Top Ten Doodads for Your Car

Doodads or accessories, call them what you will. Some people scorn them, while others love them. Creative doodads can enhance your driving experience and add convenience during the long daily commute to work, when schlepping your child to daycare, or for the best road trip ever. A clip-on dip holder for your chicken nuggets? If it makes driving a little more fun, why not?

Doodads, Anyone? You’re Welcome

Here is our top ten list of doodads for your car, accessories that make life a little easier and a lot more fun when you’re driving (note that links and clips are only suggestions–we don’t recommend any particular brand name over another):

1. Phone Holder—our mobile phones are our lifeline and you want to be able to use your phone in the car without having to take your hands off the wheel and scrounge around to find where the darned thing slipped into the car cushions or under the seat. You want one that once you clip it to your air vent, it stays where you put it, and allows you to adjust the angle to suit your phone.
2. Blind Spot Mirror—when driving, blind spots mean you can’t see what’s coming up right beside you. The blind spot mirror helps you merge more safely and prevents collisions, in particular when turning a corner.
3. Hanging Scent Diffuser—we all know those ubiquitous cardboard tree doodads that are supposed to keep your car smelling fresh, but they don’t seem to do much of anything. Hanging scent diffusers, on the other hand, are attractive, get the job done right, come in a wide range of styles and fragrances. It’s the small things in life that make us happy, especially when we’re stuck in rush hour traffic.
4. Cable Clips—a clip-on organizer for the jungle of cables hanging from your dashboard? Why yes, please. These clip-on cable clip doodads are a lifesaver, preventing you from having to take your hands off the wheel to grope around and tease out the cable you need to charge your phone or play music.
5. Tile Mate Bluetooth Tracker—if you’re always misplacing your keys or your glasses, this doodad is for you. Install the Tile app on your smart phone, and attach the Tile Mate to the item of choice. The item will ring until you find it. Tile Pro even has a button you can tap to help you locate your phone.
6. Escape Track Traction Pads—if your car has ever been stuck in snow, mud, or sand, you know how difficult it is to get loose. Basically, you shove the bright orange durable plastic tracks under your tires, and this provides the traction you need to get your car out of a jam, lickety-split. Very worthwhile.
7. Car Hooks for your Bag or Jacket—ever had your bag go flying, along with its contents when you took a hard turn? If so, you know exactly why you need car hooks. Attach these doodads to your headrest and voila, no more spillage. So convenient.
8. Digital Tire Inflator—it’s no fun finding out your tire pressure is low when you are pressed to get somewhere and have a busy day ahead. Alas, today we have the digital tire inflator which tops up tires on the spot and even has attachments for inflating bicycle tires, balloons, balls, and that air mattress you drag out of the closet when Uncle Fred comes to visit.
9. Cleaning Gel—great for keyboards, but also super helpful for cleaning air vents and other nooks and crannies located in the interior of your car. Cleaning gel can get into all those hard to clean crevices with no need for strong chemicals and sprays.
10. Tissue Holder—ever notice how there’s no good place to put your tissue when you’re driving around? Major flaw in car design if you ask us. There should be a tissue holder that allows you to just reach out and pull out a tissue. Luckily, these are easily available online. Some are holders for a standard tissue box, while others are refillable dispensers that can be used with either tissues or facemasks.