Car Sharing

We've decided to co-op our vehicles.

Meaning.... we don't have "mine" and "yours" cars anymore. Usually I drive the Outback and Hot drives the Sienna.... but not always.....

First, add to the list of things I do that makes my husband crazy, "Leaves cell phone in car." (Other things, you might remember, include burning candles, leaving the garage door open and starting 5 projects at a time.)

Then, put on the list of things that make me look at my husband cross-eyed, "Always leaves floor mat askance and sideways when exiting the vehicle."

This brings up a dilemma..... something city-folk who take public transportation will laugh about.... but....

What do you keep in your car?

Here's the list of essentials I think need to be in each vehicle:

baby wipes (in a travel container)
small notebook/pen (I have cute little ones I got as a freebie at a conference.... I can use them for work meetings and list making.)
lip balm
phone charger
spare sunglasses
plastic bag (folded and stashed.... for back seat puking or wet clothes)
towel
ice scraper
spare diaper
sweatshirt for each kid
water bottle
small first aid kit (bandaids, tylenol)
pony tail holders

Hot thinks you need:
ice scraper
giant plastic garbage bag looped over the shifter
Metallica cds
sunflower seeds

You see our challenge. I used to keep all my spare keys in the car... now I'm hauling them around in my purse or forgetting them on the key hook at home.... same goes for my ipod and cell phone.... And my coupon file used to live in the car.... now it lives in my go-bag. Sometimes I get in and the passenger seat is piled to the ceiling with, um, gear. And sometimes he gets in and the passenger seat is piled to the ceiling with library books and stuff to return to Target. And the garbage bag in the car.... that makes me nuts.... it makes the mice move in. Pack it in, pack it out, I say.

Hot can never find his favorite sweatshirt because it is always in the wrong car. And when fire season really gets rocking he will start misplacing his fire radio and boots. I can see he will need a special go-bag for that gear.

I also have totally different standards for summer vs winter. In the summer I keep beach towels and picnic gear in the car at all times. In the winter... snow boots and spare gloves.

On the up-side..... Hot is very punctual about filling up with gas and he keeps the windshield clean. Huh, I can't think of anything beneficial I contribute to the balance.... I throw away the garbage. And we've learned those extra cup holders come in handy for storing a spotting scope. Oh, and you can totally misplace your (very expensive and sentimentally dear) binoculars in all that van storage.

Sigh. I need insight and planning to make this work.

Any ideas?