Organising Chaos: Car

Nadiya Najib

9 years ago

Hi friends! I hope you all are well. I’m pretty excited about today’s post as I am very passionate about keeping my cars clean. I’m not saying my cars have always been spotless. Of course, we all get caught up with deadlines, work and commitments which make us compromise on comparatively minor issues such as cleaning. But I do make it a point to clean my car whenever it starts to get dirty.

One organizing principle that has worked for me is to always pick up my mess behind me whenever I leave a place. Every time I get out of my car, I make sure I pick up everything that I left behind. I don’t let any trash, rubbish stay in my car after I leave.

I think this simple principle has really removed so much clutter from my life. In case I really can’t clean the dust in my car, I love investing in a car wash and pamper my baby once in a while. I would love to know how you keep your cars?

My previous car in Lahore which I named ‘Beauty’

I have got an excellent feedback on Organizing Chaos series on the blog. Following are the links to Organizing Chaos Series. How many have you read so far?

De-clutter your life
Finance & Asset Management
Paperwork & Books
Handbag & Wallet
Wardrobe
Footwear
Cosmetics
Kitchen
Jewellery
Toilet
Personal Hygiene
Phone, PC, Office & DVDs
Travel Kits
Legal Documents

My car in Islamabad called ‘Mira’

Today we’re talking about organizing our cars. Like most men, papa loved cars. His favourite past time was to clean his cars inside out. Many of our weekends were also spent helping him. He would vacuum clean from the inside, wash and shampoo from outside and clean the bonnet inside out.

All the mats were washed and dried properly before being put back in. After that, a new scent used to be hung in the car. He also loved installing unique gadgets in the car like a knob on driving wheel for easy manoeuvre, and a tissue paper holder on the ceiling of the car.

My cars in the UK (Rover, Volkswagen Polo, Peugeot and Toyota Yaris)

Out of his three daughters, I was the Tom Boy who loved playing with dinkies from a very young age. Once I started owning cars, I have also inherited the need to keep them clean (especially from inside). These days car interior cleaning wipes are available which are great for cleaning/polishing steering wheel, dashboard etc.

I loved keeping ‘beauty’ clean from inside too

Most cars these days come with a lot of compartments. These can be arranged properly according to your needs. In this post, I will be sharing some ideas which have worked for me over the years. I would love you to share yours.

Car necessities

Car scent (hanging/attached on the AC)
Phone charger
Aux wire/USB for music

Checklist for the glove compartment

Emergency contact information
Paper map of your city or town. (So you can always find the way even when the signals are down)
Driving or winter gloves
Sunglasses
Small hand cream
Sanitizer
Mints & sweets
Panadol tablets
Small perfume/body mist (I spray it in the car too)
Wet wipes (These are very handy for random cleanup. e.g. Roll paratha in the car, check engine oil or pet a stray dog)
Small diary and pen (for writing details like when was last oil change, alignment, battery change done)
Envelope with emergency cash
Car Registration book, your license/CNIC copy