Cutting the Chaos in the car

I don't know about anyone else, but it seems like we spend a ridiculous amount of time in the car these days. Between taking Paul to work, picking him up from work, taking the girls to dance and school and just running errands we are in that thing all the time! We have to wait for Paul to come down from work, wait for Skylar to come out of school...wait, wait, wait!!

I should tell you we are very old-school and currently do not have a DVD player in our van, so needless to say I felt like I needed to come up with some ways to keep my young kids happy, our nice new van clean and be prepared for anything that comes my way. Here is my attempt at that :)

I put together all these containers, each with a seperate purpose, but each giving me the chance to be organized and prepared. It has been SO lovely to not have to try and grab a million little things as I am trying to run out the door, they are all ready for me in the car :)

These 3 containers provide different things I am always in need of in the car. The bigger one is full of trial sized cleaning supplies so I can keep the car nice and clean. I have a garbage bag, Windex wipes, Clorox wipes, and Febreze spray in there. It has been so nice to wipe down the messy spills in the car and leave a little spray when we get out. Its lovely to climb into a clean, nice-smelling van every morning. The middle-sized container has essential toiletries that you always want to have on hand: diapers, wipes, pull-up, Kleenex, hand sanitizer, feminine products, lotion and sunscreen. I cannot tell you how many times that extra pull-up would have come in handy! And finally the smallest container has band-aids and all kinds of medicine.

Now this container has been heavenly! I filled it with fun little toys the kids can play with in the car....but they HAVE to stay in the car! That way the kids actually look forward to playing with them and are not already bored with them. I have basics like books, Color Wonder coloring books with markers that came with a little tray and holder and those magnetic drawing things...doodle-something-or-other :) I also got some small puzzles and attached magnets to the back of each piece. Then I stuck a small magnet board in there and the girls are loving putting together their magnetic puzzles and I am loving not finding puzzle pieces everywhere! The beautiful thing is when they get in the car they pick up what toys they want for the drive, and when they get out they put them all back in the bucket.

Finally...the snack bucket!! I don't always have time to grab things as we are running out the door so I filled this bucket with kid-sized water bottles, fruit leather, kidz clif bars (so good!), instant breakfast packets, and packs of trail mix. Once a week I try to replenish the bucket and change it up...its also been quite nice for me to grab a healthy snack on the go too! :)

All these things are helping to make our van a less chaotic, happier place to be!