Easy Ways to Stay Organized on Your Beach Vacation

Spend more time relaxing outdoors -- and less time fumbling for your flip-flops or a grilling tool -- with these simple organizing ideas.

Summertime Car Kit

Stock the car with these items and you'll be prepared to stash anything from fresh clams to vintage jam jars.






Vacation Souvenir Jars

Rather than letting the rocks and shells you so carefully collect on vacation get lost in a drawer among paper clips and thumbtacks, put the found objects in labeled jars.

Related: 30 Things Everyone Should Know How to Do






Outdoor Beach Drying Rail

Give a Shaker peg rail, typically used indoors for coats, a summertime purpose. The pegs can be used to hang and dry sandy items such as beach chairs and flippers.







DIY Numbered Entry

Banish prebeach pandemonium (Who took my towel? Where are my flip-flops?) with a designated station featuring boldly numbered hooks and corresponding cloth baskets for each family member or guest.







A Clever Sand Trap

To sideline sand before it gets tracked into the house, attach a sprayer to the base of an outdoor shower. (If you don't have a shower, attach a sprayer to a hose.) Placing a bench nearby makes rinsing off less of a balancing act.

Related: Martha Stewart's Ultimate Organizing Solutions





Summer Tote Organizer

This handy three-pocket pouch can easily be fashioned from a carpenter's canvas nail apron (available at hardware stores).







Car Trunk Organizer

Items kept in the car have a tendency to roll around and get lost beneath seats, so it helps to organize them in a handled vinyl catchall.







Pocket Pal

Keep track of beach essentials -- sunscreen, novels, flip-flops -- by sinking them in a corner pocket.

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Shoe Bag Organizer

In the car, keep toys tidy yet easy to reach by stashing them in a canvas shoe bag. This 16-pocket organizer was cut in half and hemmed at the bottom.







Portable Screen

This easy-to-make portable windscreen will protect you from gusts and blowing sand while providing you with a little surfside privacy.

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