Stuff to Keep in Your Car

Posted: March 12, 2019
Stuff to Keep in Your Car

Whether I'm in the car commuting or road tripping, driving or riding shotgun, there are certain items I like to have on hand on the off almost certain chance I get stuck in traffic.

My #1 choice: a chauffeur. Yeah, that's right, chillin' like a pimpity-pimp with noise-cancelling earbuds in and Reddit pulled up on my phone in the back of a Toyota Prius Lyft.

Ride apps do get expensive though. And at least 50% of the time, the car I end up in has a strong odor of vanilla air freshener mixed with fried takeout and farts. So, still can't give up driving.

And still have an ongoing list of recommendations of stuff to keep in your car.

A Lacrosse Ball

A Lacrosse Ball
A Lacrosse Ball

When I say driving is a pain in my ass, I mean it. My back and shooting down my leg too. Docs, trainers, and physical therapists will often prescribe lacrosse ball work along with foam rolling to isolate and dig in to smaller muscles, or smaller areas of larger ones.

I find that when I get butt hurt on the road, and it's not from some a-hole cutting me off, sitting on a lacrosse ball can shift or free up the offending muscle / nerve / fascia and make the continued sitting more comfortable. Same goes for the airplane.

This RitFit Massage Ball Set comes with 2 lacrosse balls, plus a spiky ball for the real masochists.

$13.99 ➠ Amazon

Cheap Sunglasses

Cheap Sunglasses

"Cheap" being the key word here. I keep my good sunglasses in the house so I have them when I'm walking somewhere, and so that they don't drop to whatever ungodly low number of degrees it is outside in the winter, and then fog up for 5 minutes when I put them on my hot (so hot!) face, rendering me blind while driving from either the opaque lenses, or the sun when I angrily rip them off and rub them on my leg to warm up.

But sometimes I forget my good sunglasses in the house, so I always like to have at least one cheap backup in the glove box or side of my door. These 80s retro shades are a good choice because they're plastic everything, lens and frame alike, and don't require much thought or care in tossing them 'round your ride.

$14.95 ➠ Amazon



One time I got stuck at a traffic light for five light cycles, and I almost lost my mind in both anger and hanger. Why wasn't anyone moving?! Why was traffic in this godforsaken town such shit?! Why didn't I have any food in my car?!

Never again.

If I am in my car, snacks will be in my car.

I like to keep either a bag of Moon Cheese or a couple of Epic Bars in my glove box because they're both filling and filled with protein, without the sugar to make me even hangrier 10 minutes later. When I'm still at the light. They're also relatively un-messy, though a nugget of Moon Cheese does get away from me often enough that I'm pretty sure I have a celestial colony forming under my seat.

$4.99 & Up ➠ Amazon

A Reusable Water Bottle

A Water Bottle

Being stuck in the car thirsty is at least as bad, if not worse, than being stuck in there hungry. I've repeatedly praised Embrava's water bottle as being the best ever (you can read more about why here) but when it comes to stuff to keep in your car, I'd recommend either the Embrava 18-ounce bottle, or a different brand's 1L style that has a nipple cap for drinking.

Embrava's 32-ounce bottle is a little narrow and tall for my car, the former causing it to rattle around in the cup holder, and the latter causing it to knock against the ceiling, sometimes dumping water all over me through its fast-sip spout, when I tilt it up to drink.

$19.95 ➠ Amazon

The Car Pool - Water Bottle Portable Toilet Hose

The Car Pool - Water Bottle Portable Toilet Hose

Note: Car Pool to be used with a separate, disposable water bottle, not the reusable one mentioned above.

They say dudes can pee anywhere, but The Car Pool knows that isn't always the case. What if you're stuck in traffic? What if you're on the highway with nowhere decent to pull over, or nowhere decent to drop trou? What if you've got a kid who didn't have to go 2 minutes before you passed the last exit for 30 miles sign, but now he's squirming and whining so hard your only options are pee-soaked pants or...The Car Pool?

In other words, the World's Most Portable Toilet for Men has its place, and could be another road trip essential for you.

$16.99 ➠ The Car Pool

A Portable Car Jump Starter

Portable Car Jump Starter

I have - no, my car has - a slight issue with the dome light turning on at the slightest bump of it. It usually happens when I'm getting out of the car, I have no idea it's happened, so I shut my door and head inside for hours and hours.

To date, the problem - with my car - has resulted in 3 dead batteries.

A portable jump starter / battery pack like the 600A / 18000mAh above has gotten it going again every time. While I don't need it often, I would probably sacrifice most other things on this list for it if I could pick just 2 or 3 to keep in my car.

$72.99 to $79.99 ➠ Amazon

A Sidesip Safer Driving Travel Mug

Sidesip Safer Driving Travel Mug
Sidesip Safer Driving Travel Mug



$29.99 ➠ Sidesip

A Swiffer Duster

Swiffer Duster

A Swiffer, or some sort of duster or microfiber cloth, is something I always tell myself I should keep in my car, but as of yet, have not purchased for glove box storage. While I'm not normally the tidying kind, when I get in my car on a sunny day and see the blanket of fuzz that's been growing across my entire front dash and console, it bugs the errant particulates out of me, and I always make a note to get the Swiffer from the laundry closet and come back down and dust it all off when I get home.

But then I get home, get inside, remember, and...the car is so far away.

Better to invest in a permanent car Swiffer. It's on my list.

$9.90 ➠ Amazon

A Plug-In Air Purifier

Plug-In Air Purifier

One round of Taco Bell and my wife won't set ass in my car for a week. The scent of Cheesy Double Beef Burrito lingers, the scent of Soft Taco Supreme lingers, the scent of what Cheesy Double Beef Burritos and Soft Taco Supremes do to me lingers....

The TwinkleBirds Car Air Purifier contains a built-in ionizer that, when plugged into your vehicle's outlet, cleans the air of odors and filters out allergens such as dust and pollens. Dander, bacteria, cig smoke, dirty gym socks, even that which Yo can't help but Quiero every now and then are drawn in and neutralized, with no additional fragrance left in their wake.

$24 ➠ Amazon

Dental Floss


Don't want to greet the officer who just pulled you over for going 60 in a 40 with a giant hunk of spinach in your top tooth, do ya?

Uh, no sir, one over from that one. To the left. My left. You...ugh, you just made it worse.

Keeping any old floss on hand will do for those combined stuck moments - you stuck in traffic, lunch stuck in your teeth - but the forthcoming CrossFloss would make an even cooler solution, since it would allow you to keep on truckin' as you dislodge the hangers on.

CrossFloss provides a hands-free flossing option with its little bird cage-looking tool, whose bars are the segments of floss. To use it you place the CrossFloss between a couple of teeth, and then roll it back and forth with your jaw, biting down enough to let the floss drop into the gaps. Check out more here.

Coming Soon ➠ CrossFloss
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