If you have a child (or two, or three), then you know exactly how challenging it can be to keep your car clean. From old food to abandoned toys, there may be quite a bit in the backseat that you just don’t know how to tackle. Kids leave messes behind, but there are steps that parents can take to keep the space clean and prevent messes from happening in the future. Here are some of our top tips.
What enters the car must leave the car.
Kids want to take books and toys on trips with them. It’s inevitable. This is fine, but many kids will leave these toys in the back seat once they get home and forget about them until they are in the car again. In order to prevent this from happening, set up a plastic bin in your backseat. Make them set their toys inside when they are done! Even if they don’t put them away, you can always do a roundup after a car trip. Anything that doesn’t belong in the car goes into the bin, including snacks, cups, books, clothes, and toys. Bring the bin into the house, empty it out, and leave it there to go back in the car for the next excursion.
Cleaning up messes quickly is essential.
It’s no fun to dig into that mess your child left on the car seat, but you don’t have much of a choice if you want to keep things looking nice! Sometimes, there is nothing else to be done other than to dig in with some soap and elbow grease. If you need some tips and guidelines, here are some of the top tricks we have found for cleaning a car seat or stroller. Do this every six months (or more, depending on the mess).
- Take a look at the manual to make sure they don’t tell you to avoid any specific products.
- Choose a nice day out! You’ll want to be outside when cleaning the car seat.
- Gather everything you’ll need ahead of time, including dish soap, a cloth, cleaning wipes, a bucket, and maybe even an old shampoo bottle for targeted squirting.
- Take the car seat or stroller outside.
- Clean! Start by shaking out any loose particles or food bits that may be trapped. Then, remove the car seat cover. Wash it down with soap and water to spot clean, then wipe the wheels with baby wipes. For those of you with a washing machine-friendly car seat cover, feel free to just pop it in the laundry.
Always be ready to pick up trash.
Keep some sort of plastic bag or small receptacle for your car that is especially for car trash. You can always stick extra bags in the glove compartment or other side door pockets. These trash cans can come in handy when handling booger emergencies, old juice boxes, or broken items. Whenever you stop to get gas, just throw out the trash and set up a new receptacle.
Use the car vacuums at Crazy Clean Car Wash.
You can always get a deep clean on the inside of your car, regardless of how many kids you have, with the free car vacuums at Crazy Clean Car Wash! We know how hard it is to keep a clean car with kids, which is why we don’t charge you to use our vacuum. Why not keep the exterior of your car clean as well? Investing in a monthly unlimited car wash pass from your favorite Odessa car wash could be the best purchase you make. Reach out today to get started!
