By: D.G. Sciortino/Shareably Like our homes, if we don’t clean up, our cars can get pretty nasty. You can take it to get detailed, but wouldn’t you rather keep that cash in your pocket? Well, you can if you follow these genius cars cleaning hacks.
Most of these brilliant methods require things that you already have in your home, so you don’t have to head out to the store and stock up on cleaning products. What even better is that most of these car cleaning hacks use natural cleaning solutions.
Here are 13 genius DIY car cleaning hacks that will help you get your car sparkling clean.
Castile Soap Car Wash
Instead of taking your car to the car wash where they use chemicals to clean your car, you can clean it at home using castile soap, which is made from plant oils. Just mix with some water, lather up your car, and rinse off for an organic car wash.
Baking Soda and Vinegar Upholstery Cleaner
If you’re one of those people who eat in your car, then you know your upholstery can get stained or sticky all too easily. You can mix white vinegar and baking soda together to make a paste and rub that mixture onto your upholstery or car mat stains using a brush or even a toothbrush.
Let it dry then vacuum it up. This should remove your stain and freshen up your car’s fabric.
Odor Eliminator
If your car is smelling stank, first find the cause of the stank smell and remove it. Next, mix some baking soda and essential oils inside of a mason jar and poke holes in its lid.
You can store your air freshener in the cup holder or another spot where it will stay upright. This will pull the odors from the air and help your car to smell fresh again.
Toothbrush to Detail
Toothbrushes work great to get crumbs and yucky gunk out of the crevices in your car. You can actually use your toothbrush to clean most of your car including scrubbing the seats, headrests, and dashboards. Try not to get too grossed out over how much grime you’re cleaning out of your car.
Clean Your Wheels
Make your wheels look brand new by covering them in a paste made from baking soda and water. Just rinse the paste off after a little while and they’ll be all shiny like they just rolled off the assembly line.
Dust With a Foam Paint Brush
Dust can easily sneak into little hard to reach spots in your car and build up quickly. You can use a foam paint brush along with a vacuum to clear out that dust and suck it away from spots like your vents.
Streak-Free Windows
Wipe Away Bumper Sticker Gunk
Bumper stickers can leave a nasty film behind when you take them off. Next time you want to remove a bumper sticker, just spray some WD-40 on it and let it sit for a bit. After it’s soaked for a little bit, you can pull the sticker right off without any gunk left behind.
Polish Your Dashboard With Olive Oil
Use can use olive oil as a natural way to shine up your dashboard and leather interior. Just rub some olive oil onto the surface with a clean cloth.
Shine Up Chrome
If your car has some chrome wheels you can spray them is a mixture of equal parts water and vinegar and wipe them up with a rag. This will shine up your chrome wheels really well.
Squeegee Away Pet Hair
Pet hair can be tough to get off your fabric seats, but not with this hack. Just spray some water onto your seats so it’s a little damp. Then drag a squeegee along the upholstery to pull up all that pet hair.
DIY Air Fresheners
Place a few drops of essential oil on a clothespin and place it on your air vent to create a natural DIY air freshener. You can even glue some cute things onto it if you want it to look a little fancier.
Remove Wax
If you have kids, they probably like to color in the car. But if they drop a crayon, it could melt all over your beautiful car on a hot summer day. The remedy for this is to place a piece of wax paper over it and run a hot iron over it. This will take the wax right up. You may need an extension chord for this one! You also may want to follow up with a cleaning solution.
