car anyway? You/they cannot possibly wait until you get home or whereever you are going to eat?). I have not always been this way. I used to eat fast food and do that in the car, but then I felt like this was a disgusting habit. I started feeling like I had no idea why people did this so often, and that food should be eaten at a table like civilized people. This was fundamental to changing my eating habits, becoming healthier, and cleaning up trash in my life!! I guess to address your specific situation I would need to know where the trash is coming from that you feel you need a trash can in the car, but mine does not accumulate.

As for the home, if you are not using something, it must have a place. If the tiem does not have a place of it's own, then I throw it out. I am a bit of a pack rat around my desk area with magazines and things, but I get magazine holders and put them in those. Every few weeks or so I purse a bunch of stuff out, and clean it up again.

I am not the best at organizing but I have found that there are some simple tricks that have helped me keep the chaos to a minimum.

The Car:
I have three kids and one on the way and have a Pathfinder. I have found that there is always something being left in the car or trash being thrown on the floor by someone at all times. It drives me nuts! So here is the system I came up with.

For diaper bags and necessities, I keep 2 or 3 diapers and a small bag of wipes in my glove box at all times. This enables me to take trips with my kids without carrying a bag every time. When I do need a diaper bag, such as for daycare, I have a row of hooks right inside the door from the garage. Every time I get out of the car, I grab the diaper bag and hang it on the hook on the way in. So instead of my car being the place to house the bag the hook is. The hook system is also used by everyone for coats and backpacks. Everyone is required to grab their own bag and hang it on the hook as they walk in, with the exception of the wee one of course.

For trash and such, I am not sure if all cars have this but I have a pocket in my door that I constantly put my trash in. It is easy to get to when I am driving, and easy to unload when I get out of the car. All I had to do is make it a habit to grab the trash when I get out and before I unlock the kids. I have my big trash can in the garage close to where I get out so it is an easy grab and dump. If I grab the trash each time it never gets out of control. I just make it a routine.

For all the extra stuff you need in your car - I keep a roadside assistance kit in the far back. I have a blanket back there when it is cold outside and reusable grocery bags. Outside of that, I haven't ever really traveled with a travel toilet, extra blankets or jackets unless I am going on a long trip somewhere. I am thinking you may just have a bit too much back there. It can get overwhelming.

To maintain it all - I do my best to make it a habit to remove extra stuff every time I get out of the car. If you make it routine (key is before you unbuckle kids) it is a lot easier and it never seems like a big job. I also make one day a week that I clear my purse and my car out. Even with a routine every day it is so easy to get junky anyways. It usually only takes about 15 minutes on a Friday to clear out the car and purse.

2. Craft Room - This is a hard one huh? I actually did a few cabinets. You can even use kitchen cabinets and put a top on them for work space. Then I simplify my organizing. For paper, I have one cabinet that each shelf is full of paper (laser paper, decorative paper, construction paper, card stock). It isn't necessarily perfect but I know all the paper is in there and I can shut the door so I don't see mess. I do this same concept for everything else, i.e., cutting supplies (scissors, die-cuts, etc.), glues or anything that makes things stick. etc. Then I don't freak out about everything being perfect in there I just make sure it is on the right shelf. The big part to me is to be able to shut doors and not see it all, otherwise I feel like it is a mess and not organized. I also use buckets when needed, like for my die-cuts, I have about 30 of them so I put them all in one plastic bucket on the cutting shelf. Make sense?

Office - This is a crazy place too! The BIGGEST thing here is to have a place for things that cannot be filed yet such as bills to pay, people to call, coupons to use this afternoon, etc. I have a stackable organizer on my desk that I put all that I need in it to be addressed. Here are the labels for the organizer - Bills to Pay, Calls, File, Coupons and Events, and To Do. I NEVER put my kids school stuff in there and NEVER let junk mail go into the house at all unless I am truly going to address it then it goes into my To Do or Call file. Then just like my car, I take 15 minutes one day a week to go through it and dump anything that is outdated or not needed anymore. For the record my File cubby is the worst, I always fall behind on that - YUCK!

Hope this helps, I just think the simpler the better then you don't have the overwhelmed feeling when you need something or have to address anything.

Good luck!

The Honda sounds like a typical Mom car. I find that the best thing is to pull the trash out every night, that is as long as I don't have to run to the rest room. I know most of us Moms hold it because we have to run to pick up the kids, stop at the store, etc and then our five or less minutes of alone time is rushed! Joint the crowd!

2. I don't craft.

3. The dreaded paper filled desk. The miscellaneous papers go in a monthly miscellaneous folder. All credit card bills I hang on to and I also hang on to any tax write offs for the year. The write offs are purged from the folders and bound together for that tax year so the entire tax year is bound together. Regular filing is key, although I can't always get to it myself.

You could try a duffle-type bag for all your misc items in the back of your car. That way they're all in one place. Use bungee cords to 'tie down' your potential projectiles (that's what we do) and get into the habit of removing all the garbage/stuff you don't need every Sunday afternoon (or whenever you have a few minutes). The first couple of times it might take you a while, but once you get into the habit, it'll be just minutes.

For your craft room, try clear plastic bins, for your larger things, that you can put on the shelves. It'll keep things organized and clean, plus, you can stack them. For your smaller items, you can either use smaller clear bins or decorative baskets (depending on $$ and how you want your craft room to look).

For the desk, make a misc folder (or 2 or 3). All we really have is a file box with a separate file for EVERYTHING. Then at the end of every year, that box is cleaned out and all the papers go into a cardboard box labelled with the year and into the basement it goes. After 6 or 7 years, it's usually safe to burn or shred your papers.

Hope this helps and good luck!

You might find www.flylady.net helpful. She has done wonders for my house! :)

For the car, we have seat protectors with pockets, and an organizer that hangs over the back of the passenger seat. If it doesn't fit in these or in a pocket of the car, it probably doesn't need to be in the car. We also have a VERY small box for snacks. I put felt on the bottom to keep it from slipping around. I keep that under the console. For trash, I keep a grocery bag hanging on the hook. If I'm driving, I put the trash on the console, and put it in the bag when I'm stopped. I usually organize a bit at red lights. (Or open mail. That way the junk never even enters the house. The rest goes in a spot to go in.) I keep the grocery bags up front neatly packed under the front seat so when I have a lot of mail or other misc. stuff, I have a bag to stick it in and take it in. When the trash bag is full, it goes in the trash can. I have two extra bags in the door. I also keep wet wipes and hand sanitizer in the door with a travel size roll of TP. I do have an emergency box that I splurged and got the cargo netting from the dealership to hold in place. For diapers and such, I always just used a roll up changing pad that slid under the front seat from the back side. Held two diapers, one for each kid, and a pack of wipes. Obviously had to be restocked often, but I just threw it in my grocery bag to go into the house. I always emptied that before setting it down, or after going to the bathroom, as another mom mentioned. :)

2. For my sewing things, we have a closet in our sewing room, so I got a hanging sweater organizer for a lot of those things. I use it for office storage, as well. You could do the same with a book case or drawers. Go to the Container Store and just look around. They have great ideas there. Don't buy without signing up for their emails, though, and then if they really are the only place, you can buy it when it goes on sale with a coupon. They are pretty expensive, but I get my ideas there, and then shop Target or Walmart. 90% of the time, if I'm patient, I can get the same thing much cheaper.

3. For the office, I have an "office" day that I do my desk work. Mail is done every day. I have my files divided -- Regular bills, Education, Income (includes taxes), Financial assets, Financial liabilities, Couponing, Household Miscellany, Owner's Manuals/Warranties, Insurance, Medical, and probably a few others. Other than Regular Bills (monthly stuff) that I keep at the front of the drawer, everything else is alphabetical. Within each category I have individual folders. I can file anything in about 2 seconds, which makes it easier to keep up with it. I keep passports, birth certificates, wills, insurance policies, etc. in a fire proof box in the closet. I keep the current year in easy to access drawers, the previous year at the bottom drawer, and all our homeschool stuff all in one 4 drawer vertical filing cabinet in a corner. Really doesn't take much room. Each November or December, I take out the prior year and move it to the basement. Bring up 8 years ago, and shred or recycle (non-sensitive stuff), and move the current year to the bottom drawer, and set up for the upcoming year. That way the filing doesn't fall behind in January because there's no place for it to go. At that time I go through warranties and owner's manuals and get rid of anything that is no longer needed. My office wasn't always neat. To get it that way, I just set a timer and worked for 10-20 minutes depending on what time I had, what job I was working on, etc.

Sorry I rambled so much. I hope something helps. GL!

Sounds like you have too much in your car. Do you really need all these items?

How far do you travel that the kids need to be entertained? For day to day use, one toy should be fine and keep one or two cd's for sing-a-long or an audio book.

All the random stuff, like toy, jacket, etc, should be in a diaper bag, duffle bag, or a med sized rubbermaid container. These get packed in back with the emergency items.

Put a waste papper basket, a box, or some type of container with a large opening on the floor to use for trash.

Try keeping your lists in one of those envelope sized accordian files.

Keep one of those reusable grocery bags up front with you in the passenger seat. Before getting out of the car, throw in all the items that need to go into the house, empty water bottles and snack containers, the old lists (or your folder), etc.

Get one of those canvas fabric boxes at Target for $6, put it on the back seat between the 2 carseats. Throw all the toys inside. At the end of each drive, quickly throw the toys in the box. Keeps it simple. Try to keep the food out as much as possible. The other things can be cleaned up relatively quickly, but food is what makes it gross.

Craft room--Have you seen the Elfa shelves from The Container Store. Super easy, not very expensive & a great way to organize.

I still need a lot of help myself, but it helps if you never take things in the house--like take mail out of the mailbox and toss the envelopes & junk mail into recycling.

I found a great book to help you keep the clutter organized. It's called "It's all too much" workbook, by Peter Walsh. It's a really easy way to figure out what's stopping you from getting rid of all this stuff. Good luck!