Kristan Higgins’ My One and Only is happily ensconced on the NYT and USA Today bestseller lists, and I have been offered a fun little collection to celebrate.
If you leave a comment and tell me the most essential item in your car’s glove compartment, you’re entered to win. Easy! And what could you win? A prize pack that includes a really cute travel bag, some travel essentials like lip gloss, mascara, and bronzer, and a copy of the book.
My glove compartment essentials are kinda boring: a mylar reflective heat blanket, bottles of water, hand wipes, about 14,000 pens that don’t work, and a really bad GPS. If you know which one is my car and want to steal it, go for it – it gives really crap directions, like getting off the highway and getting on one of those roads with stoplights and big box stores every 200 ft. I think it would take me to Manhattan by way of Texas if I allowed it. I do have a candy stash, though. No touching!
Standard disclaimers apply: I am not being compensated for this giveaway. Void where prohibited. Hang up and drive. Texting while operating a moving vehicle is punishable by a lot of hateration and some glaring, and possibly a heaping ticket if the cops spot you. No hateration in this dancery. You’ve got 24 hours. This contest is open to residents of the US and Canada.
So, what’s in your
wallet
glove compartment that absolutely must stay there? Got a dashboard mascot that is required in your car? Anyone have a mini-library in their car, too, or are you one of those people who can’t read in a moving vehicle?
I have the owners manual and pads of paper and pens, just in case I have to jot something down.
The most essential thing in my glove compartment (& scattered throughout my car) is my enormous collection of CD’s. I love to listen to music in the car & sing along at the top of my lungs, which does get me funny looks on the road, but I still enjoy it. I run heavy on the 80’s music, but I like a lot of other stuff too. Gotta have my music when I drive!
Advil and tampons.
Not in the glove compartment, but definitely my CDs: Florence and the Machine, Rufus Wainwright, Flogging Molly. I just got back from a six-hour road trip, and they were vital to my survival.
Napkins and pens.
Jumper cables! Definitely an essential. Usually pens everywhere too, and receipts and empty water bottles.
We call it a jockey box in Idaho and of course it contains broken cassette tapes I can bear to throw away.
my glove box contains an old plastic container that allows me easy access to: license and registration 🙂 I also have a spare twenty I mean two dollars and random items that are not gloves!
I am one of those people who can read in a moving car, I even have a random old Harlequin Historical involving Mounties stuck in the glove box, but since I’m usually the one driving I try to avoid showing off that natural talent in the interest of public safety. In terms of indispensible, I’d say the tire gauge, I have really bad luck with tires. Gravel roads, windstorms, and assorted tree shrapnel.
My glove box is packed to the rafters! Everytime I open it stuff falls out and I have trouble getting it closed again. The most essential item is obviously the chocolate stashed in there in case of a chocolate emergency.
I do have a mini-library in my car! I’ve read so much in the car, I think I’ve just trained my body not to get car sick.
Aside from the customary napkins, straws and coupons, I must have:
1. One of those ShEmergency kits with every emergency item known to man.
2. Extra bandages for my crazy son and his accident prone mom.
3. Portable garbage bag dispenser.
4. A pair of big girl undies for those bad girl days.
5. Matchbox cars.
Cds and lotion.
I confess: I’m a registration & insurance hoarder. I bought my car in 2001 and have every registration and proof of insurance issued ever since in my glove box. I’m always too worried about forgetting to put the new ones in to even think about tossing the old ones when they expire. Yes, my glovebox is a scary place, but since there’s no room for anything but paper in it, all of the other crap is in my purse—-even scarier!
state79: 79 fire marshals in all 50 states agree that it’s wrong to have a firetrap for a glovebox…you’d think I’d learn…sigh
the most important thing in my glove box is a Costco form that tells me exactly where all the Costco gas stations are in the United States.
Let’s see:
In my glovebox is every oil change receipt since I bought the car in 07. In order for the warranty to stay valid, have to prove I’ve been taking care of the Jeep. There’s also the standard insurance cards, registration and owner’s manual (which I still have to look at in order to pop the hood – damn latch is almost impossible to find). And a tire gauge.
The dashboard has my stuffed turkey (for us bowling chicks – I got it for most turkeys in last season’s league) and a vial of frankincense and myrrh oil hanging from the mirror.
Now, if we’re taking the backseat – any number of the kids’ toys, books, and petrified french fries. Various charging cables and that essential Nebraska tool – ice scraper/snow brush.
there is a liz phair song about this … it’s called the divorce song.
makes you want to cry. i dont think i could ever go on a road trip with an ex-…if i did i would most likely need some “gloves” in the glove box.
The most essential item in my glove box is a blister pack of used Dentyne Ice. My beloved brother, who’s in medical school thousands of miles away, painstakingly punched out each piece of gum, chewed it, then returned it to its empty compartment. This remains in my glove box because, in addition to being too disgusting to touch, this memento reminds me not to miss him very much.
My spare tennis ball! You never know when you’re going to have to pull over and run your dog.
LOL!
GPS and paperwork. Chapstick too.
Hmm, good question. Alongside of the miscellaneous junk (including the requisite Mickey D’s toy, a My Little Pony brush and mirror set – banana scented), and required stuff (proof of insurance, car manual for when I forget how to set the radio again), I’d have to say the most important thing is the mini LED flashlight for emergencies, and the pen and paper set (for emergencies, notes, and good ideas). There’s also a just-in-case wet nap, but that’s not quite as important.
Weirdly, the thing I find quite important in my glove compartment is my tire gauge. I also have a flashlight, but actually have never had to use it.
Car ipod dock, pack of gum, mini tools set, and a paper map! After reading these, I think adding a flashlight in will be a good idea too
I’m a hardcore minimalist and have hardly anything in my glove compartment except the owners manual and my registration. I’m sick, I know.(grin)
The Most important thing i have in my glove compartment is a small bottle of body spray&face; wipes, you never know when last minute you decide to hang out with friends all night after work, or a last minute get together and you want to freshen up.
Most important, sunglasses and handiwipes…
A rosary. It protects me from all kinds of stuff.
A small stack of “you are not authorized to park here” slips from work. I’m keeping them to one day plaster the parking guard’s car with.
Allergy pills. My glove compartment must have them because I never know when a sinus headache may hit. And in farm country in summer hay is everywhere. Hay fever is nasty without allergy pills.
I would say the most important item in my glovebox are the pre-moistened wipes. Every so often I get gas on my hands and these are great for getting rid of the gas smell. And also because I’m a huge klutz and manage to spill not only gas but everything else on me, too.
I realize this is incredibly unimaginative, but my GPS stays in my glove box and it has saved my butt so many times when I have gotten hopelessly lost. Especially now that I live in the Adirondacks where you have to travel to other towns a lot and there are these small, meandering highways.
During cold-weather season, one essential in my glove compartment is…a pair of gloves! During spring (aka allergy) season, Puffs Plus galore! And I always have my iPod in there to plug in. I’m sure people seeing me wonder if I’m having an animated conversation with someone (possibly on my invisible earpiece, or with an invisible friend) but no, I’m just singing with my iPod!
I keep a little manicure set in mine. You have NO idea how often that’s come in handy with 3 kids. Snipping tags off emergency clothing, off stuffed animals or sunglasses, trimming broken nails (or filing rough ones)…
The manual to my car…I’ve had to use it to find the tire pressure specs for my tires, what type of oil to use when I changed the oil, and, at midnight on a lonesome road, I used it to help change my tire after a pretty scary blow-out. Yeppers, my manual is a must have!!
Definitely napkins. My daughter is always making messes and really so am I, LOL!
The most important thing in my glove box is a bunch of hair ties. I have long hair, and when the I climb in the car, I want the windows down and the sunroof open, so I have to have the hair ties so that I can drive safely and still have the wind whipping around me.
The standard vehicle registration. The proof of insurance SHOULD be in there but I couldn’t find it in hubby’s mess when I was recently pulled over for speeding. Those #%^+^%%^ speed traps.
Luckily, I was only given a warning for the speeding but have to send in $10 for the dismissal fee. What a preventable waste 🙁
Wet wipes and proof of insurance/registration are the two things I try to keep there at all times.
Tape roller for removing cat hair from, well, everything. Regular duct tape. Emergency food—almonds & cheddar bunnies. A flashlight. Nothing exciting or weird, just the stuff I might need.
I keep tons of junk in my car. Tampons, handi wipes, tissues, protein bars, pens, gum, Tic Tacs, canvas shopping bags, books on CD, blah, blah, blah.
I really should clean the nasty thing out today.