Clean Car Tips – Keep Your Car Clean & Fresh

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When my husband and I first got married he managed a detail shop at a car wash.  He loved his job and our cars were very clean all the time!  Then we had kids…!  I was always the type of person that would see a dirty family van and think, I will NEVER ever let my kids eat in my car, and it will NEVER look this dirty!  I love a clean car, just as much as I love a clean house, but for some reason over the years my clean car hasn’t stayed as clean as I want it to be.  I will say that our van isn’t nasty, compared to some I saw in his detail shop, but it gets way messier than I ever wanted it to look.   We don’t have food all over our car, but for some reason with 5 kids that leave junk in the car and a dirt driveway that tracks dirt in the car, our car looks dirty about once a week. My life doesn’t have time to vacuum my car once a week, and I have been a little fed up with the way my kids treat the car lately, so I decided to try to break this habit and teach my kids to take care of our car so that we can always have a clean and fresh smelling car all year long with minimal detailing!This is what my car look like last week after our vacation to visit family.  Nasty!  I hate when my kids put trash in their cubbies and not in the garbage can.  I also hated our garbage sack hanging on our seats. The kids climb through the car and step on it, or it gets twisted on the seats, or a wet diaper gets thrown in there and then the car stinks.  It just wasn’t working.  This last week I talked with my husband and we came up with our clean car tips so that we can have a clean car all year long with minimal detailing.  Here are our ideas….

Clean Car Tips – Keep Your Car Clean and Fresh

Be responsible for their stuff –  Don’t leave stuff in the car that doesn’t belong.  If I take them to practice or they have a water bottle they bring with us or they have dirty shoes they need to get everything out of the car right when we get home.  If you have to eat in your car think ahead – I swore I wouldn’t let my kids eat in the car…before I had kids.  Now I realize that sometimes it just has to happen.  Think ahead when it comes to eating in the car. Get foods that don’t crumble and make messes.  My kids are pretty good at eating burgers in the car, but crackers and chips…NO WAY!  If they eat in the car throw it away immediately.  

Get a good Garbage in the car –   I found this idea on Pinterest a long time ago It keeps everything contained so it’s not spilling all over the car and it’s tiny enough to pass around and then set on the floor and have it not be in the way.  All you need is a cereal or sugar container that has a smaller opening for pouring.  I placed a grocery sack inside, snapped the lid back on and cut the bag around the edges so it wasn’t hanging all over the sides.  My Kids love it and were so excited to not have the hanging trash bag in the car.  Take it out once a week or whenever it is full. 

No colored drinks in the car – We have learned our lesson with drinks, and so now we only do water or flavored water.  If drinks spill, especially milk or colored drinks it can create a stinky or sticky mess that ends up having to be detailed out.  

Keep Wipes in the car – I love wipes!  They are the best to have around.  We like to keep a package of wipes in the car for any sort of spills or if my child has messy hands.  

Buy Rubber Car Mats – They might not be the prettiest, but they are for sure the easiest. They are easy to shake out and wipe off quickly especially when you have small children and dirty feet. 

Have trash bags in car for soiled clothes or shoes – There has been so many times when we have gone to a park or a river and my kids get to the car and they are filthy.  I love having an extra trash bag in the car to throw their dirty shoes or clothes in.  It makes it easy to grab and take inside the house to wash when we get home.  I store the in the pocket behind the passenger seat.

Don’t allow crayons in the car –  Just don’t! 🙂 Last month my daughter left an orange crayon in the car….UGH!  It wasn’t pretty and there is still a small orange stain in the car even after a detail.  No Crayons, they melt!

Designate a place to organize stuff – Sometimes we do have to have stuff in our car that stays there.  I don’t have a center console so I bought this car organizer at Walmart for only $10.  It’s perfect to hold our Book on CD, Diaper and wipes, cords and extra cups.  Get a great air freshener to keep in your car –  It’s always nice to have a good smelling car!  Especially when you have visitors in your car and your worried it might not smell so great.  They last about a month and aren’t’ too expensive! Having a good fragrance in your car always makes you feel more clean. I found these Yankee Candle® brand car fresheners at Walmart the other day. They smell great and are very easy to put on your air vent. They have two different kinds, one that hangs from your rearview mirror, or one that clips into the air vent. I love seasonal smells so I got the Macintosh, which smells like apples and reminds me of apple pie. I also bought a pumpkin one which we will use next month!  You can find these Yankee Candle® products in the Auto Fragrance and Air Care sections of Walmart

And last but not least – Vacuum the car once a month – unfortunately even if you do all these things your car will still get a little messy.  Vacuum it once a month to keep it looking nice and clean!  Teach  your kids to vacuum the car and have them trade off months. Or take it to a coin op vacuum and get it done really quick!So there you have it. How to have a clean car and keep it that way! I am hoping my van stays nice and clean for our trip to San Diego next month!  I’ll let you know!

What is your favorite car fragrance and how do you keep your car clean and fresh?

After talking a clean car, if you missed last weeks Oil Change come see how easy it is to do at home!

Or are you traveling soon, here are some fun road trip games…