I recently got a new car and, having seen what two children can do to a perfectly innocent vehicle, I decided this one was not going the same way.
My previous car had slowly become a combination of snack cupboard, toy storage unit and archaeological dig.
So this time I haven't created an elaborate car-organisation system. I don't have seventeen emergency pouches or a boot that looks like a miniature branch of Home Bargains.
In fact, there's deliberately not very much in it.
There are just a few things that help us keep it that way — and one fairly ruthless new rule that has probably made the biggest difference of all.
No eating in the car
This is probably responsible for about 80% of the improvement.
The kids aren't allowed to eat in the new car.
I realise this sounds slightly ruthless, but after years of finding crumbs in places that I'm fairly sure shouldn't even be physically accessible to a biscuit, I've had enough.
It also means I don't need an elaborate system for containing snack wrappers, half-eaten food, sticky fingers and whatever mysterious substance has appeared in the cup holder.
We eat before we leave or when we arrive.
Mostly Sorted rule: sometimes the easiest mess to organise is the one you don't create.The seat-back organisers
I originally got these partly because children seem physically incapable of sitting in a car without somehow getting their shoes on the back of the seat in front of them.
They cover most of the backs of the front seats, so muddy or dusty shoes hit something that can be cleaned rather than the actual upholstery.
But they've turned out to be much more useful than just seat protectors.
The kids absolutely love them.
They each have loads of pockets and compartments, so on longer journeys they can choose the toys and little bits they want to take and organise everything themselves.
Which is also quite handy for me, because I'm not the one being asked where every single toy has gone.
Worth it because: they protect the seats and give the kids somewhere to put their own stuff.The tablet pocket is genuinely useful
On everyday journeys, we don't need much entertainment.
Longer journeys are a different story.
The organisers have clear pockets at the top that fit the kids' Amazon Fire tablets, so they can watch something without having to hold a tablet for the entire journey.
More importantly, I'm considerably less likely to spend half a motorway journey hearing:
"Mummy, I dropped it."
Again.
Worth it because: the tablet stays where it is supposed to be.The fold-down table and all those pockets
There's also a little fold-down table built into the organisers, which is surprisingly useful on longer drives.
Between that and all the pockets, the kids effectively have their own little travel station on the back of each seat.
Before a longer journey they can decide what they want to bring and put everything into their own organiser.
I actually really like letting them do that part themselves.
They know what's there, they can reach their own things and I don't have to pack half the playroom because someone might theoretically want a particular toy three hours from now.
For normal school runs and everyday journeys, though, I don't keep the pockets crammed full.
The whole point of this car is that we're keeping less stuff in it, not finding increasingly clever places to hide more of it.
Very glamorous. Very sophisticated. Mostly just practical.The car bin
This isn't a new-car purchase.
I've actually had my HOTOR car bin since 2024, which probably tells you more than any shiny new-product review could.
I still use it.
It's just somewhere obvious for rubbish to go instead of ending up in the door pockets, footwells or wherever else rubbish apparently migrates when nobody is looking.
The no-eating rule means there's considerably less rubbish in the car now anyway, but things still appear — tissues, bits of paper, receipts and the normal debris of having children.
Having one place for it means I can empty the bin rather than clean rubbish out of five different parts of the car.
Worth it because: I bought it in 2024 and I'm still using it.Keeping the car deliberately quite empty
This might actually be the biggest difference between my old car and this one.
I'm trying not to store loads of things in it just because there's technically space.
The children's car seats stay in, obviously. The seat-back organisers stay in. I have some boxes in the back for the things that genuinely need to live there, and the car bin has its place.
That's about it.
If toys come into the car for a journey, they go back out again.
If the kids want things for a longer drive, they use their organisers.
I'm trying very hard not to let the new car slowly accumulate possessions until one day I realise we're transporting seventeen toys, three coats and something nobody remembers owning.
Mostly Sorted rule: storage is useful. Empty space is useful too.They organise their own things
One thing I didn't particularly plan, but really like, is that the seat organisers give the kids responsibility for their own travel things.
If we're going on a longer journey, they can choose a few toys and put them into their own pockets.
Their tablets have a place. Their toys have a place. And when we're finished, they can help take everything back out again.
I'm a big fan of any organisation system that doesn't automatically create another job for me.
If the children can do part of the sorting themselves, they do.