This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The International Housewares Association for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.
Winter weather can wreak havoc on the cleanliness of your vehicle and on your motivation to get out in the cold and keep it clean and tidy. Warmer Spring temperatures are the perfect excuse to get a jump on getting your vehicle all shiny and ready for cruising around in the sunshine later in the season. If your vehicle isn’t quite looking it’s best right now, like our truck pictured below, then here a few guidelines to follow to get your ride in tip-top shape!
Assemble your tools
You don’t need anything too fancy to get started, just the basics will give you a good start. A few soft cloths, a glass cleaner, and a good furniture polish will get most areas taken care of. If you want to up your Spring cleaning game just a bit, some compressed air in a can and some nice lint-free polishing cloths will really help you get a nice finishing look.
Clear away the junk and garbage
Remove all those cheerios and empty coffee cups before you get started on your cleaning and you’ll have a much easier time of it.
Start inside and work from messiest areas to cleanest
The messiest areas will probably be the floor mats, the back seat area if you have kids, and anywhere that a spill or other accidental mess may have occurred during the winter months that you weren’t able to do a really good job of cleaning up. Next you’ll move on to cup holders, other indentations where dust and crumbs can collect,upholstery and leather seats, dashboards and on top of your steering wheel. Finally, you’ll tackle shiny surfaces like chrome accents and windows.
A note on dirt and dust
When you’re going after those muddy, messy floor mats and all the other little areas that trap dust, you’ll soon start to notice that removing the crumbs and bits of gunk isn’t as easy as it looks. First, make sure you remove any car parts that can be taken out, give them a good shake, and hose them down or vacuum them outside. For areas inside the car, spray them first with compressed air from a can to free any dust particles that are trapped in cracks and crevices, and this will make your job of vacuuming them out so much easier. It’ll look a whole lot nicer when you’re done too!
Finish with a protecting polish
Use a nice conditioning polish on vinyl and leather surfaces to keep them moisturized and protected and to refresh them after a long dry winter.
Clean painted areas and tires, then shine the windows
The last area you’ll want to work on will be the outside of your car. Give everything a good hose down to start to remove the bulk of the mud, dirt and dust. Next, either just clean the painted areas with a mild soapy solution if that suits your needs, or go all out with specialty cleaners, waxes, and even tire shining products. Finish up by polishing your windows so that they gleam in that beautiful Spring sunshine.
If you’re really looking to treat your car, truck, or SUV to a special experience this Spring, why not try a sanitizing wand like Clean Wave Portable Sanitizing Wand to really get things not only clean looking, but totally disinfected after a long flu season as well.
A steam cleaner like the Pronto 100CH Steam Cleaner and Fabric Steamer can be great if you have tough stains in your upholstery and steam has disinfecting properties too!
And if regular old cleaning cloths just won’t do for your ride, try a set of cleaning products made especially for vehicles like the e-auto Car Cleaning Kit.
For more seasonal home and lifestyle tips, check out the Inspired Home website put together by the International Housewares Association!
Happy driving and happy Spring!
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.