Step Two: Organization

My first "secret-revealing" post, The Purge, told you all about how I narrowed down my possessions to just the essentials.  Now here's the fun part!  I am an organization geek- I get overly excited about nesting boxes, file folders, and containers of all shapes and sizes.  I got rid of nearly everything I owned, but still have necessities I need to easily access while storing them somewhere.  My personal challenge with my living experiment is to operate as efficiently as possible as I go from one place to the next.   My goals are:

1. Be organized and look nice (I don’t want it to be obvious I’m living out of my car!)


2. Don’t leave anything (for more than a couple of nights) in my friends’ homes


3. Leave a place better than I found it (life lesson from Girl Scout camping trips)

I have three places I store my things:

1. Trunk of my car


2. Locker at work


3. Boyfriend’s garage (original plan was to rent a storage unit but I'm taking my time to shop around for the least sketchy, most convenient location that is safe to visit by myself in the evenings... it's like searching for a needle in a haystack!)

What I access the most often (once or twice a day) is the junk in my trunk!  This is where I store my toiletries, pillow, blanket, accessories, and some clothes.


Sorry for the shadows in this photo!  Here’s a breakdown of my trunk storage.  I have three laundry baskets:

1. The farthest basket towards the back of the trunk is for work-out clothes and pajamas (t-shirts, shorts, sweatshirts, etc.)


2. The white laundry basket (on the left) is for socks, slips, bathing suits, and other unmentionables.


3. The gray laundry basket (on the right) contains the clothes I’m going to wear for the week.  Once a week (usually on Sunday) I go to my rolling rack of clothes in the boyfriend's garage and pick out what I’ll need for work and any other extracurricular activities.

I have one basket of toiletries that I grab from when I stay at friends’ places.



I have two roll-up jewelry organizers- I downsized my accessory collection so it all fits!  They're so convenient- when I'm dressed and on my way to work or to meet with friends, I just grab one of these and select what earrings, bangles, necklaces, or rings I want to wear, and I'm off!

Some other items hidden in the shadows of my trunk photo:

• Laundry detergent


• Mesh laundry bag


• A couple of books and magazines I’m currently reading


• Travel pillow


• Regular pillow and blanket


• Basic purses (I got rid of the "fun" ones and opted to keep the classics/most versatile styles)


• Nail polish and other "special occasion" lipsticks, eyeliners, and shadows


• Lap top bag (although I don't leave my PC in my car- too important!)

The whole process of adopting this lifestyle has had its learning curve.  Now, in my fifth week, it's becoming much more routine.  I've had to get used to hauling around bags and laundry baskets, but it's nice to have the important stuff within reach no matter where I stay.  In my next post, I'll go into the details of my other storage spaces.