Your Car is Not a Portable Dumpster

Considering just how important a car is to mosthave the misfortune to crash into something, all that
people, whether for the convenience of getting fromdetritus will continue to travel at the same speed you
place to place, the bragging rights, or the sheerwere just doing and become life threatening missiles,
amount of money spent to purchase and thenonly coming to rest when encountering an immovable
maintain a vehicle - isn't it amazing how most carsobject - which could very well be the back of your
resemble either, a rubbish dump, or a junk shop?head.
Here is a revelation for you: your car is not aImagine, a fine piece of forged steel, maybe a
portable dumpster.spanner, possibly a set of screwdrivers if not an
Food wrappers, dropped food, coffee cups, shoes,entire tool-box, hurtling from the rear of the car at
tools, toys, school books, CDs, pens, coins and100kmh, in your general direction. Anything which is
anything else lazily dumped in the back. I think anot nailed down, becomes a potential threat. This
motor vehicle is the only place that people will happilyincludes any pets you have in the vehicle at the time
sit in amongst their own rubbish. Well, you wouldn'tthat are not restrained, as in have their own
do it inside your own house would you? Of courseseat-belts. Your pet may not be very big, however,
not! This is because we are all, generally, trained fromFido, or Fluffy, travelling at anywhere from 60 to 100
an early age to pick up after ourselves. In our carsis a different matter entirely.
however, normal rules of civilisation don't appear toI had an interesting experience not that long ago.
count.Cruising at 120 with all the windows down, created
When you have kids, well, yeah, that is different. It'ssome kind of vortex inside the car, whipping up one
easy to get tired of collecting everything they haveof those plastic shopping bags - which after having
dropped, considering the next time they get in there,tried to wrap itself around my head, finally settled on
the same thing will happen - probably up until the ageadhering itself to the inside of the windscreen. Luckily,
of 35. So really, that's what it's all about. This rubbish,I am not prone to panic and it was but a moment to
which we know will take all of 1 min. to clear up - is inremedy the situation. However, I have known quite a
the car.few people who would have had difficulty with this
When you get home from whatever trip - you closesituation - and quite possibly caused an accident
the doors and walk away from it, close the garagethrough panic.
door, too, so now you can't even see the car, andIf the inside of your car can be declared as an
retire inside your nice clean and tidy house. Also, thisarchaeological dig, maybe it's time to do something
"out-of-site-out-of-mind" attitude, is oftenabout it. Get organised. It won't take up too much of
sub-consciously justified, by the sure knowledge thatyour time. Get a CD rack. Put small rubbish bags
you are not about to invite guests to "come andbehind each seat. Remove anything which does not
have a look at my filthy car". Then again, you maybelong in the car and put it where it does belong.
live in a pig-pen, so the transition from car to houseTools to the shed or garage; clothes back in the
will make no noticeable impression upon you.house; toys back in the kids rooms; newspapers,
Whether your car is in fact a pig-pen, or immaculatemagazines, etc, read 'em or chuck 'em.
enough to eat off the floor, there will be items inIf you have maintenance type tools for the car, put
there that are unnecessary for day to day driving.them in a toolbox - in the trunk. Manuals and
Do you really need 123 CDs? How about thatimportant vehicle documents - put them in the
umbrella that languishes on the floor in the rear, whichglove-box. Every time you have been on an
you never use? Well, face it, this is why you haveextended trip, take an entire 60 seconds when you
the car in the first place - so that you don't have toget home to replace the rubbish-bags, pick up
walk any great distances, rain or no.discarded clothes, etc.
Not only is this, in some cases a bio-hazard, butYour car is not a portable dumpster, remember the
moreover a danger to life and limb. As you travel inold adage "tidy house, tidy mind", if you live in a
your car, at any speed, so too is all that crap. If youmess your mind is probably a bit disorganised, too.