It's probably a familiar scenario... you're rushing to get to school, work, dance practice or the like on time. You get everyone into the car, swearing that you left the one thing you've been looking for (phone, notebook, lost child's shoe) in your car. You get in, start looking around and see a mess. Everything is everywhere and you can't find what you need. You hang your head, feeling hopeless, and resort to completely cleaning the car out later on. Eventually, you find what you were looking for, stuck under the back seat. Your kids must have kicked it under there, along with food crumbs, crumpled papers, toys, books, and an empty juice pouch.

If this sounds like a typical day in the life of your family, you're not alone. I've come to realize that taking small steps to keep items organized in the car saves us a lot of time when we're running around. Here are some quick and easy things that you can do to keep things organized in your car.

Keep trash to a minimum

This seems like an easy thing to stay on top of, but if you have kids, or are messy, yourself, trash can pile up in just a day's time! My car is a magnet for trash- fruit snack wrappers, plastic straw paper covers, gum wrappers, coffee cup wrappers, etc. I've placed a small trash bag in the front and back of my car to help cut down on the litter. My kids know that if they trash the back seat, they lose all snack and drink privileges in the car for the following week.

Give each child their own car bag

Each of my kids has their own little tote bag which they can keep in the back seat of the car. They can choose a few small toys or books to keep in the bag, and it travels back and forth between the house and the car, as needed. We swap out the items every 1-2 weeks to keep it interesting for the kiddos. Before exiting the car, they have to place all of their items back into their tote bag. This keeps messes to a minimum, and gives them a sense of responsibility, as well.

Keep snacks contained

Long before I was mom to more than one child, I devised a plan for a snack bag in the car. When it's not too hot outside, we keep a small insulated bag in the car with non-perishable snacks, like Goldfish crackers, PB crackers, granola bars or cereal baggies. This way, the kids can grab quick snacks if we get stuck in traffic or are on the go all afternoon. 

Keep Discs Organized

This may seem super old school, but our family keeps all discs organized in a CD organizer. In fact, we have different organizers for kids music and DVDs or BluRays, and then one for the grown-ups. Doing this helps us be able to quickly find what we need without having to tear apart the middle console or search under our seats.

Keep devices under control

My kids love to have their devices in the car with them... and they have lots of them! I'm talking toddler tablets, DS handheld, tablets for watching movies or shows, this list goes on. We've learned to limit the devices in the car & here's why: each device has a different charger, and the kids are always wanting everything to be charged in the car all at once (because mom and dad failed to charge beforehand). What a pain! Avoid this by limiting each child to one device. That way, you only have to worry about two things that need to be charged, and you don't have a center console full of charging cords. Want to really cut down on the devices in the car? Leave them at home and tell your kids to bring along books to look at or read, instead!

Keeping your car organize might seem like an impossible task, but trust me, it can be done... and really, should be done!

What are some of the ways you keep your car organized?

This post brought to you by Thompson Mazda.