each day this week we’ll talk about one area of our car – today it’s all about the front seat. i hope you will stick around each day to find out how to make the most of your car and its hidden organization potential. i hope you enjoy each day of this series – and share your own tips and tricks in the comment section!

with all of our family activities, school functions, sports, church, and day to day errands, i easily spend upwards of 2 hours in the car each day – somedays a lot more. having a clean and organized car makes my time on the road more palatable. because let’s face it – who loves to be in the car for 2 hours a day?

welcome to the front seat of my car…

let’s start with some free forms of organization you can find in your front seat. like most cars, our truck has lots of hidden gems that help me stay organized. since these are free organization features, i make the most of them whenever possible. like this side door pocket…

we have this pocket on the driver and passenger side doors. in the driver door, i keep our school carpool pick-up numbers and a travel package of anti-bacterial wipes. these wipes are the perfect size for your car door or center console cup holders. the wipes have come in handy on many occasions. and they are inexpensive. the passenger door pocket currently has nothing there, but i occasionally keep road maps or an extra bottle of water stored away there.

another free feature i make the most of – the front seat visors…

just like in your home, any time you can take advantage of vertical space – that is the way to go. more than 10 years ago i bought this disc organizer and it has held up well. it’s thin, sleek and keeps our music within reach. meaning, i am not digging around in the glove box or center console as i drive.

**small but important tip – i have this organizer on the passenger side visor. it had been located on the driver visor until one day when i had my visor pulled down…the sun hit the discs just right and caused a terrible bright reflection for drivers facing me. talk about major hazard! when i noticed the reflection was causing other drivers an issue, i immediately moved it.


the driver side visor holds our garage door opener.

another free organization feature in a car? the center console…

this is generally the area that gets backed up with coins, pens, drink cups, water bottles, snacks, trash…and more. right? this is what my cup holder looks like most days…

i *heart* coffee!!

this little compartment is a great spot for stashing away coins and pens…

i really try to keep my coin collection in here to a minimum. there have been times this small compartment looks more like a piggy bank. when i see the coins getting out of control – into the house they go.

those free car features are a great way to stay organized. but i found i was in need of more front seat space. with 3 kids in the car each day, along my own needs, i found that i was stacking loads of items onto the passenger seat. it made sense – what is the first thing we do when most of us hop into the car? we toss items into the front passenger seat – right? the passenger seat is where most of us stash our purse, snacks, and other small items. it’s a great spot for putting things, that’s for sure.

but one of my biggest car pet peeves was pressing the breaks only to have the entire stack end up on the passenger floor board.

anyone relate?

so i grabbed this little beauty to solve that problem…

it’s a front car seat organizer. you can find one of these, in all sorts of sizes and variations, online or in local stores. i found this one at the container store for around $15. and it is totally worth the small investment!!

(actually, the organizer is on sale now at the container store for just $12.99! i was in their store over the weekend. this car organizer, along with several other car organization products, were all on sale! go get one!!)

this organizer has 5 roomy pockets and an umbrella pocket too. one of the pockets is large enough to hold an atlas. i couldn’t believe the amount of new organization space this small item brought into my life.

what do i keep inside my organizer?

a small bag of first aid items…

a small bag of emergency personal hygiene items…

an emergency “bribe” stash…or sometimes called a “reward” stash. hey, mommy needs to be prepared when i pick up a 7 year old from school carrying a 100% spelling test :-)…

in the front mesh pouch i keep a small bag of sunblock, bug spray and hand sanitizer – along with my cell phone headset…

i also keep a small collection of dvd’s. you’ll remember i had been keeping our larger dvd cases in the center console…

now that we streamlined our dvd collection, these slim cases fit perfectly in the front pocket of the organizer…

a small hair clip…

*insert sarcasm here*

because of those “mommy add” moments, i keep a pad of paper (a large one!) front and center. along with a few pens…

at my next stop or while sitting in the carpool line, it’s easy to grab the pad and write down those notes….never to be forgotten again (we hope!).

this organizer is slim and keeps everything, that had been sitting on the front seat, organized and still within reach. and because it’s attached to the seat itself, no more sliding around, landing on the floor board or getting stuck under or in-between seats.

another positive to a product like this? when i do have a passenger up front, all i need to do is simply swing the organizer around to the back of the seat…

it won’t interfere with the passenger or the child sitting behind that seat.

and for the times when i don’t want the organizer in the car at all? it’s easy enough to un-clip and hang it in the garage…

alternatively, i am sure you can think of so many other reasons to make use of a car seat organizer like this one. you could add one to the back of each seat for your children’s belongings, for example.

this organizer changed my car life for the better! everything i need in a pinch is there, in the front seat and organized. here we are – ready for another day in the car…

that is how i keep the front seat of my car organized. do you have any tips or ideas to share with us about organizing the front seat of your car? feel free to share them in the comment section below!

tomorrow we’ll talk about the center console and glove compartment. hope to see you then!