Organize Your Car For A Road Trip! Games, Safety and more!

With summer starting, vacations are being planned and those long road trips may be painful for some! Especially with little ones who don't like sitting for so long. We were planning a 20 hour road trip (20 hours one way and 20 hours back!) this summer and I've been thinking of ways to help the car feel more comfortable and fun if it happens.


First, some great sites to help figure your gas costs for your trip.
Triple AAA Fuel Price Finder
MapQuest Fuel Price Finder


SAFETY
1) Have a mechanic give your car a once over. Change the oil, fill your tires, check the brakes and all the lights (interior and exterior) on your car to make sure they are all working.

2) Have a fire department check that your car seat (if using one) is installed properly. It's free and you want the best installation for long rides.

3) Have a first aid kit with the necessities. Band aids, cleanser and gauze for example.

4) Make sure to keep an emergency car kit in the trunk. It may very well come in handy on those long road trips with a lot of miles between rest stops and exits.

5) NEVER tell anyone when you are going out of town. Especially on Myspace, Facebook and Twitter. You may think you know your friends, but sometimes you don't s. You could let the local police department know and they sometimes will drive by often to keep an eye out. Stop your mail and paper delivery also so they don't pile up and alert people you are not home.

FRONT SEAT
Have everything within reach. Sunglasses, Maps, Tissues, Wet Wipes, magazines or books and car phone charger for example should all be close. Consider using a car visor organizer to put CD's and Maps/directions above your sun visor and even consider a sun visor extension for those sunny highways.


BACK SEAT
1) Get a back seat organizer and/or a travel tray. I picked up this Kids Lap Tray at my local Michaels Crafts for just $3.50 on sale. Great for coloring, reading books or even eating on the go.


2) Put a small cooler between the back two seats. You could use this as a table and drinks are within close reach. You can always put a larger one in the truck or back of the vehicle filled with the majority of the drinks, then just transfer some to the smaller front cooler at gas stops.

3) Have pillows and blankets close by for those nap times. There is nothing worse than a stiff neck when you wake up after sleeping sitting up in a car!

4) Keep snacks together and bring small containers or plastic bowls to put snacks in. This way you don't have a box being passed around the car and everyone has their own portions. We like crackers, cereal bars, suckers, dried fruit, Goldfish S'mores, nuts, bananas, cookies, granola bars, You can even bring milk in the cooler and boxes of cereal.

5) Carry a sun shade in your car. We have used this to block our front window at a rest stop that we have slept in during a long road trip. It's just a little extra privacy so people aren't watching you sleep in the front seat. I've even gotten a few extra for the driver and passenger windows if you don't have tinted windows. You can find them at any Target, Walmart or even a local auto parts store.

6) A PORTABLE POTTY! If you have little ones, it is a must to carry their portable potty in your car for those emergencies. I can't tell how handy this is in emergencies! I just bring the seat we used when she was first potty training like below, but there are others styles.


GAMES FOR THE ROAD!
Make sure to take coloring books, crayons, work books, small puzzles, travel games, Vinyl Sticker Play Scenes and a portable DVD if possible! There are some great car trip books also like "52 Fun Things to do in the Car", "Miles of Smiles", "TravelMates; Fun Things Kids Can Do In The Car" and don't forget "Mad Libs".



Check out this link for more Road Trip Tips and have a safe summer!
Enjoy being a Mom All Day!

Organizing your Baking Spices and Medicine

I found some inexpensive lazy Susans a long time ago and have them in my pantry to store medicine and my baking spices (sprinkles, cupcake paper cups, baking soda etc). I love the lazy Susan because you can turn it easily to see everything. I also have some plastic bins off to the right that hold band-aids, antiseptic, gauze and baby items. This makes it easy to just snag the whole container and go if an emergency arises.

Enjoy being a Mom All Day!

Tackle It Tuesday - Organizing Coupons

FIRST off don't forget to check out my video interview with Peter Walsh that I did last week! There is some great tips on organizing and you can see his new collection from Office Max!

Now on to the tackle!

I have been looking around all week for things to organize since my interview with Peter and finally decided to tackle my coupons. They have been piling up forever. I knew I wanted to put them in a binder, but wasn't sure how I wanted to do it. So my friend told me she uses baseball card inserts and I thought I'd give it a try. (Thanks Kelly!)

My stack of coupons to be sorted through.

In process cutting the ones I'm keeping and discarding the expired ones.

TIP
Put your coupons on an envelope and use the envelope for your grocery list. Mark a "C" next to the items that you have a coupon for.


I decided to use a brighter binder and added some tab dividers with numbers and an index in the front. Then I can fill in the index with the coupon categories and correlate it with the numbers easier. I put the envelope with my list in the front so it's handy and can add my coupons as I make my list.

I added some clear inserts that hold baseball cards and put the coupons in them under the category number that they match from my front index.
TIP
To keep track of the expiration dates on your coupons, make a color coded list of months and mark a dot on each coupon so you can pull the expired coupons easier. This is of course if your keeping them in a category order, not in order of expiration date.

I hope this gives you some incentive to get your coupons in order if they aren't already. And if they are, please share your tips to storing and using your coupons! I'd love to hear them.






UPDATED MAY 11, 2010.... Used the book for the first time yesterday and LOVED it! Worked wonderfully! I already had my coupons pulled an in an envelope with my list on it and just used the book when I came to something on sale already to flip through to see if I had a coupon. PERFECT!

Enjoy being a Mom All Day!

Peter Walsh Video Interview, [IN]Place and you-organized

I had a wonderful opportunity to interview Organizational Design Expert Peter Walsh. You may know Peter from TLC's "Clean Sweep" and as a contributor of the Oprah Winfrey Show. In 2009 he partnered with Office Max to introduce his [IN]PLACE system and is now launching his you-organized office collection shown in the photo's below. The pricing is wonderful and includes SO much for such a small price!

He has a book and DVD called "It's All Too Much". You can find the photo of the book in the side bar of my blog and you can see my review about it here.

A few questions you can find in my interview with Peter are:
1) Can you tell us the name of your collections and what is in them.
2) What would you say to someone who says "My clutter is so overwhelming, I don't know where to start".
3) Should there be a determining factor on how long you keep items.
4) What are some tips to help your kids stay organized.

Be sure to check out the video below to hear Peters answers to these questions and more and remember you can get his organizing tools through Office Max at very great prices.

you-organized
All-in-one desk solution

Inspired Message Boards

[IN]PLACE system

Leave a comment and let me know what you think of the interview and Peters collection!


PETER HELPS ORGANIZE YOUR CAR!

Enjoy being a Mom All Day!

GET ORGANIZED this year with Peter Walsh "It's All Too Much"

I have received my book and DVD of "It's All Too Much" by Peter Walsh! You may know Peter as the host of TLC's Clean Sweep and he's a regular guest on the Oprah Winfrey show sharing his organizational hints and tips. His new book and DVD are wonderful tools to help you organize your home when it just seems "all too much" to handle and his ideas are very easy to understand and follow.

New York Times best seller

Now available on DVD
$19.99 plus S&H
An hour of tips, techniques and encouragement from an organizational living expert

I love to be organized, but sometimes it's just too hard to keep everything nice and neat all the time. Somewhere in my house there is always clutter and usually it's because I've cleaned out one space or room and just emptied it into another space or room! The information and tools Peter gives in his book and DVD are easy to follow so you can reduce your clutter so your not just transferring it from one room to another.

He has great points for everything like comparing your bedroom to a hotel room. If you walked into a hotel room and it looked like your bedroom does right now, would you call the management and complain about getting it cleaned? If so, you probably need to organize and clean it up and he gives easy tips on doing so! He also talks about treating your closet like a department store and keep similar clothing items together and stored by color so you see what you have and avoid needless future purchases. He talks about how to store shoes, jewelry and so much more.

He shows how to organize photo's also. Scrapbooking is a perfect way to start organizing and even tossing some old photo's. His tips on storing and displaying photo's are simple and can be done in such a way that family and friends can enjoy them when they visit.
Peter also touches on putting your kids artwork into a book to avoid endless bins of art which I think is a wonderful idea! I found this photo from a friend and it's an example of what you could do with your kids art work. You can scan photo's and have a book made up with your childs favorite art work to avoid a lot of paper clutter. You can check here to have coffee table books like this made up using your photo's.

The office is another area that is discussed. Hear tips on how useful a mail center can be to keep all your mail together and what to do with your junk mail. Peter has a way of telling you exactly how, and why, you should keep your home, garage and even your car clutter free and organized. He is clear and precise in the way he teaches and demonstrates exactly how to get started and keep it up. "It's All Too Much" is a great gift for that clutter freak in your life, and you KNOW you have one! Maybe you are one! Put it in a basket with some other goodies and it would make a very useful gift.

Get to know Peter:

- Facebook: Facebook.com/PeterWalsh

- Twitter: Twitter.com/peter_walsh

Don't forget to pick up a copy of Peter's book and DVD and Enjoy being a Mom All Day!

Peter Walsh "It's All To Much" DVD

I am expecting a great DVD and book by Peter Walsh. His book and DVD are called "It's All To Much" and it gives you organizing ideas for every room in your home. As Peter puts it "So maybe I can’t come home with you but here’s the next best thing – your personal, at home coaching session with me guiding you every step of the way". A must have if you have clutter, like most of us do! Click here to view a preview of the video!

Once I receive the book and DVD I'll post more about them and let you know how they are.

Enjoy being a Mom All Day!