Having a car is great until you have to clean them. All that dust, dirt, and gunk just waiting for you to scrub or wipe them off your car. Such a hassle, right? These ten cleaning hacks will help you save time and energy so that you can enjoy your weekends the way you want to.

1. Olive Oil for Your Dashboard

Olive oil isn’t just good for cooking. Pour some on a piece of cloth or paper towel, and wipe it down on your dashboard. This works best on a plastic dashboard.

If you have a different kind, test the olive oil polish first on a small patch to make sure that it doesn’t leave the dash stained or discolored. The best part is that there are no toxic fumes that come with your new, shiny car interior.

2. DIY Air Freshener

One hallmark of a clean vehicle is that it smells good. You can buy traditional air fresheners in your local supermarket, or you can create one yourself using laundry scent balls. These are tiny balls that you throw in the dryer with your clothes to make them smell better.

Pour a handful of scent balls in a mason jar or any small container. Use a mesh cloth or any material that has small holes for the lid so that the balls are securely kept inside the jar but you get to smell them.

3. Cupcake liners in cup holders

Cup holders are small but are notorious for collecting dust and biscuit crumbs which may be hard to clean out. For easy cleaning the next time around, put a silicone cupcake liner in your cup holders. This way, you wouldn’t have to worry about the mess that will accumulate in the cup holders because you can just take out the liners–shake or rinse and dry them–and put them right back in. Easy as that!

4. Toothbrush for small crevices

Your car has a lot of nooks and crannies that also need your attention. These small crevices are hard to get to and are not easily cleaned by sponges and rugs. To thoroughly clean every inch of your car’s interior, you can make use of your toothbrush. Dampen it with soapy water to remove hard to wash stains in small spaces. A toothbrush is also handy to get dirt and crumbs that get stuck in the seams of your seat cushion.

5. Stain remover for floor mats

Floor mats easily get dirty because it’s the very thing that you step on when you go inside the vehicle. Every speck of dust and crumb that you sweep off the seats end up on the floor mats. An easy way to clean them is by spraying them with stain remover and popping them into a washer with detergent. Your floor mats for Nissan Rogue will come out fresh and clean. This saves you time and energy than you brushing them yourself.

6. Squeegee for pet hair

You know those wipes used to clean large windows? That’s called a squeegee and they’re great for getting pet hair out of your seat upholstery. Pets are fun to have in the house and on the road, until they leave scattered pieces of hair in your carpet and seats. Just spray a few sprits of water on the seats and run it over with the squeegee, pulling pet hairs with it. An alternative is by using a rubber glove. Simply wipe it on the car seats just like you would with the squeegee.

7. Toothpaste for headlights

If you notice that your headlights isn’t as bright as it used to be, it might be high time to clean them up. Get more out of your toothpaste by using them to clean your car’s cloudy headlights. Squeeze an abundant portion of toothpaste to an old towel or rag and scrub your headlight until the glass clears. Rinse with a few splashes of water and wipe the headlight dry with a clean cloth to ensure that all that gunk has been stripped away.

8. Baking soda for your wheels

Baking soda is a common ingredient in cleaning hacks because it’s great in neutralizing odors and is known to clean a myriad of surfaces and materials. For your car’s wheels, create a paste by mixing three parts baking soda, one part water, and a few drops of vinegar. With a sponge, scrub the paste into the wheels and leave it there for two minutes to sit. Rinse with water and voila, squeaky clean tires worthy of a parade.

9. Alcohol for windshield wipers

If you clean your windows and not your wipers, all your effort will be for nothing because a dirty wiper will most likely streak your windshield. Instead of replacing them with new ones, you can just clean them with an alcohol swab or get a clean cloth and pour some rubbing alcohol. On the edge of your wiper blade, pinch it with the swab or cloth from one end all to the way to the other.

10. Conditioner for a great shine

Conditioners are known to make your hair shiny. Guess what? It also has the same effect when you use it to shine your car’s exterior, particularly the kind that has lanolin in it. Mix about 500ml of water with 125ml of hair conditioner in a bucket. After you wash your car, dunk a clean cloth into the solution and wipe your car with it. Hose down the entire thing with water to reveal a shiny exterior.

Published: 2018-10-30 20:25:12