You know who you are.

You’re not necessarily a messy person, in fact — your house is probably neat orderly with most things put away and in their place. But when it comes to the car…..it’s like a rolling dump. Yup, you’re a Car Slob. Don’t be embarrassed. Everyone needs an outlet for clutter and if yours is the car, we can help.

Alicia on how to know if you are a car slob

Ever have to pick up your boss in your rolling pig-pen and think to yourself, ‘I’ve got to get this under control!’ Do you constantly have to apologize to people before giving them a ride? Are you frantically picking up old Cheerios and empty soda cans before letting passengers in?

It often starts out small with a few dirty Kleenexes on the floor and a pile of CD cases in the back seat. Like all clutter, though, it quickly mutates, growing with every day and soon is out of control. Before you know it, you’ve got trash and crumbs in every corner, last week’s newspapers and books to return to the library floating in the back seat, and an extra bottle of water (or five) rolling around the floorboards.

Sarah on controlling the mess

The Car Slob can be contained. For some immediate gratification, grab a big garbage bag and a dust buster, go straight to your car (after finishing this article of course!) and throw out the trash. Chances are that’ll solve 70% of your issue right there.

Once you’ve done the purging, you need to do small things on a regular basis to keep the mess at bay. The surefire way to do this is to set up strict rules for no eating or drinking in the car and for everyone to clean up after their ride. But that’s seriously un-fun, and definitely not worth the nagging and complaining from fellow passengers!

Ways to Tame Car Clutter

You may never completely stop using the car as a ‘slob’ outlet, but you can follow these tips to prevent the mess from growing out of control.

#1: Oh I Love Trash
The number one enemy of car organization is trash. It starts with a scrap of paper like a receipt or dry cleaning tag — and once there’s a little bit of trash — it’s permission for there to be a lot of trash in the car. Fight it by putting 3 or 4 mini bags in your car (whatever works for you — a real trash bag or mini sandwich bags). Put one in the glove compartment, one in each back seat and one in the trunk, so there’s a place to immediately throw trash away instead of letting it drop to the floor. Then, each time you go to the gas station, throw out the accumulating garbage.

#2: Get a CAM
Run out a buy a CAM, a box, bag, or plastic ‘doohickey’ to Contain All of the Mess. The CAM is the catch all for things you need and want, but if left unattended will run wild and take over your car space. Perfect CAM items include CDs, Kleenex, toys for the kids, cell phone chargers and loose change.

#3: Make the Most of Your Glove Compartment
Of course, this should be where you keep your most important car things like the registration, proof of insurance, smog certification and maintenance records. Then, if you have room it’s also the perfect spot for a small pad of paper, a pen, a $20 bill, some extra napkins, and a flashlight.