Beyond the bare basics, or seasonal necessities (see my Winter tips), don't store stuff in your car. Instead, make a clear plastic bin with everything you’ll need for road trips, and only put it in the car when you go on an adventure.
The best part is having a bunch of useful things with you, but there are other side benefits:
- You can easily decide to take a different car and still have all the basics with you.
- Your car will be less likely to be broken into.
- Things like snacks and medicines won’t bake in your hot car for months.
Also, before pulling out, spend 1-2 minutes sitting in the car thinking about anything you forgot (e.g. a wine bottle opener or leaving a spare key for the person feeding the cat).
I separate things by use-case and put like items in these little clear organizational boxes with washi tape labels:
I also now have a separate “snack bag” tote that also lives by the door and has things like meat sticks and potato chips and almond butter cups and fruit leathers and water.
(I’m now testing out this bin from Target—it has some organization built in and is only $6! — update: I’m using one for battery organization and one for organizing all my travel containers, but I have not adopted it for my car bin)
