All In A Days Work

When you are purchasing a vehicle, and you glance at the hatchback or SUV, it looks like you could easily accommodate all the luggage and bags you would need fro a trip – but once you start packing in bags, you will come to realize there probably isn’t as much room as you thought. There is an art to safely and efficiently packing up your car for a road trip.

Clean it Out
Before you even THINK about packing for a road trip – clean it out! If you are like me you probably have your reusable grocery bags, some soccer or baseball equipment, etc. Unless you are headed for a tournament, all this stuff can be taken out and give you room to get all your necessities in!

Pack Everything You can the Night Before
Pack what you can the night before, so you are wasting precious driving time trying to shove everything in the trunk or hatch. You can also take time to see what fits where the best, and make sure you have any bags you might need DURING the trip on the top and easily accessible.

Have a Strategy
Pack items in the order you will need them – packing items you’ll need first, last – so you can get to them easily. If you are splitting up your trip and you’ll be staying in a hotel for one night , you don’t need your entire suitcase. Have a ‘go bag’ ready with pjs, 1 outfit, your toothbrush, etc, so that you don’t have to unpack everything until you get to your final destination.

Don’t Cram and Clutter
Packing your car for a trip not only needs to be efficient, but SAFE. You don’t want to cram so much in that the driver’s view is blocked. So don’t OVER PACK!

Pack for Safety
Make sure that you have the proper ‘safety’ equipment readily available. If you are traveling in the winter you’ll need to make sure you have a shovel, emergency blanket, flashlight, etc. If you are traveling in summer you want to make sure you have water, sunscreen, etc. Make sure your cell phone and car charger is nearby if you need to call for help or have an emergency.

Most of us would think that battery issues happen mostly in the winter due to cold weather, but did you know that summer months are actually HARDER on your battery than the cold?? Batteries in cold climates usually last approx 51 months, where warmer clients battery lives are near 30 months.

When you drive your car in the heat, your battery begins discharging on its own in just 24 hours – something that takes several days in cold weather. This means you could wake up to a dead battery easily in extreme heat if you don’t take the proper steps to keep your battery healthy.

Keep it Cool
With heat = drained battery, be sure to park in the shade whenever possible. Not only will it help extend your battery life, but your interior will be a lot cooler too when you get in.

Make Fewer ‘Short’ Trips
When you drive short distances, it definitely will reek havoc on your battery – your alternator needs time to recharge the battery after it’s been started; short trips with starting and stopping frequently, doesn’t allow your battery time to recover. Take a few trips around the block or leave your vehicle running for a few minutes to avoid draining the battery life.

Go Back to the 90’s
Nowadays we seem to ask a LOT from our cars with all the devices we have running in our cars all the time. From navigation systems, to DVD payers, smart phones and computers, they can seriously drain your battery. Everything you plug in does take its toll, so just be careful about what you need and how often you do use it.

Make sure its CLEAN
Dirt and grease build up on the battery or around it, serves as an insulator. Be sure to wipe it down with a paper towel or rag on regular basis, to keep it from draining the power from all the grime.

Get a Battery Charger
A good way to keep that battery lasting longer – is to invest in a car battery charger. If you park your car for a long period of time (like when you were on vacation, etc) a car battery charger will keep it from going dead.

This post is sponsored by Reedman Toll Auto Group.

Most of us have a bag for trash, maybe even something to organize our paperwork in glove box. But there’s quite a few products – and hacks – to help keep your car clean and organized – no matter how messy it’s been in the past.

This is one of my favorite products to use for your car – and honestly this would make a great Father’s Day gift. This car seat gap organizer not only keeps your stuff from falling in the cracks – but also will hold your stuff. My favorite thing to put in these are my shades, my phone, and a pen and sticky note pad.
It also catches the loose change you drop, that fry that always falls from your bag and just grows into your cars carpet, and they are easily removed and wiped out.

If you are a woman, you’ve experienced the dreaded purse flop into the backseat. It’s the worst especially if you are traveling and are stopping at the drive-thru for another cup of coffee. This mesh front seat cargo holder not only keeps your purse from falling into the floor, but can hold your water bottle, box of tissues, or anything else you don’t want falling all over the place.

The trunk is always hard to keep organized; I keep my emergency kit along with a blanket, and some other “we might need” items , and sometimes it gets in the way with grocery pick up, or the kids throwing their stuff in the back. I picked up one of these car trunk organizers and it fits everything! It also folds down for when you need the whole truck area to move something.

One of my biggest pet peeves regarding having a clean car, is the cup holders. They always seem to be dirty, no matter what. A good hack for keeping them clean, is silicone cupcake liners. Put them in each cup holder in your car, and that way as soon as they are dirty you switch them out and put them in the dishwasher – and TADA! Clean cup holders all the time!

Seat hooks are another great investment for being organized in your vehicle – it can hold groceries, purses, coats, whatever you don’t want smashed to the ground and dirty shoes all over it.

A holder for the headrest for a tablet/iPad, not only keeps things organized, but keeps the kids busy on road trips! You don’t necessarily want to hand an expensive iPad to a 3 year old, so having it on the headrest like a built-in T.V.

Another favorite is the stash away car trash can. Its better than a grocery bag for garbage, and it holds other items as well (think sunscreen, tissues, ibuprofen) .

Another favorite – portable car vacuum. Talk about getting things cleaned up in a jiffy. I love it because we have a tendency to let messes go and we will ‘get to them later’, but with a vacuum just under your seat, or in the trunk, you can sweep out your vehicle at any time (even your lunch break!)

Have an old empty gum container laying around? Use it for all that loose change! You can put it in a cup holder, in the pocket of your mesh cargo holder, or in pocket of your stash away trash can. Either way you can easily reach for change for those tolls, or when you need that extra dime for your lunch.