Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Spring Cleaning Month- Starting off in the car!

April for me has become a month full of spring cleaning. I've been bouncing around from here to there tidying up and enjoying the amazing weather that we've been having lately. It was 74* here yesterday for goodness sake! Although I have been working on a ton of projects lately in different areas I want to share one particular area today- my car!

I am weirdly obsessive about keeping my car clean. After I graduated college in 2010, I bought my first brand new car and ever since then I've been trying to keep it as clean as it was when I drove it out of the lot. My friends think I'm crazy, my family thinks I'm incredibly responsible, and I think that messes drive me insane! I often bring my car through the car wash and always make sure I have no extra junk in my car. I do a few other things too which I will be sharing with you in this post- so here we go!

When I clean out my car the first thing I do is remove ALL items from the car. I usually don't keep too much in my car anyways- but sometimes things do build up a bit during busy weeks!

I forgot to take a before picture, but when I opened up the back door to my car yesterday I had the following inside:
  • my winter coat
  • winter gloves
  • plastic bags to recycle
  • work bag
  • reusable shopping bag
Well most of these things need new homes anyways. Since it's beautiful weather now, I took my winter coat and gloves inside and threw them into the laundry. I keep my reusable shopping bags in my trunk, so the one hanging around in my backseat was relocated. The plastic bags and my work bag were removed for the cleaning- and then placed back inside.


After removing everything, that is what my backseat looked like.


I love our Dyson vacuum. It was truly love at first sight- and my favorite attachment is this little brush head because it really helps dig into the carpet. I highly recommend Dyson- it is expensive for a reason!


Here is a before and after of my front seat. The parking lot of my work is made of dirt, there for my floor is constantly covered in dirt and needs to get vacuumed regularly. I also tend to take my friend Roxy for rides and she likes to shed all over my seats. Not to mention that I also tend to shed all over my seat as well. Doggy and people hair everywhere!


Cleaner for sure!

Check out all the stuff that I found in my center console that I can get rid of!


Well, not all of it was tossed. The tape was moved to my desk, the Harry Potter 3D glasses were out away with old mementos..but the rest- tossed!



It's so much cleaner in there now! Now i only have my rape alarm (yes, my dad is overprotective), a febreeze spray, a body spray, tire pressure gauge, and clip on air fresheners. Why did I need all that other stuff that was in there again?



There was definitely a ton of stuff in there that I didn't need..


My precious lint rollers- one was empty, definitely time to let that baby go!


And I needed to let go of my pepper spray. I never had to use it *knocks on wood*. My dad bought it for me when I went to college and it has expired- Does pepper spray not work when it is expired? I don't know! Well I decided to toss it anyways.


In my glove compartment I keep only the papers that came with my car and I need on a daily basis. I keep all my manual papers in there, as well as my registration and insurance papers. I also keep a hefty supply of paper napkins that I collect at Dunkin Donuts =) Never know when you're going to have a spill!

Now onto the back seat...


My work bag sits lonely in the back seat- just the way I like it!


Plastic bags that I will be recycling on my next trip to the grocery store get placed inside the compartment behind my seat.

Now onto the trunk...

I don't keep much in my trunk, but I do like to be prepared for a variety of situations.


I keep 2 beach chairs in my trunk because since I live near the ocean I tend to frequent the beach quite often. I also keep a sleeping bag in my trunk- I'm not entirely sure why- but I guess better safe than sorry!


I also keep all of my reusable shopping bags, my snow brush/scraper, and an emergency kit.



I received this kit as a gift when I started driving and have never actually used anything in it but it has quite a few useful things!
  • jumper cables
  • cones
  • emergency poncho
  • first aid kit

As you can see, I don't keep a ton of things in my car which definitely helps keep it clean. But what products do I use to keep it clean?

Some of my favorites are:
  • Lysol sanitizing wipes- I use these to wipe down my steering wheel (you wouldn't believe how dirty it gets!) I also use it to wipe down my entire console!
  • Lint rollers (I love to lint roll my seat- does that make me weird?)
I am still looking for a great carpet cleaner that will help get out heavy dirt! Let me know if you have any suggestions!

And that's it for my car organization/spring cleaning! This space didn't need a ton of work since it was already pretty clean, but it's always nice to clean up an area that is high traffic!

How do you organize your car? What products do you use to clean your car? Any tips?

1 comment:

  1. I keep a cleaning tote in my trunk that holds windex, Armorall's leather care, lysol disinfecting wipes and paper towel. This way it is easy to dust out my car whenever I get a chance. I also purchased a $10 trunk organizer from Bed Bath & Beyond that houses my cleaning tote, emergency kit and my reuseable shopping bags. Other than that I just try to those things out when I'm at the gas station. It feels like I am always on the go-go-go so it rarely stays 100% spotless.

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