No matter if you live in the heart of the city or in a more quiet suburban area, your car is definitely an extension of your home. And since most of us treat the car as a different room, it is no surprise that we also use it as a storage space. But here are some things you should not store in your car.
Even if storing some thighs like an extra outfit, a jumper, some cables, or a pair of sports shoes in your car is a genius idea, you can’t just keep any item in your car. Yes, storing some things for convenience is tempting, but this is not always the best idea because you don’t want to make a mess or damage the things you leave in your car.
Here are some things you should not store in your car and the reasons why. What do you think about it?
1. Food
It is okay to store some emergency food in your car, like a few cans of beans and some Spam, but keeping non-emergency food in your car is not advised. We can understand that you don’t have a lot of storage space in your house, but this is not the solution.
Experts say that keeping bulk food boxes in your car for a long time can affect the food in a bad way. Even if the food is canned, it can go bad when it is sitting in your car for too long.
If you have boxes of canned items, you need to keep them in the pantry or in another place in your home where you have a dry and dark place with no temperature fluctuations.
If you do carry emergency food in your car, make sure to keep it in a hard storage container to keep pests away and replace the food with new supplies as needed.
Also, remember that fresh food is definitely one of the things you should not store in your car. Not even in the winter!
2. Things you should not store in your car: Mail
It is late evening, and you are parking your car in the driveway. You are kind of tired, and you don’t feel like doing anything. You still decided to pick up the mail since it was piling up. For a lot of folks, dealing with the mail is a daunting task that they would do anything to avoid.
This is already a habit for you – to take the mail in the car and sort it there. But for more reasons, this is not the best decision. Even if staying in the car while you are looking through your mail makes things easier, remember that taking the mail inside the house is the proper way to do it.
Taking the mail with you inside can prevent unexpected things like losing important documents and bills from happening. There are many people who forget about important documents and leave them in the car, or even worse, they think they are in the car but, in fact, they aren’t.
If you are afraid of losing important papers, then keep in mind that your mail is one of the things you shouldn’t store in your car. Maybe you find it convenient, but you better be safe than sorry.
3. Water bottles
You always hear it everywhere – on TV, on the radio, and on social media. We need to drink more water in order to stay healthy and hydrated. Easy, right? Or maybe it is not that easy since there are so many people who can’t do it.
So, you thought that having bottles of water everywhere you go might help. This has led you to store some water bottles in your car too. It sounds like a smart idea. But according to some studies, it is not.
A 2014 study found that plastic can degrade under heat, releasing chemicals into your water as a result. The taste of hot water is also not particularly pleasant. It is easy to see why plastic water bottles are among the things you should not store in your car. It is simply not good for you.
Bring an additional metal bottle rather than lugging around a bunch of plastic bottles. Choose a bottle that is made to keep beverages cool. Additionally, reusable bottles save waste and ultimately cost you less money.
4. Electronics
Your car seems like a good place to store various items. After all, you can close it, and no one besides you can get in there. Nothing can go wrong.
But the problem with electronics and cars is rather simple: the heat. If the sun is up in the sky and your car stays in it for a while, it will get hot. Very hot. Sometimes the temperature inside your car can reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit within an hour. To be honest, this sounds quite dangerous.
For example, the recommended temperature range for keeping iPhones and iPads, according to Apple, is between -4 and 113 degrees Fahrenheit. Try not to keep electronics inside your car when you are not using them.
Of all the things you should not store in your car, we are sure that you believe that it is not worth damaging your laptop just because you don’t feel like taking it inside your home one time.
It doesn’t matter what brand they are; you don’t want to shorten the lifespan of your pricey electronics. Also, your vehicle becomes a target for theft when electronics are in plain sight.
5. Gym clothing
If you go to the gym from time to time, then you know that sometimes you don’t feel like carrying the equipment around all the time. So, leaving it in the car seems fair, right?
Or maybe you just came back from the gym one day and are hurrying up to get inside. You just want to get home and shower. This is not a big deal, but we advise you to never let your used gym clothes into your car.
First of all, just imagine the clothes you wore at the gym last time, then add some heat and get inside the car the next day. Don’t be surprised if your entire car smells like gym socks.
Another reason that makes gym clothes one of the things you should not store in your car, besides the smell we mentioned, is the fact that if you let sweaty clothes sit for too long without washing them, the sweat stains will set in.
6. The donation bag
At first glance, this may seem odd. Do people have a donation bag that they store in their car and carry around? Experts say that this is real, and people have bags with stuff that they want to donate in their cars.
The catch here is that you decluttered your home, which by the way is amazing, and now you want to get rid of all the items by donating them, but unfortunately, you never have time to do this, and you end up with the giant donation bag inside your car.
The phenomenon becomes even more interesting because people don’t keep this bag or the bags in their car for a few days. No, they carry the bag around for months.
The moral of this story is that you should never store donations in your care unless you are heading to the donation center on the same day. Otherwise, you just move the clutter you used to have inside your home into the car.
Do you know any other things you should not store in your car? Share them with us in the comments!
If you want to keep the items that you have in your car organized you can try to use a car trunk organizer: SURDOCA Car Trunk Organizer
You should also read: Garage Organizing: 7 Easy Ways to Free Up a Parking Lot
