A drop in the bucket

In my day to day routine, this is a "drop in the bucket", literally and figuratively. It's a little thing I do that makes me feel a little more organized, like I'm taking a bite out of all the things I have to get done. It's one of those tasks that can be done quickly, but gives a sense of accomplishment.

Once upon a time, I had a car that was just that, a car. It drove from place to place. Cleaning it out was something I did say, um, once per year. Add kids to the formula and this is what happens...weekly!


And yes, I'm "the car seat lady" and yes, I will tell you that each of those items has a force of their weight times speed which means that 1 lb toy going 60 mph will be a 60 lb force in a crash...which I think is why this starts to drive me nuts! Particularly the boat, but why they were permitted to bring the boat in the car is beyond me! Okay, well, it went like this. T asked if she could bring the boat. I said no because it was too big. So she asked if she could bring half of the boat. Being she's only 4, I was impressed she knew what half was so I said yes. Then as we were leaving A found the other half and wanted to bring it. So they discretely had ganged up on me, getting the whole boat into the car! I guess that's another story though.

So, I think it was Fly Lady that suggested having a day per week to clean the car. I'm not that organized. I have a "this is driving me nuts" day when I clean the car. I try to make it fast and easy...a drop in the bucket...and that's what I use, a bucket. I take it out to the car with me. All the "salvageable" stuff (toys, sippy cups, hair clips, etc) go into the bucket. Trash goes in the trash can in the garage. So when I'm done, I have this (which to me looks much more manageable to me)...


well, and this.
Looks good huh? That cheese cracker is almost as fresh as the day it was dropped there, right? Ha ha! So this gets vacuumed. Funny story about vacuuming... about a year ago my husband bought us a shop vac. I thought it was a waste of money, but guess who uses it the most now? Okay, I admit I was wrong...the shop vac rocks! I use it every couple of weeks on the car.

Anyways, so once that is vacuumed, all I have to do it sort the bucket. Usually I start at the kitchen sink, dig out the sippy cups, then most everything else goes on the toy shelf. It takes less than five minutes.

PS Lest you think I take the car seats out every time, refer to the picture before this and it will be pretty obvious I don't ; ) So next time I check your car seat, don't get all embarrassed about the cheerios/fruit loops/goldfish crackers on the seat!