TREASURE TO TRASH...FOR MY CAR

First of all,  THANK YOU for all of your sweet comments on my photo published in Ladies Home Journal!  You all blew me away with all of your encouragement on the blog, Facebook, Instagram, and even a few texts!  

So, I shared my big news last week and then totally went off the radar.  Sorry about that!  We are racing through the tail end of summer-the kids go back tomorrow!-and things just got busy in real life!  Anyway, if you're new here, Welcome!  I'm ready to get back in a groove with the blog and have so many projects to share with you, and some exciting things on the horizon.

Now, on to today's project.  I'm sure NONE of you have vehicles that look like this.  For some reason my kids think that the space in between their seats (and the side cubbies, and the cup holders) is for anything and everything they want to leave in the car, especially trash.  Seriously, I can't tell you how many water bottles, cheese stick wrappers, half-eaten baggies of cereal,  candy wrappers, etc. pile up back there.  Every week or so we have to say "Do not come in the house until everything is cleaned out!"

And then, a few days ago, it hit me.  They don't have a PLACE to put their trash while we're in the car!     Isn't that the cardinal rule for organizing...a place for everything and everything in it's place?

Well, I came up with a plan to solve that problem.

I know that most variety stores have ready made car trash containers, but they're not very cute.  Usually plain, plastic, and black.  However, I do like how some of them wrap around and hang from the headrest.  I thought I could rig something a bit better looking.  At first I thought of looking for a cute lunchbox and fixing a strap around it that would go around the headrest, but then I came across this at the thrift store and knew it would be perfect, especially for $1.98.

The size and shape were great.  The color wasn't knocking my socks off, but it was for a trash can...it would be fine.   And, by the time I got home I came up with a plan to bump up the style factor a little bit.

I snipped off the handles and button closure, and decided that a little bit of black paint would be a quick fix for that yellow stripe.  I started painting each yellow section individually with a small brush, but then  realized that the edges of the strip were just loose and tucked in on each side of the bag.  I could easily remove the yellow strips.

After taking them out, I quickly painted each strip entirely, and after letting it dry, I wove the strips back into place and tucked the ends back in.  Felt just like I was back in third grade.  

Finally, after making a quick measurement on the headrest, I pulled a thin strip of elastic out of my stash and cut it to size, threaded it through the top of the bag, and knotted the ends.  It fit perfectly over the top!

Easy, cheap, cute, and accessible.  A plastic grocery bag fits perfectly inside for a liner so we can quickly empty the basket when needed.  

Now, there are no excuses for not having a clean car!  (Notice I didn't show you MY section of the car!  :)  I'll be needing to pass some trash back to the new basket, too.)

  Do you have any car organizing tips?

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