A crumpled Wendy’s bag on the floor of the front passenger’s side, a coffee-soaked napkin in the cup holder resting innocently atop sticky, stray coins mingled with toothpicks and straw wrappers and a Starbucks pastry wrapper pinned beneath the snow brush on the floor of the backseat told me all that I needed to know.
As someone who thrives on neatness and order, I used to be quite judgmental of people with messy cars. And let me be a bit more specific by stating that when I say “used to be” I mean like… a month ago.
But climbing into my driver’s seat yesterday morning to the aforementioned scene caused me to realize that I am, indeed, one of THOSE people. That’s right. I, myself, am hereby (or at least for the time being) a Messy Car Person.
In my past life, I wondered how on earth it was possible for people to ride around in vehicles with muddy floor mats, cluttered backseats, unidentifiable schmutz on the interior and random cheerios strewn haphazardly about or ground deeply into the carpet.
I marveled at others’ abilities to travel from A to B all the while overlooking such sins as dirty clothes, fast food wrappers, wrinkled bits of note paper and empty beverage cups. I mean, it’s a CAR… not a closet or a kitchen or a GARBAGE CAN! Thus, it is with great humiliation and shame that I admit… I now stand among them.
HOW did this happen? You might ask. Someone once so fussy has now just given up!? Am I merely a modern version of Sarah Cynthia Silvia Stout who would not take the garbage out? Well. It’s not quite that simple. Or maybe it is. I’m not sure. What I DO know is that I got busy. VERY busy.
I know I’ve already touched on this but I started a new job that occupies me greatly with its lengthy commute and wicked learning curve. (Not that I’m complaining… because I honestly LOVE IT!) And I started taking a class. That has actual homework. So apparently I went from having oodles of time for the luxury of tossing out the trash… to not… having that luxury.
That’s it. That’s all I got. It’s the only excuse I can come up with. Busyness. I don’t want to admit that I’m lazy or dirty or slovenly. I think I’m just busy at the moment. At least I hope that’s all it is. Hopefully it is a fleeting thing and one day, when life begins to flatten out, I’ll be Little Miss Clean Car again — looking down my perfect little nose with great disgust in heavy judgment of the Messy Car People once more.
And all will be right with the world.
Woman In Thrisis 
I became one of these people, too. My backseat is unsitable right now, but not because it’s filled with garbage. I have a graduation present in there (I graduated last May), a sleeping bag, a cooler, various papers, books, an ant farm (okay, not really). …I’ll clean it in spring. It’s too cold to clean it now! Besides… I’m busy!
Always good to know when you’re not alone. You and me… New jobs that we wanted desperately… And messy cars. 😛
I thought maybe you saw my car there for a minute ;-). Sounds like you are busy… but it also sounds like it is a good kind of busy , so don’t sweat it, (not that it would be a problem in February anyway) BTW love the new pic 🙂
Thanks man! Nope. Not your car… Just my own mess. Glad you liked the picture!
My ex used to call my car the “roving garbage can.” It’s been an affliction since I started driving; I cannot, for the life of me, keep a car clean. It’s not that I don’t care or am a complete slob, my house is actually very neat. There’s just something about the car and keeping it tidy. It’s the LEAST important priority on my list so it rarely gets taken care of. Meanwhile, I work next door to a car wash! Also, I’m kind of cheap and refuse to PAY for something I could do myself (even if I don’t do it…)
Roving garbage can! I love it! I would take mine to be washed or detailed but yea… It’s hard to do when I “could” do it myself 😛 I feel your pain!
Have you seen the Jeep lately? It just happens. It’s all a part of the evolving process from neat to …no time or energy to care.
Haha! Glad the precious Jeep is cluttered too. Makes me feel so much better!
The hair obituary reblog was pretty good. Still, I was beginning to strum blisters on my fingertips awaiting your next blog. You didn’t disappoint.
What you need is a maid. But you’ve got to be careful. I hear tell some of them steal. The richest man in the world, Warren Buffet, doesn’t have any domestic servants.
Oh, oh, and it just occurred to me that until recently Bill Gates cut his own hair.
So, anyway, it’s a tough call. BUT if you can find someone you trust, you’re all set.
Yes. I am sorry it has been such a struggle to do just about anything. The writing unfortunately, ends up getting bottom billing because it doesn’t HAVE to be done. I hope I can get back to generating more very soon! Thanks for waiting me out!
Ahh, I was just kiddin’. I can just imagine how busy you are. Don’t go stretching yourself to thin. Oh, this is on the blog. I was close to getting chatty. Heh. 🙂
Welcome to the dark side. You could eat off the floor of my car. And get a balanced diet.
I have become one of those people also! It is embarrassing. I can distinctly remember 28 years ago seeing the inside of someone’s car and thinking WTH?! What do they do in there? How is that possible? And I had kids at the time. My car was cleaner then than it is now. I have bottles of water, unopened and partially used. Cans of dog food. Both in case I find a stray dog. Also a bag of dog treats. An old sheet,I forget why but I am sure it has something to do with dogs. I did have a pair of knee high rubber boots that I used last summer when looking for a lost dog. I just took them in the house after our huge snow of the year. Probably the one and only snow. There is probably a jacket and some socks. A flashlight. Some empty grocery bags. My husband thinks it’s dispicable and if I drop a straw paper in it I can sense his muscles tensing up. Sometimes I do it for the fun of it.
My neighbor is a mechanic and a neat freak. I hear him talk about how awful peoples cars are and I wince.
You make me feel better Linda! And if I were a stray dof in need of a loving human or a meal… I’d totally hope that YOU’D be the one to find me! 🙂