What does your car boot look like? – perfectly organised with not a lot in it, or complete chaos? I’m sure most of us will have answered to the latter (day to day life gets in the way, doesn’t it!), and so I wanted to look today at the reasons you should consider for getting your car boot organised once and for all, and a few tips on exactly how to do it as well.
Ready?
Did you know that car boots are one of the worst offenders when it comes to getting – and staying – organised? We kind of treat that space like we do our lofts and garages – out of sight, out of mind….
VELCRO® Brand has collected some really interesting stats from a recent survey they did to mark the launch of STAYHOLD™ Boot Organisers – a few of which may surprise you (they did me!): –
- 12.5% of people surveyed admitted to never EVER cleaning the car boot out.
- Just under a quarter of survey respondents have fallen victim to a car boot catastrophe such as spillages, damages and even maggots escaping (ugh!)
Just reading those (especially the last one!) makes me want to get my car boot more organised – how about you?…
But it can be hard to find the motivation to get it done, I’m with you on that, and as with organising anything I like to find the reason that will drive me to get it done.
This reason will be something that makes me want to change the way things currently are, so I want to look at a few of these right now.
Why not pick one (or a few) that make you want to get started: –
Reasons To Get Your Car Boot Organised
- MORE SPACE – you will have empty space ready and waiting for when you need to transport things around (shopping, school bags etc…)
- READY FOR EMERGENCIES – you will have things that are needed for emergencies to hand.
- LESS FUEL – Having a lighter car means you will have better fuel efficiency as it doesn’t have to work as hard to get you places.
- SAFER – Having less clutter in your car means that should you have an accident there is less to fly around the car and possibly hurt you or someone else.
- MORE POSITIVE FEELINGS – Having any space organised will make you feel happier and more content when you look at it. Who wants to be brought down every time they open the car boot to see chaos?
- CONSTANTLY IN USE – As you are using your car all the time and getting things in and out of the boot daily, you want to make it as easy as possible to do so. Having everything organised means that you will spend less time hunting for things.
- LESS FORGOTTEN – Your car boot can easily become a glorified storage facility for anything and everything – collecting things over the weeks/months. If you’re not careful then you won’t just have clutter to deal with, but you may lose things in that clutter which can cause it’s own set of issues…
Motivated?!
I hope so!
After all – if that list hasn’t convinced you that organising your car boot is a good idea, I’m not sure what will!
Next step of course is to know exactly what to do to make it as easy and quick as possible – so I want to take you step by step through the method I use…
How To Organise Your Car Boot – Step By Step
Step 1 – Take Everything Out
First things first. You need to be able to know exactly what you are dealing with, and you can’t do that by just sifting through things in the boot.
You need to take EVERYTHING out and start from scratch.
TIP – Once things are out, you will be able to get rid of quite a bit I’m sure. There will be rubbish, out of date things etc… that can go directly into the bin, and then you’ll be left with the rest.
Step 2 – Clean
At this stage it’s worth cleaning the boot completely.
Let’s face it – it’s probably the first deep clean it will have had in a while so it’s a great thing to get done while it’s totally empty.
Step 3 – List What’s Essential
You want to truly think about what you will need when out and about to make life easier and safer should anything happen.
These and only these would be your essentials.
I wrote a post a short while ago about this – and out of these items I would suggest that the car boot is the place for the following: –
- First aid kit
- Breakdown kit
- Shopping bags
- Things that will help you transport your ad hoc stuff around safely – such as the STAYHOLD™ Boot Organisers (for my review of these please CLICK HERE), and a fold away box
- Change of clothes
- Some weather related larger items such as shovel and larger umbrella etc….
Of course – make the list suitable for you and your life, there may be extra things that you need to consider as well.
Step 4 – Decide How To Store The Essentials
You don’t want the things that you put back in the car boot to fill it up, so also think about the best way to store everything so that there’s plenty of space left.
I like to use the space under the car boot where the spare tyre lives. There is some space around that where we keep breakdown kit, first aid kit and a large umbrella. This frees up the actual boot space for the more often used things.
I also like to have a box in the boot to hold all the other stuff, as it keeps it contained, and I know that we need what’s in there to stay in there.
TIP – don’t have a lid on the box(es) because this will make it trickier to open and find things – have an open top (after all, your car boot has a cover anyway which can act well as a top!)
Step 5 – Put Essentials Back
So – you’ve sorted the boot out and got rid of what you don’t need any longer (whether that be the bin or to another home), and you have what you DO need alongside how you want to store them.
Simply spend a bit of time now working out where each item should go, in order to maximise the spare space you will have left, and so that you can still grab everything quickly as and when you need it.
TIP – You could always label the storage so you know exactly what goes where – and others will know where it is too.
Step 6 – Enjoy!
aaand relax…
You’ve done it, and you should be proud.
Now, your car boot is totally ready for your day to day life in a way that will support you rather than hinder you – and that’s a fantastic thing!
It’s so simple really, and actually takes little time to complete – it’s usually just the thought of doing the job that stops us.
I hope these tips have helped, and I look forward to hearing how you get on…
