What do you keep in your car to be prepared?

[LemonViolet]

Having the car proper valeted this evening, so given we have a clean slate am thinking carefully about what I’m allowing back in

Off the top of my head

• Parking permits for FIL’s street (in little folder to keep neat)
• Emergency window breaker/seatbelt cutter tool velcro’d in the drivers door pocket
• ice scraper/de icer spray in winter
• phone charger
• supermarket trolley token & car park change in a little purse. Although everywhere I park is an app now anyway.
• few bottles of water and snack bars in case we ever break down or hangry stuck in traffic
• dog poo bags, collapsible water bowl, spare dog collar & lead, dog towels

What else?

First Aid kit?

Food, water and blankets in case of a breakdown.
Stash of sanitary towels and tampons since peri has made my cycle madly unpredictable.
I was so thankful of the spare pair of shoes I’ve had in there for ages and never used until a few weeks ago, I got caught in an absolute downpour and driving home in the shoes I had on would have been awful.
Since COVID I have a bottle of nice hand sanitiser in my driver door pocket too so it’s become habit to use that as soon as I get in.
I bought a pack of really decent sick bags too after my son went through a stage of carsickness, and having those in various pockets has saved the day many timeshare.

Be wary of storing water in the car to drink. I believe chemicals leak out of the plastic and into the water in the heat, but I’m happy to be corrected !

I have spare clothes for the dc in mine still (age 4 and 7). Mainly for unexpected mud/water play.

Coat all year round. Lipstick, hairbrush and hand cream.

I keep a blanket in the boot- good if you get stuck in the winter and I think you can put it under the tyres to give a better grip if stuck in snow (but don't quote me on that though...).
I've also got a 12v tyre pump (drive a pick up with big tyres...and it's a hard job pumping them up with a foot pump).

Coats for DC
A blanket- we use it for picnics too
A changing bag with extra change of clothes
Electric tyre pump thing
Snacks!

I never drive far so don’t have stuff for serious breakdowns, but have warning triangle and jump leads, analogue map in case no GPS, de-icer and scraper, car manual.

More stuff I might personally want/need - spare face mask, antibac, driving shoes, spare glasses, sunglasses, wellies for when I drive somewhere for a walk, lots of Beatles CDs

A pen, because I'm disorganised and often have to stop to buy a card on the way to a celebratory event!

Also jump leads which touchwood I've never had to use myself but have been lent out a number of times.

Reusable carrier bags for unplanned shops.

An old towel or 2 in the boot comes in handy for all kinds of things (spontaneous picnic mat, getting dryish when caught in the rain, protecting a seat when someone is muddy / wet / has picked up a greasy takeaway).

Oh and as above an old pair of glasses too in case I have issues with my contacts while out and about.

I have a heavy duty torch that has a sliding head which puts it into flashing amber mode. (Less than £5 in a German supermarket middle aisle) not the crazy expensive ones off the internet!
In the sanitary kit some disposable shee-wees.

Spare waterproof jacket and trousers.
Spare socks.
Dog leads, poo bags, tennis balls.
Phone charger.
Loose change.
Parking disc for town.
Insurance/breakdown information.
Bank card.
De-icer/spray for winter, though I do have heated windscreens.
Windscreen cleaner.
A mini first aid kit.
Suncream.

I've got most of the stuff on your list already aboard. Thinking about what I actually regularly use that's lying around in my dogmobile... A large pump action bottle of hand sanitiser. A spare facecovering. A hairbrush. And this may sound weird but a magnifying mirror and tweezers for the menopausal hairy chin! Got into the habit of doing it in the car when I had teenage daughters at home and absolutely anything in the bathroom which wasn't actually nailed down could and frequently did vanish into their bedrooms. The girls have moved on, but actually I find the lighting through the windscreen is far better than anywhere indoors so I've kept doing it there.

Large zip lock bags very good for vomming into and sealing away the smells before disposal if you've got carsick passengers!

Car breakdown kit (got in the habit while living on the continent)
Packet of disposable masks
Charger

Oil. Coz mine burns it.
Sun cream
Charger
Tissues
Wipes
Charger
First aid kit

I'm a gardener so there's usually a random assortment of tools flung in there as well.

Tissues
Shopping bags
Gloves
Ice scraper
Road atlas
Hand gel
Spare masks
Wet wipes
Umbrella
Rennies
Jump leads
Rug
Kitchen roll

scraper & de-icer

jump leads
a piece of tube to give more leverage to spanners for tire nuts
emergency triangle
reflective vest

currently also a handwashing kits for DD, liquid soap, water and towel

Spare facemask.

Tissues.
Phone charger.
Spare sunglasses (and before I had my eyes layered, Spare prescription glasses.)
Wellies (they mostly get used away from home, so in the end, I gave up bringing them back in from the boot.)
Suncream (after the time I got sunburnt because I forgot any.)
Small tube handcream.
Lip balm.
Blanket.
Warning triangles.
Hi vis jacket.
Spare shopping bags.
First aid kit.
Car park change (I did go to a cash only one a couple of weeks ago.)
Tissues.
Pen & notepad.
Collins Guide to British Wildlife.
Cheap binoculars. (I have more expensive ones I don't leave in the car.)
Jump leads, pump, oil.

Screenwash.
De-icer that the garage gave me. I still just scrape it. I also have a windscreen cover for when it's frosty, which is rolled up in the boot.
Poncho-cum-groundsheet. Turns out to be useful when you need the loo in a 7h long traffic jam.

Torch. Definitely torch.

@GoodnightGrandma

Be wary of storing water in the car to drink. I believe chemicals leak out of the plastic and into the water in the heat, but I’m happy to be corrected !

Apparently it can cause ecoli

Orangedaisy now mine are teenagers I have a default generic baggy jersey shorts and t shirt set which would do for any family member in an emergency (like someone getting car sick on themselves/ their neighbour or falling in a river... ). Although it might not fit DH actually, or not well...

It's a wonder some of you can fit in any passengers! I've got a torch, high vis vest, warning triangle, ice scraper and hand sanitiser.

A million of ds toys and clothes

-several rocks that ds has collected that would make a good window breaker if needed

• phone charger

• First aid kit and breakdown triange/high vis jackets

-foundation and lip balm

• Blanket and coats and shoes

Also I have a swiss army knife on my keys

Most I keep in mine is a coat.

There is an "emergency kit" in the boot that came with the car, as the company supplied it. Have never opened it as yet.