When you bought your first car, you always kept it clean and organized. As time went by, maintaining cleanliness became less of a priority, and you did it less frequently than before. Before you know it, your car was a complete mess with dirt and junk rolling all over the floor. Sounds about right?
Your car should always be clean and organized, especially if you have kids, no matter how old they are. There are a couple of tips and tricks we’d like to share with you so your car will always be spot on, and you can enjoy every moment spent driving. You never know when you’ll need to give someone a lift or when you’ll need to go on a long drive. Having an organized car and a clean interior will make your trip more pleasurable.
Clean Your Car On A Regular Basis
To ensure that your car is always well-maintained, you should clean it at least once every week or every two weeks, depending on how often you use your car. If you drive it every single day, you should get rid of the trash every week and give it a good clean inside and out. Luckily, there are a lot of self-service car washes available out there so you can use a pressure washer to get rid of all the dirt that got stuck to your car during the week.
Self-service car washes usually have pretty good vacuum cleaners designed for cars so you can use those as well. You can also take your car to a detailer and they’ll probably do a much better job cleaning your car than you would. You can think about hiring a car detailer when you buy the car so they’ll polish it up and do a deep clean of the interior. However, the best thing you can do is to wash the car by yourself if it’s not that dirty. Cleaning the car yourself is also a much more affordable option.
How To Clean Your Car Like A Professional
If you decided to maintain your car, try to avoid aggressive products that can damage the interior and exterior of your car. The plastic parts can negatively react to household cleaners and you can make irreversible damage if you use products that are too aggressive! If you don’t want to invest in car detailing products just use a microfiber cloth to clean the dust before vacuuming the interior.
You can get silicone-based products that bring back shine to plastic parts of the interior and don’t cause damage. One tip for using these products – always put it on the cloth before applying it to any plastic part of the car because if it goes under window switches or any other button, it can short-circuit it and even cause a fire. When it comes to windows, you can use regular window-cleaners that are alcohol-based because they’re the best. You can use old newspapers in combination with a window cleaner because you’ll also polish up the windows.
Alloy rims are the most difficult part of the car to clean, especially if they’re full of brake-dust. Just using a pressure washer won’t be enough so you’ll need to go to the store and get a special product for cleaning rims that’s aggressive enough to get rid of the dirt and brake dust. For the first time, you’ll probably need to use a brush to speed up getting rid of the brake dust, but every other time just applying the product and rinsing it off will do just fine.
When it comes to the seats, you should vacuum them regularly, no matter what material they’re made of. If you have leather seats, you should get a gentle product that won’t damage the seats but will protect them from dust and scratches. If you have regular non-leather seats, there are a lot of products you can use that are specifically made for getting out water stains from them. They’re easy to use and work like a charm! You can also find a rug cleaning solution, make foam from it, and gently rub your seats. After that, just vacuum what’s left and your seats will look and smell like new!
You don’t need to wash your seats every week, but they could use refreshing at least once a year, especially if you go to the beach and tend to get into the car wet. Once the season is over, take one day to deep-clean all the seats, making them look brand new.
Vacuuming can be done at your place. Regular vacuums usually have extensions so you can go through all the nooks and crannies, removing dirt and small bits that fell. In case you live in an apartment and don’t have a place to do the vacuuming, you can always get a hand-held car vacuum that’s specifically made for cars. These vacuums have extensions made specifically for cleaning cars, trucks, and SUVs so you’ll have no problem cleaning your car.
If you have a dog, it can get messy from time to time, especially because of dog hair. There are solutions for that as well and it’s in a form of a pet car seat cover. You can place it in the trunk of your car or over the back seat. The great thing is that it covers the entire seat. Even if some hairs manage to get on the seat, it will be much easier to clean them when you have seat protection. These covers not only protect the seats from hairs but drool and dirty paws as well! If you have leather seats, this cover will protect the leather from scratches your dog can make.
Before starting any sort of cleaning, vacuuming, or detailing the interior of your car, you should get rid of all the junk you find. Pick up all the water bottles, candy wraps, leaves, or anything that can clog up your vacuum. To make it even easier, you can get rubber car mats that are easily removable and throw away all the junk and dirt from them. When you use rubber mats, the floor will be much easier to clean because all the dirt will stay on the mats. You can clean these mats anywhere: on the parking lot, at your home, or the self-service carwash.
Gadgets And Useful Products That Will Help You Keep Your Car Clean And Organized
There are thousands of products you can browse on Amazon, eBay, or even Aliexpress that are made to help organize a car. We’ll go through a couple of the most useful ones you can buy!
Car air fresheners are the number one thing you need to have in your car. Find a scent that you like and always have a spare one in your glove compartment. Having a nice scent in your car will make it feel and smell new, no matter how old the car is. It also gives a feeling of cleanliness. You can buy air fresheners at any gas station.
If you have enough space in your car, buy a small trash bin as well. You can store it behind the driver’s seat or even stick it in front of the front passenger seat so it’s always close. You can throw away empty water bottles, wraps, or anything else you don’t need and make it a lot easier to clean the car after.
Having a car phone holder is also a great thing, especially if you spend a lot of time in your car. Instead of keeping it under the armrest, you’ll be able to see if someone is calling or texting you and you won’t need to move your eyes off of the road. Investing in a Bluetooth headset if you don’t have that already in your car is recommended. This allows you to take calls while driving without losing focus.
Unfortunately, accidents mostly happen because people talk or text while driving and it’s something that governments all over the world are battling with. Having car insurance is mandatory everywhere but you can also check out companies that offer pre-settlement funding just in case something happens. Many people overlook the possibility of having a car accident because they’re driving safely, but there is always someone else on the road who can just take a glimpse on their mobile phone and miss a crucial moment in traffic, causing an accident.
When it comes to the organization of your trunk, you should find a trunk cover with partitions so you can always keep all your stuff organized. There are universal covers you can buy, but it’s always better to invest a little bit more and buy a trunk cover made for your car make and model. You can keep your first aid kit here, car cleaning products, or even spare clothes if you frequently go on picnics!