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Nevermind the house...how do you keep your car clean! - Page 2

post #21 of 54
3/7/10 at 2:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by zoebird View Post
to be clear, my son makes a mess with any food. but, i specifically choose foods that don't crumble too much (muffins) or squish too much (bananas) or are sticky-wet (juices). home-made energy bars and dried fruit are our norm. i have water in a water bottle (metal with a sport-top) for drinking. these are easier to clean up.

and, i don't see how having more than one child needs to change these policies. older children simply eat more dried fruit than younger ones. *shrug*
Because teen boys will not eat just dried fruit on long trips, and eating out is pricey, so I make our food before the trip, or make sandwiches on the trip.

Also, you'd be amazed at how finicky a four year old princess can be about what she will and won't eat.

Oh, and the baby has severe allergies *and* toddler preferences. Bananas are actually one of her few 'in' foods right now - and if she doesn't get to nibble in her seat, then all hell breaks loose. Same for the princess. The boys just get moody if they don't snack, or worse yet, their humor takes a dive into bathroom territory as they get the teenager-hasn't-eaten-in-the-last-45-minutes-giddiness.
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post #22 of 54
3/12/10 at 1:37am
Ds and I commute to school 40 minutes each way. He eats breakfast in the car, reads, listens to cd's etc. Our carport is literally 300 feet from the house so the car is always a mess. Occasionally I treat us both to a detailing and I put washable covers on the seats. No food is not an option as breakfast provides something to do and a way to maximize his sleep time at home. I dream of a clean car and enjoy it when it is....but between all my teacher stuff and the commute requirements I am not sure how realistic it is.
post #23 of 54
3/12/10 at 2:12am
No food in the car, water bottles are fine. Long trips are exceptions and we keep a trashbag in the vehicle for those times and for paper or tissue. I keep wipes in the car. The kids only get 1 toy, a magnetic doodle pad. I wash at the place that recycles thier water, once a month, twice if it gets really dirty from a road trip. I vaccum there too.

I take mail and fliers from school out the day we get them. Our car used to be trashed and this has worked great for us so far. The biggest thing is no food!
post #24 of 54
3/12/10 at 6:37pm
If you choose to not eat in the car (we stop and have snacks if we are on a long trip), and have a big bag for carrying things into the house after being out, it isn't that hard.

Tjej
post #25 of 54
3/12/10 at 7:34pm
I was just asserting what we do as per the question asked.

And FWIW, as a mentor to teens, a big bro/sis volunteer to younger children, and a sitter for even younger ones on occasion before our own child, we still managed to institute this rule in our car with teens, tweens, school-aged, and pre-schoolers when driving around. Parents would provide snacks for the car that fit the parameters of our rules, or we would.

When we were on long trips (eg, my DH drove the teen he was mentoring on a 5 hr drive), we would stop every 1-1.5 hrs for bathroom and snack/food breaks. each break is 1/2 hr, and so it adds 1.5-2 hrs extra of travel time. We simply add this into the time we need to get there.

Of course, while on the drive, when the time came up for a break, we would ask if we needed to stop, and if not, would continue on and stop later if needed.

but, this is just what we do. what other's do is their own business.

we also both grew up this way. my parents had a no eating in the car rule--not even dried goods--and my ILs have it too. there are no snacks, no nothing, in the cars.
post #26 of 54
3/12/10 at 10:03pm
I keep a stash of plastic grocery bags in the car as trash bags and when I stop and get gas I do a quick once over collecting garbage and toss it. For the most part we don't eat in the car and I try to get to a car wash with a vacuum every couple months to suck up whatever has accumulated since the last time it got cleaned out.
post #27 of 54
3/12/10 at 10:12pm
I keep a small dust buster type vac by the door and grab it every time we leave the house. I spend 30 seconds vacuuming before we head out. I also do a more detailed detailing once a week. My 3 year-old likes to pretend to drive and is well entertained while I'm cleaning so its actually far easier for me to keep the car clean than the house.

ETA - We eat in the car and go to the beach a lot so there's always a lot of debris. I also have a convertible which makes it easier to climb around the interior and clean.
post #28 of 54
3/13/10 at 3:54am
we often had leaf debris and mud from hiking! we would take a change of shoes and bags for the muddy shoes!
post #29 of 54
3/13/10 at 4:05am
Zoebird reminded me, here in the wet PNW, I have winter car mats that are plastic and shake out for all the wet pine needles. In the summer, I use the stock carpet mats.

I am a little bit, uh...crazy? about car appearance maintanence. Did you know that a big kabuki make up brush is perfect for cleaning out the dust from the radio buttons? Or that Armor All is not good for the plastic surfaces in your car? Or that you can resurface your headlights for better vision with a magic eraser (if mild) or sandpaper and rubbing compound (if badly scratched). That a clay bar treatment will help keep your paint in best condition if used about once a year?
post #30 of 54
3/13/10 at 11:46pm
I forgot to mention (and experienced this today, so figured I'd add) - taking shoes off upon entry if they are muddy, and I empty things out of the car BEFORE I unbuckle the kids - I empty the car until I only have one trip worth left, then unbuckle them so we all go in together for the last time.

Tjej
post #31 of 54
3/13/10 at 11:55pm
I used to have the World's Messiest Car

Seriously, I once found a LAMP in it. A LAMP! How do you lose a lamp in a car? And it wasn't even a small lamp, either.

I use two car organizers. One is on the back of one seat and one is sitting in the passenger's seat. I keep cleaning wipes, wet ones, an umbrella, bottle of water, maybe some snacks, etc, in these. I also keep a grocery bag at all times for trash. I try to make sure that whatever goes in to the car comes out of the car. If I get behind on this for even one day, the car goes back to disaster mode.
post #32 of 54
3/16/10 at 4:27pm
That's why I un-car. HTH!










:
post #33 of 54
3/16/10 at 7:11pm
we are happy to be carless too. less expense to carry, no mess to worry about, etc. it's decent. we had to move to achieve it though. we couldn't go car free where we used to live.
post #34 of 54
3/17/10 at 4:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by zoebird View Post
we also both grew up this way. my parents had a no eating in the car rule--not even dried goods--and my ILs have it too. there are no snacks, no nothing, in the cars.
Ok.
Guess I'm doing it wrong.

But then, I'm the type of person who enjoys living a space that looks lived in. I love seeing my kids toys, their art on the walls, the bindings of my books, six pairs of muddy boots by my door, half-eaten loaf of fresh bread on the counter, and etc. So you and I come from very different POVs.

And whereas you get to not have a car, and live with your idea of perfection...

I on the other hand own a '93 conversion van (she's blue, the kids named her Saphira) and live three hours from town, have four children and a dog. We spend our summer traveling to shows to make our living - while living out of our van.
post #35 of 54
3/17/10 at 9:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lalaland42 View Post
That's why I un-car. HTH!






:
LOL, you and your superior zen-like composure. Teach me, o wise one




:nana
post #36 of 54
3/17/10 at 10:15pm
foremost, i never judged anyone for living differently.

i have repeatedly asserted that others can choose differently, and since you do, perhaps you could answer the OP as to how you keep your car clean (however you define that) when your children do eat messy foods in the car. and perhaps that answer may be more helpful to the OP than mine.

i simply answered the OP as to what we chose to do for our car and for our family. it isn't "right" or "wrong" it's just what we do.

and it is true, i do not live like you. but i also do not think that the way i choose to live is the only "right" or "perfect" way to live. this is a judgement that you have placed on me, after attacking me for saying what i chose to do is "unrealistic" if i have more than one child or what have you. i simply refuted how it hasn't been unrealistic for us.

to me, how others live is their business. but when asked "how do yu keep your car clean"--i talk about how i did that. someone asked, i answered.

no one has to live by it. it's just how we do it.
post #37 of 54
3/17/10 at 10:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lalaland42 View Post
That's why I un-car. HTH!










:
post #38 of 54
3/18/10 at 1:34am
We don't live in our car. I walk more than I drive. It is easy to keep "stuff" to a minimum and get used to doing so all the time when you walk more often than you drive.

When we do drive, we each have a water bottle (reusable) and maybe a book or some other form of entertainment. We generally do not eat in the car. This is probably the biggest thing in keeping a car clean, FWIW. If we do eat in the car, which is rare, the trash goes immediately out of the car at the first stop. Nearly every place has a trash can somewhere. Even when it isn't food trash, trash is removed from the car at the first stop. Like I said, trash cans are everywhere around here. When we arrive home, everything that came out to the car, goes back into the house.

We go to the beach and hiking a LOT. Same rules apply.

We generally get our main car washed and vacuumed once a month. The other car is more like every other month. We live in an HOA and cannot wash them here. Vacuuming could be done, but the place that is convenient and relatively inexpensive does it automatically for the same price. If the amount of sand or dirt is extreme, I will vacuum the car myself. I shake out the car mats whenever I think about it. I keep a microfiber cloth in each car and wipe the dash, etc down at random times. The car wash place doesn't do this, so I do it at lights or while waiting or before going inside somewhere.
post #39 of 54
3/18/10 at 6:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by zoebird View Post
we are happy to be carless too. less expense to carry, no mess to worry about, etc. it's decent. we had to move to achieve it though. we couldn't go car free where we used to live.
OUt of curiosity, where did you live? I was carfree in Las Vegas for a few years, and it worked fine. So-Cal: fine.

If being carfree is a priority (which it is for me), I could not imagine moving somewhere so far away from everything that I would really need a car. It's like cleaning my whole house including the inside of the washer on a weekly basis: just a few small adaptations can make a world of difference!
post #40 of 54
3/18/10 at 6:44pm
I cannot imagine being carfree. It's soooo hilly and rainy here. And I'm a midwife so I need personal transportation at all hours. And there's always a lake between where I am and where I'm going to, so I have to detour to a bridge or drive around the lake. I live 1/10 of a mile from a bus stop, and I have used the bus system on occasion. For most of my trips, though, bus times would be approaching 2 hours, one-way for a 25 minute/12 mile trip. I am not willing to bike 25 miles round trip, either.
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