Everyday Tips to Keep Your Car Clean and Smelling Fresh

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For some reason, our cars aren’t the neatest of the things we own. If you’re here reading up about how to keep your car looking clean and smelling fresh, we’re on the same page. Whether you have papers lying around or sticky cup holders to deal with, if maintaining the cleanliness of your car is something that you’re not great at, these amazing everyday tips will teach you the most basic of things:

Invest in Containers

Do you know that you can use a truck battery box to keep everything in your trunk organized? If you have spare batteries and tools just lying around in your trunk, it’s time to tidy those up and put them in a container. A battery box is good to protect your brand-new spanking car battery. Your car tools would fit in that, too.

Clean It Daily

Make it a habit to clean the car once you park it in your home garage and before you enter the house. Have a designated bag on the front seat where you’ll put all the trash—coffee cup, candy wrappers, receipts, etc.—you have accumulated in the day. If you own an SUV, it will help if there’s a bag for every row.

Buy a Cup Holder Liner

If you’re constantly drinking juice or coffee when driving to and from work, you know that spilling things happen all the time. Drips from the coffee cup can make the cup holder sticky. Buy a cup holder liner, or use silicone cupcake liners to prevent your car from getting all sticky. You can then just take out the liner and wash it when juice or coffee has spilled on it.

Take that Lunch Break

Go on and take that lunch break; don’t skip breakfast because you’ll end up biting on that large cheeseburger inside the car. It’s okay to eat in your car. It is your car, after all. But over time, there will be a buildup of the food’s smell, and this will be hard to remove. If you have absolutely no choice but to eat in the car, keep wet wipes and paper towels handy. Make sure to clean your hands first before touching the steering wheel.

Use a Car Freshener

A car freshener or deodorizer will keep your car smelling fresh or minty or fruity. There’s a variety of scents that you can choose from. You can attach the freshener on the air conditioner vents so that the air coming out from it will smell good.

steering wheel of a ford mustang

Check the Backseat

If you have kids that you drive around town, chances are that they have left something behind in the car. You’ll find pieces of evidence if you check the car regularly. The reason it doesn’t smell that good sometimes is that someone has left something—a smelly sock, French fries, crumbs of biscuits, and many more.

Organize Loose Change

Put loose change in one area of the car. If your car doesn’t have a change organizer, keep it all in a resealable bag so that it doesn’t need to roll everywhere. When it’s time for a car wash, you can find your quarters easily.

Keeping your car clean doesn’t have to be difficult and time-consuming. Just take the time out each day to clean up the mess and throw away the trash so that they don’t accumulate. Eventually, this practice will become a habit, and it will be easier to keep everything clean and smelling fresh.

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