Hello and welcome back to Declutter Fast
Declutter your car and jumpstart your life!
One of the easiest and best ways to declutter your life is
to start with your car. This has many benefits:
* This makes you feel good immediately
* It's easy to declutter a car, compared to decluttering
a home
* This encourages you to declutter more areas of your life
* This impresses other people! You'll be surprised how much.
After all, what really belongs in your car? Very, very few
items belong in your car.
Driving should be a serene and
safe experience - not a time to get down on yourself
because of a messy car.
Decluttering your car is very habit-forming. Here's
how to start.
Get a box and a trash bag. Throw out all trash, such
as old receipts that you don't need, old cups and food
wrappers, and any junk mail.
Don't worry about vacuuming
the car. That will happen later when you wash your car.
Just get that trash out now.
Next, put everything that is in the car - and I do mean
everything - into a box. Empty the entire car of "stuff."
Of course, the spare tire, tire changing tools, and children's
car seats can stay. Those are not clutter problems but
necessities!
Wash your car or take it to be washed and vacuumed, inside
and out. Now it's clean and clear of all items. It looks
great.
Now it's time to put back just a few special items in
your car. Here's what:
First, a flashlight, jumper cables. Then, make
sure you have your car insurance information and
registration papers in a safe place.
I recommend keeping these things in the car:
* scissors and tape! These two items can really
come in handy, especially when you need to wrap
a last-minute gift
* 2 pens and a pencil, plus 2 envelopes
* extra straws for drinks (especially if you have little ones hanging around with you)
* your sunglasses!
* a power cord, the kind that plugs into your lighter
* your favorite music
* a first-aid kit
* and in your wallet, the phone number of a reliable 24-hour
tow service for emergencies
All the items listed above can fit in your glove compartment
or in a small caddy.
But wait! Are there other "must" items you need to keep
in the car because of your work or family? Not to worry.
For anything extra that needs to be in your car, use a special
box that you keep in your trunk or in the very back of the car.
A sturdy colorful plastic box works well.
This will keep the extra items "contained"! That will contain both YOUR sanity
as well as your safety. Keep the box anchored so it can't
fly around.
That's it! Nothing else should be cluttering up your car.
Driving should be a pleasant experience in terms of how much
"stuff" is around you!
Train your school-age children to put their backpacks in
the trunk when you pick them up from school. That is both
a space-saving habit and a matter of safety. You don't
want heavy objects flying in the car in the event of a
sudden stop.
Now here's the hidden payoff. You'll be amazed over and
over again at how many people will marvel at your clean and
clutter-free car.
Why is that? It's because most people allow the junk to just
pile up without ever even trying to declutter. Every time they
see their junky cars, it stresses them out a little more. This
is so needless! Having a decluttered car feels fantastic.
You have already taken the steps to have a junk-free car by
reading this email - you care!
So get at it and make your
car a source of pleasure for you.
If you ever need extra supplies in your car for a special
purpose, such as a trip, it's no problem - just provide
yourself with another special box or container to hold the extra
items - and everything will stay orderly and easy to reach.
If a box or container is not a practical solution, then the secret is to
make sure everything stays in the SAME AREA. Don't allow
items to creep all over the car. Confine the items to one
designated area, such as the trunk or the rear of the car.
What if your school age kids don't want to clean out their
messes in your car? Perhaps they are leaving candy wrappers
and books and "stuff" in the car and want to make it their
"spare" bedroom?
Here's a solution for that: good-naturedly say, "I'm not going
to open the front door until you clean up your candy wrappers
and get your stuff off the car floor!"
Smile, but let them know
you mean it. They may groan, but they'll get their stuff out
of your car!
Make sure children's car seats get wiped down with a damp
cleaning cloth and cleaning solution at least once per week.
When you can't vacuum the car seat, use a small whisk broom to
sweep out anything that shouldn't be there.
Decluttering your car will jumpstart your life - you'll be
revved up to declutter in many other areas!
For some fast ways to declutter your world, check out my
"Declutter Fast - How To Get Your Home In Order."
Find out how to get totally decluttered with my Declutter Fast methods here:
Get the Declutter Fast Methods Now
Here's to the joy of order in your life.
With love,
Mimi Tanner
Author
of Declutter Fast: How To Get Your Home In Order Almost
Immediately
BY THE WAY: Did you know that I write a legendary email column for women?
It's called "With Love" and it's all about your love life.
You can sign up for that column at
With Love Mimi Tanner
I hope to see you there.
P.S. From readers:
"I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your
work. This is the first time I've bought an e-book and
actually had the author follow up with ideas and additional
help. When I get an email from you it's a great reminder
to keep going and never give up. This one in particular
was very helpful. I have your book out on the coffee table
(it is NOT clutter!) but actually hearing the words was
very motivating.
"Dear Mimi,
"Your book advice has been very successful for
decluttering my house. When my children were young
my sister, a psychologist, would always tell me that
people's houses that are in order do not have their lives
in order. I bought that reasoning then, but now our children
are in college so I knew I needed to resolve the clutter
issue. Your ideas are simple but yet don't cause one to
panic!! Job well done. Thanks."
--R.
Declutter Fast is the original online program on how to declutter. Declutter Fast has helped and inspired
tens of thousands of people to declutter their homes since 2006.
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Thank you for reading. I appreciate you.
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