Mom CAR Hacks

Mom means sacrifice. And one of the biggest sacrifices for me was a nice car. A clean, nice car. But over the years I’ve developed a few hacks that have really delayed the mom car mess scene, you know, the ones that look like science projects are growing the carpet and rare species growing off left overs in the cup holders; these scenes have kept me super motivated to upkeep my car in decent, not ideal shape. Ideal is achieved by cleaning it thoroughly, routinely and weekly, by NOT eating in it, “The car ain’t a restaurant,” my dad would say. He was a truck driver and on the road 24/7 which any mom can relate to. If he can make time to eat outside the car so can moms right? My dad’s car was meticulously cared for. And I’ve always been ashamed that I didn’t follow in his footsteps. A clean car, in additional to regularly cleanings and abstaining from dining in it, needs a containment protocol. The protocol is my focus since let’s face it, we don’t have thirty minutes to an hour off for lunch hour like my dad did. And those screaming toddlers do so much better with some cheerios than without so it’s the choice each one of us are just going to make-again sacrifice-so might as well not waste time pretending we can fix those things. Instead there are a few containment protocols that get me by in-between the weekly-monthly car cleans I get to. I wanna share them with you so you can have a little boost til the next car clean too.

Though regular weekly car cleans are ideal, it usually takes me an hour and a half to thoroughly clean my car each Saturday, so in the winter months I admit I treat myself to car washes out for two reasons 1) they get the under carriage which I can’t do well, removing those harsh chemicals and salts applied to roads to keep them ice-free and rust my car, 2) it’s too cold for me to stand outside in the cold, especially keeping kids out there with the water as they usually help me and the soap freezes before I can even rinse it. So for these reasons I do splurge in winter but regularly in think doing it myself is prime.

These little silicone cupcake holders placed in the cup holders stop the gunk from drinks yucking up my cup holders, containing crumbs and such too for easy dump out the car door as needed. I prefer throwing them in the dishwasher from time to time in lieu of vacuuming and wiping out the cup holders every day.

Weather Tek matts are an essential, don’t even get in a car without them. Or your doomed. I like the ones with the one inch rise all around the sides that contain spills.

A Swiffer duster in the glove compartment. I use this at stop signs on the dash, in parking lots waiting for kid pick-up and anywhere else I can squeeze in a quick Swiffer. It helps keep the dust off my dash and control screen, out of my vents and even crumbs off my leather. Those crumbs as they go stale turn to glass and then gradually cut at those seat seems and cause the car seat to fall to ruin. Regularly wiping them stops the crumb build up.

Leather seats. Another must. Moms with kids should get free upgrades from cloth to leather-it’s that essential. Just is, I don’t care what the cost is or how good a steal you find, don’t bother with a car with cloth seats if you want a clean car. If you already got cloth-get covers. Sorry.

Junk in the trunk ONLY! Another daddy rule was never to keep supplies floating around the car with you. If in an accident he would say those things gonna beat you up like debris in a tornado. Keep it in the trunk. I have a minuscule trunk and I’m glad cause it really stops me from putting stuff in it and boy I still try to load it so I’m thankful for the limitation. But driving is so much more peaceful when your not sitting amongst junk too.

Keep the furry friends OUT of the car! Sorry, I know you love them but unless your willing to vacuum immediately after each ride either accept that the hair will never come out, or keep them out. Pets are also likely to puncture or at least scratch leather with their nails and if you have cloth you can’t get the smell out without steam cleaning. Moms don’t generally have the kinda time to keep up with the dent pets make on a car so I don’t recommend letting them ride. I’ve let a furry friend in my car once or twice in an absolutely necessity and I’m STILL pulling hair out of the fibers of carpeting with each clean. Just so not worth it to me. You may not care. But then you wouldn’t be reading this post;) It’s all about sacrifices and you just choose which you want to make. Me, I’d rather sacrifice riding with my pet than sacrifice my clean car for looking like a mom-mobile.

Last tip, not really a hack but really helps out staying on top of the mom-car-mess, is to take every free moment to clear crap, clutter and straighten out your car. I am known for trash collection at every gas station stop, for utilizing pick-up parking lots instead of catching up on emails, and rummaging through my trunk and organizing the contents into grocery totes, making a bag for each of my kids to cart out on there way into the house next. My sons mechanic friend recently helped out trouble shooting an issue with my car and commented, “Wow! Your moms car is the cleanest mom-car I’ve seen.” This was a genuine compliment for me. I was honored and touched to hear this because I try so hard and I want so badly to know I’ve pulled myself from the mom-car stigma. But I’m far from ma daddies standard and have a LOT of work to do. We still eat in the car but I take out an immediate trash collection after eating and threaten to dub the person whose spot I find ONE SINGLE crumb or remnant, the solo Saturday morning car cleaner of the week. It helps. But not ideal. I don’t like trash bins floating around the car so I don’t use the lined plastic cheerio box storage containers like I see some moms recommend or the black canvas bags that hang from the back of the seat headrest. I like the car clean, fresh and empty so soon as something gets brought in, then taking up trash collections suits me best and utilizing every gas station stop to rummage under seats and look for any stray straw wrapper or the like that I can find and throw out. Yes, it takes a little hawking but it’s a price I’d rather pay than riding in mom-car-mess with science experiments growing in the cup holders. People with clean cars work at it and people with messy cars don’t. Which one you want to be?

If you have an mom-car hacks for me PLEASE do share in the comments, this issue cuts to the heart for me and I’m all years for winning tips.