If you feel like you live out of the Car Clean, you’re not alone. On average Americans spend an eye-popping 37,935 hours in a car during their lifetime. That’s undoubtedly alarming, and just one of the main reasons why the inside and outside of your vehicle must be kept nice and clean. These eight tips are sure to help you maintain the cleanliness of your car, so you won’t be stressed out during your next car trip.
Keeping Your Car Clean
1. Keep the Surfaces Clean
A good rule of thumb is to keep pre-moistened auto wipes in your glove box to give your dashboard, steering wheel, glove compartment, and all the small nooks and crannies a quick wipe down. These wipes will also allow you to get rid of the grime from your fingers as well as the dust that accumulates.
2. Maintain Your Vehicle
Keeping up with the maintenance of your vehicle prevents mechanical issues that might cause dust build-up or unpleasant odors inside the cabin. Make sure that your air filter is replaced regularly and consider using cabin air filters that use antimicrobial technology to help keep the filter clean during use.
3. Give Your Mats a Good Shake
The floor of the car gets dirty quickly, thanks to the grime that builds upon the bottom of shoes. Shaking your mats out regularly means you can go longer without having to use a vacuum.
4. Clean Your Cup Holders
Cup holders can get nasty over time, especially if you tend to have a lot of soda or coffee while you drive. Also, they are a convenient place to store trash if you suddenly feel the need to turn your car into a garbage disposal. Throwing away your drink when you leave the vehicle helps prevent condensation from building up as well as prevent sludge. Try keeping cotton swaps in your glove compartment to dispose of crumbs or liquids before they dry quickly. For extra sticky spills in your cup holder, use cleaning products that not only clean up the mess by using an odor protection element, so your cup holders stay fresher longer.
5. Keep Your Seats Clean
Your kids and dogs may be cute, but they leave behind a heaping helping of stains as well as healthy doses of hair and dirt. Use a toothbrush to get everything out of the cracks of your seats and a magic eraser for stains and sticky things on leather or vinyl. Keeping napkins or paper towels in the car can help take care of these messes as they happen. Keep in mind the longer you wait, the more work you will have to do.
6. Trash Can
Hanging a plastic grocery bag from the back of the passenger seat will give you a convenient place to put everyone’s tissues, cans, wrappers, and coffee cups.
7. The In-and-Out Rule
Our friends at Palmer Jeep (Roswell, GA) insist this rule will change your life: When something goes in the car, it needs to be taken out. It may be convenient to leave that jacket or that thing you are going to return in the car, but taking the time to bring it inside means your vehicle won’t turn into a hoarder’s dream. Install these habits into your passengers too!
8. Monthly Maintenance
Even if you implement all these daily habits, you will still need to do some cleaning from time to time. Make sure you vacuum and clean the insides of your windows with basic glass cleaner, especially after periods of rain and snow.
For your sanity, you need to maintain your vehicle so that it’s a comfortable place to spend time. After all, with all the time we spend in our cars we practically live there!
