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teachingmyown
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I picked up so many ideas and helpful hints in the many conversations about elegant simplicity. So here's a topic near and dear to my heart and one I desparately need help with.
How do you keep your van in order? We just bought a new 12 passenger and I really want to keep it clean and organized.
Do you allow food, drinks? Are the kids allowed to leave their "stuff" in the van or does everything come out after every trip? What are your favorite organizational tools or tips for your vehicle.
Up until now, I have been resigned to driving a "trashcan on wheels"  ! But now, with the new van, I would like to make a fresh start. There are already Special K crumbs on the floor and my oldest wants to outlaw food. 
Help!!
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In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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Martha
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No food or rarely food and only if it's fairly neat to eat.
Water bottles or no spill sippy are the only drinks.
They can take 1 thing no bigger than their hand or a book in the van with them and they take it out when we get back.
My nerves would spaz out if I had to drive in a trash can. I find comfort (and many of my children do too) in order and feel 'unsettled' in chaos. Not to say we don't have messes or brain-frying days, but they are ordered messes. 
Besides, we waited so long for our Baby Van that we want to treat her well during her years of service. 
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Martha
mama to 7 boys & 4 girls
Yes, they're all ours!
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Cay Gibson
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| Posted: Oct 27 2006 at 3:16pm | IP Logged
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Molly,
This blog post at The Sparrow's Nest may help a little:
Loving Your Van
My dh outlaws food and drink in the vehicle. I am more lax. I find I can't deny my children what I can't deny myself. I have to have something to sip on when I'm in the car and if I pick myself up a snack, I can't very well tell them to just watch me eat.
But all trash has to be bagged and thrown out the minute we find a trash can.
I am trying to be organized in having the children clean out the vehicle (of things that get left in there like toys, crayons, notebooks, etc.) at least once during the week.
The only time it gets a full wash and cleaning detail is every Mother's Day.
Today we made a trip to the big city. Each of the girls wanted to bring her "dollies" with her. I told them only one doll each. The 4-yr-old listened. The 9-yr-old brought 5 dolls. So, yes, I expected them to take everything out when we get home. Stuff still gets left in somehow, thus the weekly clean-out.
The only advice I can offer is:
* sippy cups only for littles
* whatever they bring must be brought back into the house---get into the habit of telling them, as you pull into the driveway, that everyone has to grab something to bring back into the house
* make sure all food and drink trash is passed to the front and put into a bag to be disposed of when you get home
* weekly clean-out
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
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Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
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hylabrook1
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The title of this thread has me laughing too hard!!
We have been known to keep a dishpan under the seat in which there are kleenex, paper towels, wet wipes, and hand sanitizer. The dishpan has multiple uses, when emptied, but I'm sure I don't need to share the details with you imaginative ladies!
In the glove box, we keep a pen and pad of paper, and the registration, insurance card, and emissions certificate are in a zip-loc bag.
We try to put trash in a plastic grocery bag and bring it to the trash can when we leave the car.
Of course, these systems fall down pretty often, but they are what we shoot for.
HTH.
Nancy
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Cay Gibson
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| Posted: Oct 27 2006 at 3:40pm | IP Logged
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hylabrook1 wrote:
We have been known to keep a dishpan under the seat in which there are kleenex, paper towels, wet wipes, and hand sanitizer. The dishpan has multiple uses, when emptied, but I'm sure I don't need to share the details with you imaginative ladies!
Nancy |
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Oh, gosh, yes!
Wet wipes! Never forget the wet wipes, even when you don't have a baby in the car. Of course, Molly does have a baby so she already has those accounted for.
Nancy's reply reminded me of the roll of tiolet paper kept under the driver's seat in a teeny-tiny port-a-pot...the ones used in beginner tiolet seats. 
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
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Diane
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The best thing we did when we bought our van 3 yrs ago was to make it our oldest dd's weekly chore to clean and vacuum it out. There are some busy weeks that it doesn't happen, but for the most part the van gets cleaned every week. It's just something she knows she needs to do (ususally Fri or Sat), as opposed to something I know I have to do but never get to.
Also I bought a bunch of inexpensive towels to lay over the floor mats. They are easy to shake out, and I just wash them whenever they get too dirty. This really helps with the mud that gets tracked in. It's a bit of a pain to keep them in place , but definitely worth it. It really helps my dd, and our van still looks new on the inside.
We do allow food when we have to but try to keep it as non-crumbly as possible. Pretzel rods seem to be a good snack. Ususally, we only allow water to drink. I keep a small wastebasket lined with a plastic grocery bag in the front seat, which is easy to empty. Everyone knows to pass their trash up to me---not that it always happens.
My kooky, lovable sister has been known to throw potato chips back to her kids in the third seat---my kids stared in wonder as she did that.  (To be fair, I think this only happened once.) When she used to visit and I would ask my dd to vaccuum out her van (none of my sister's kids were old enough), she considered it a real act of penance. Of course, she is one of the favorite aunts in this family.
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Diane
Mom to five fair lasses and one bonny prince
The Journey of a Mother's Heart
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Mary G
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With our van, if you spill it, you clean it up! That has saved quite a bit (especially if you pair up the olders with the youngers -- than the olders MAKE darn sure the youngers don't drop or leave things in the car....
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3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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ALmom
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Well, our van is old - and my dh cut the carpet from throwaway carpet to fit and dampen the noise, so I don't think we qualify for elegant by any stretch of the imagination. But I can share some of what we have learned over the years through trial and error!
Water seems fairly innocent - but don't try to transport it. Ours spilled on treasured books from those sports bottles with straws(now on any long trips, books are placed in zip-lock bags) - and it wasn't always the children doing the accidental spilling and it wasn't the child with the water that had the book.
Water also makes stains stick somehow - and at least around here, the water rapidly turns to mold. We have the awfulest stench in the car where the tub of water for water balloons spilled. To be fair, my dh had tested everything out, planned to put the water in sealed containers and the balloons and water in coolers - but he got called out unexpectedly and I had to be in charge of his company picnic's water balloon toss. The kids and I had much more difficulty with the transport and I'm a pretty rough driver so all that contributed.
Food is a big no - no here - after years of having to dust off the seats before anyone road with us. It doesn't matter what kind of food, the toddler knows how to crumble it, hide it in the creases behind his car seat. Move a carseat and see the trail!
We have now enforced certain rules to prevent further deterioration.
No food in the van except on out of town trips. And on these trips the food is restricted to non-sugary (unless it is a shorter, out of town trip without a time limit)and drinks are always water only - again only on out of town trips. Now we do not have the monstor traffic jams that others do, so this might not be livable for someone in a metro area.
On out of town trips, we make sure an older child is in each row, never give the children the entire bag - but hand a single pretzel or .... Each person has their own water bottle with a sealed lid (no sippy cups, sports thingys with straws) but something with a solidly twisted on lid! The toddler has to ask for help - but that is part of the plan. Someone then knows to put the lid back on!
Each child has one backpack, tote bag or such and may pack this with books, toys, whatever (I do help the youngest pack so that I am not keeping up with the treasured game with 30,000 little pieces) - but it must all fit in the bag. These items are placed in the bag prior to disembarking from the vehicle and either tucked under the seat or carried in with us. We usually pack and load the van the night before a trip so that we have time to nix anything out of line. Upon arrival at each end, each child is responsible for their own bag. On arrival home, the bag must be carried back into the house by its owner.
We carry extra grocery bags (we alwasy save these bags that you are given in stores and use them as trash liners)one for each row - and the children must clean their row of all trash prior to exiting the vehicle. The oldest child in a row carries the bag to the nearest trash can once we arrive at a destination. If I see that clean up has been missed, I call the dc back down to take care of it. The only exception is late night arrivals home, when I will do this for younger children while dh carries them sleeping up our mountain of stairs. (Dc have been known to fake sleep at this point but if they fake it long enough, they fall back asleep sooner).
My dh enlists all children the next day to vacuum out the van. This is like a tradition for him - He cleans out the van before and after every trip. We are not great at washing the outside - but the inside does now stay neat and clean (other than dog hairs - shepherds are notorious shedders and we do have to transport Nicky in the vehicle. This does not look nice on orchestra attire - any solutions to this one other than to vacuum more often). Anyways, the no food/drink rule has made a huge difference in the neatness level. We're just living with our past mistakes now.
Janet
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Molly Smith
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We do much of what everyone else does, but I have a clear plastic under-the-bed type storage box that exactly fits under each bench. Those hold diapers, wipes, ziploc bags (amazing how often we use those in the car!), extra sling, blanket, picnic blanket, first aid, etc. The van stays pretty neat, actually, much neater than I'd expected. We buy the cases of 8oz water bottles from Costco that stay in the "way back" and that's all we drink in the car for the most part. Those are also handy when you run through the McDonald's dollar menu (tell me I'm not the only one who does that!), so you don't need drinks.
I also just put a team of kids in charge of cleaning out the van on Saturdays. Not vacuuming, just straightening and clearing out any garbage or toys.
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Molly Smith in VA
Mom to seven beautiful children, ages 1-14
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Servant2theKing
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These tips are great! One more. If anyone in your family suffers from carsickness, it's worthwhile to keep an emergency care package, for such times. Ours was born of desperation, after one too many episodes on the way to some special event; we've even had to stop at a store for a replacement top, on the way to Holy Mass...and we were STILL on time...God is SO good! We now keep a bucket lined with several plastic bags, filled with Sea Bands, mint flavored gum, paper towels and OxyPower Cleaner. With the Sea Bands, we haven't yet had a repeat incident, but "The bucket" stands ready, just in case.
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JodieLyn
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Lots of great ideas.. I found a bin.. the sterlite/rubbermaid sort.. put lines of hot glue on the bottom (reduce slippage) and keep that between the front seats.. it gives me a place to keep things that is pretty easy to access. Papertowels and small trashbags are great and have a huge number of uses.. and can be tossed at need.
Snow chains can be bungee corded to the leg of a seat so they stay put.
duffles seem to work great for car necessities like tie downs and emergency supplies and jumper cables.
Oh and I keep a picnic blanket in there.. so many times we might stop at a park or such and not have something.. it's really nice to have it.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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ALmom
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Well, Servant - I wish I'd read your hint before our trip. Luckily the car sickness caught the math book (was not in the ziplock bag at the time) and car carpet and not clothing. Wish we'd had a bucket. We did have wipes and plenty of old water bottles to rinse out the car. Also a cheap $1 body wash spray covered the odor long enough to get us home. I do think it is time to rip out that carpet. I think vinyl floors are a great idea - we'll put up with the noise. Guess I get the simplicity - still struggling with the elegant.
Janet
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Bookswithtea
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When we got our suburban, it was already 10 yrs old and we were worried that the interior wouldn't last. Dh did something that has literally saved our floors. He took out all the seats except the front ones (they bolt and unbolt fairly easily) and bought clear carpet runner (you know, the kind Gramma has down her hallway?? ). He installed two rows of it where the kid's feet are. He cut it so that when the seats are bolted back in, the seats hold it in place and it doesn't move. Its been in there for at least 6 years and hasn't shifted yet. We can wipe up or sweep spills without a problem and still see the carpet underneath, so it doesn't look weird.
The only time we've had to remove it was when we had a large water spill that went under the plastic. We were worried that it would mildew so we took it out until the carpet dried and then reinstalled it.
The other thing I recommend is seat covers or thick blankets on bench seats (blankets can be cut to fit so that they don't shift). Its so much easier to take blankets and shake them out or wash them than it is to scrub off stains. I think blankets are sturdier and last longer than seat covers, and they are usually less expensive, too. Ours are Mexican blankets.
Our engine is wearing out, but the interior is still good, despite tremendous use. I'm hoping for a 12 passenger van in the next year or so, and the first thing we will do is cover the seats and the floor. It works! 
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~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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nissag
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We have a 15 passenger van and 6 children. We keep trash bags in our (rather large) glove box. We also have cleaning supplies including upholstery cleaner, paper towels and fabric freshener spray. We learned early when our second child was perpetually carsick!
We allow food and drink (in less easily spilled containers). You make a mess, you clean the mess. I hate most air fresheners - they give me headache, so the spray does me just fine.
I also have a set of four laundry baskets for holding shopping bags since there is no trunk area. This makes it very easy to get things from van to house - especially when they've been packed in plastic carrier bags.
Lastly, the rubbish bag is passed before getting out of the car and thrown away. We vacuum as needed with the shop vac and the kids enjoy cleaning the dashboard for some unknown reason!
Blessings,
Nissa
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teachingmyown
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Hi Nissa! Good to see you here!
Would you believe that our 12 passenger van has NO glove box?! Isn't that weird?
I like the laundry basket idea for groceries and such, especially for Costco shopping trips.
I bought two nice storage bins with attached lids for such things as diapers, wipes, tissues, etc, weeks ago. I realized on Sunday that the bins were empty and the wipes, diapers and such were all floating around the van getting stepped on. Just goes to show that it doesn't matter what I buy to get organized,nothing will change until I do. Now, there's a depressing thought.
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In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: Elegant Simplicity in the Van
