Never lose a hair tie or lip balm under your car seat again, thanks to this genius hack that's good for your sanity and the planet.
Instead of tossing old gum containers or cotton swab cases in the trash, you can repurpose them to organize all your car essentials — and look cute doing it.
The scoop
To organize your car like a pro, simply clean out empty gum containers or cotton swab cases. Then fill them with your go-to car necessities like lip balm, hair ties, bandages, safety pins, and more.
Jen, the organization influencer behind the account Life in Jeneral (@lifeinjenera), shared this brilliant tip on Instagram. In her video, she shows how she uses upcycled gum containers and Q-tip boxes to neatly store her car must-haves.
"EASY & BUDGET FRIENDLY CAR HACK THAT I STILL LOVE," Jen captioned her post. "Repurpose recycled cotton swab or gum cases to organize all your car essentials. ... Ps. If you live in a warmer climate, skip the gum so it doesn't melt." On that note, mint tablets that come in a recyclable aluminum tin like these by VerMints are great and more sustainable alternatives to melty gum in plastic packaging.
How it's working
Not only does this trick keep your car tidy and your must-haves at your fingertips, it also keeps small plastic cases out of landfills.
Americans go through over 1 billion toothbrushes and hundreds of millions of cotton swab boxes each year. While cardboard boxes can usually be recycled, their plastic lids often cannot.
Reusing these small containers, even just temporarily, helps reduce the staggering amount of plastic waste that ends up in our landfills and oceans. There, they can take hundreds of years to decompose, releasing harmful dirty gases in the process that contribute to rising global temperatures.
When more of us take simple actions to reuse items instead of sending them straight to the trash, we help create a world with cleaner air, clearer oceans, and more resilient communities. Plus, knowing exactly where to reach for a hair tie or safety pin the moment you need it is just a sweet bonus.
What people are saying
Jen's followers seemed to love this affordable organization hack. The comments on her post are filled with excited replies, like:
"YES! Where have you been all my life?"
"Ooooh love this!!"
"This is brilliant."
Would you try repurposing old containers to organize your car essentials? With this simple trick, you can declutter your vehicle while doing something positive for the planet. That's what we call a win-win.
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