15 Items You’ll Find in Every Teacher’s Car

When you’re a teacher, your car is basically your teacher desk on wheels. You need to take stuff from school to home and vice versa, and you’re so busy, some things just live in your car. That’s why it’s pretty easy to predict what’s in that teacher car of yours! We’ll bet our Starbucks teacher tumbler that your vehicle contains the following items:

Your school ID badge

Here’s hoping it is tucked away in the glove compartment and not hanging from the rearview mirror (we all know it’s on a lanyard), but we’re guessing it’s somewhere in the car. After all, you need it to get into school, so why risk leaving it on the kitchen counter?

An empty Starbucks cup

Most teachers we know run on coffee, so the remains of your double tall vanilla latte are a pretty good bet. 

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An extra set of clothes

Maybe you like to exercise before or after school and need your workout clothes. Or maybe you’re a kindergarten teacher who can’t guarantee they won’t get paint or bodily fluids on them during the course of the day. Any way you hack it, teachers know it’s a good idea to keep a change of clothes in the car, and not just on squid dissection day.

Personal items

Deodorant, lip balm, lotion, monthly friends: definitely all in your car’s console.

Ungraded papers

You had every intention of grading those essays or multiplication tests or whatever over the weekend, but somehow they’re still sitting there. Funny how that happens.

Tote bags

Ah, the teacher tote. We’re betting you have multiple. How else are you supposed to schlep all your crap into your classroom? Bonus points if it has a saying like, “Teaching is a work of heart.”

Random school supplies

Ticongeroga pencils, Paper Mate flair pens, Elmer’s glue sticks, Sharpies, Post-It notes—we know your favorite brands as well as we know some of them are in your car. 

Snacks

Finding time to eat can be a real problem when you’re a teacher, so you definitely keep some snacks in your vehicle to fuel your workday. We’re guessing granola bars, nuts, dried fruit, and let’s be honest … chocolate.

Vitamin C supplements

Teachers have to boost their immune systems, and we know lots of you rely on your Emergen-C. You probably have some cough drops, too.

Hand sanitizer

You definitely don’t want to be taking germs home from your classroom, which is why you have your trusty bottle of hand sanitizer conveniently located in your car. 

Pain reliever

When you’re a teacher, headaches are a part of life. We’re betting a lot of you have a bottle of Tylenol or Advil in the glovebox.

A phone charger

Teacher or not, most of us live on our phones. Educators have their school email, Remind, Seesaw, and Classtree, too. You can’t afford to have your mobile device die—hence, car charger.

Books

It could be the teacher’s manual to your math curriculum, a fun beach read, or the picture book you’re planning to read aloud tomorrow, but where teachers go, there are books.

A water bottle

Teachers on their feet all day need to hydrate. So it makes sense that you have a water bottle (or possibly multiple) in your car. And it’s probably a plastic tumbler or a stainless steel sipper. (Do you feel seen yet?) 

Takeout menus

After a long day of teaching, the last thing you want to do is make dinner … and we don’t blame you. That explains the takeout menu from your favorite Greek place that lives on your passenger seat. 

What other items are in your car? Come share in our Facebook group, WeAreTeachers HELPLINE!

Plus, 8 Private Things That Totally Aren’t Private When You’re a Teacher.

Featured illustration by Allie Ogg