Updated:  The Organizer Bags discussed in this post are unfortunately no longer available.

In keeping with the “organized car travels” theme from…well…quite a few days ago…I thought I’d share a few more ideas I used on my recent trip to Iowa. This was an unplanned, last-minute trip so it was necessary to take along some work to do in the car. But just so you don’t think it was all work and no leisure during the car ride, I did tote along a healthy stash of magazines to go through.

As you may know (if you’ve been here for a while) there may be one thing I like more than buckets, and that, my friends, is magazines.

To say I like them, well that’s an understatement. I love magazines. Always have. And if I was a betting woman, I’d say I always will.

Before I send them to magazine heaven (via my blue recycle bin) I always look through them one last time to tear out inspiring photos, ideas and articles. It’s a little (OK a lot!) OCD, but I truly love magazines…so to me it’s worth the time investment.

Anyway…a (several hour) car ride to Iowa proved a great opportunity to go through some magazines and do some work, too. So…I put together a little get-stuff-done-in-the-car-kit using some Organizer Bags from Lara Gallagher (a.k.a. the lazy organizer). (Have you seen these? OK…more on those in a minute.)

Organizerbags

In the one bag I had my magazines. What I typically do is decide which magazines are ready to go to the blue recycle bin, and then, go through a bunch of them all at once when I have a decent sized block of time. A car ride to Iowa was the prefect opportunity. I have a little system. I go through the magazine, tear out the stuff I like and then, fold down a large corner of the front cover of the magazine. This folded corner let’s me know which ones I’ve been through already, and which ones still need to be gone through.

The organizer bag made it easy to keep all this stuff corralled together…my magazines to go through, those I had been through, and the clippings to organize once I got back home.

In the other bag I had an office-in-a-bag:  pens, Post-it flags, a notebook and some paper-clips. I used the tools for an editing project I was working on in the car. The bags made it super-simple to find the tools I needed and keep them neat and tidy instead of floating around randomly at the bottom of my bag.

So let me tell you a bit more about these bags. They’re made of high quality materials, have a sturdy handle and a clear front—so you can see what’s inside. I have to tell you, the uses for these guys, both in the car and at home, is unending. They’d be great for corralling together kid’s toys, coloring supplies, and books…and like one commenter posted in my earlier post on organized car travels, you could rotate a series of these bags loaded with kid-friendly goodies, throughout the trip to keep the kiddos occupied.

They could also be used for keeping together driving directions, maps, brochures and other travel related items…both before the trip and those items you collect as memorabilia along the way.

Also, earlier this week we spent the day at a local water park. (Yahoo! One of my highlights of summer.) Anyway, the medium sized bag was perfect for toting sunscreen, lip balm, and other stuff like that. I loved keeping these items in a separate bag within my larger bag, but not tossed and lost at the bottom below all the beach towels. And with that nice, see-through front, I could find just the right sun protection in a snap. (Now, if only I could figure out how to make sure I apply said sunscreen consistently over all areas of the body.)

Have you tried these bags? If so, do share. How do you use your organizer bags?

By the way, Freebie Friday will be back this Friday…so don’t be a stranger!