Get in the Spring Cleaning spirit before summer arrives and give your car some much-needed TLC. With the amount of time many of us spend behind the wheel, it’s not surprising to find clutter built up in your car, or trash piling high on the floorboard.  Here’s a quick and (hopefully) painless method of ridding your car of clutter.

The Purge

Begin by throwing out the trash. If you’re unsure of whether to toss something, set it aside and come back to it later. Remove everything from the car, including items from your glove box and trunk.

The Sort

Sift through what remains and remove items that do not belong in the car. Put like items together: Place all trunk items together, all glove box items together, and so on. This will make it easy for you to evaluate whether or not you need a particular item and see what’s missing. (An umbrella does no good if it’s locked in the trunk when the rain comes pouring down.)

Here’s a non-inclusive list of essential items that you should keep in your car.

• Trunk: First-Aid kit, flashlight and batteries, jumper cables, car jack
• Glove box: Auto registration, car insurance information, owner’s manual, napkins,  auto escape tool (combination seat belt cutter and window smasher), tire pressure gauge

What is on your list of must-have car accessories? Let us know in the comments.

The Finished Product

If you have the time (and the motivation), take advantage of the opportunity to clean the interior while your car is empty.  Before loading up the car, think about how to best organize everything. Depending on how much stuff you can’t part with, it might be worth purchasing a car organizer.  Organizers are available in every price range and tailored for placement and function (e.g. , visor organizer, spare-change sorter, pocket organizers, cargo crates). Also, you might want to consider buying a garbage receptacle to keep in the passenger’s seat or back seat. You can buy these items at discount retail stores, auto supply stores or online.

Get going!

To help motivate you, we’ve put together a gallery of Flickr’s most cluttered cars:

Creative Commons photo by Nate Grigg.

Tags | car care, spring cleaning, Tips