You’re bound to spend a lot of time in your car if you drive it often. Spending much time there means you have plenty of time to make a lot of mess on the car seat, not just you, your pet, and your kids.
Accumulated dirt will make the seat dirty and smelly, not presenting you in good light.
Quick Answer
As a general rule, some car seat cleaning hacks include vacuuming, deodorizing with baking soda, using seat protectors, detailing your interiors more often, and more.
If you ignore the dirt for too long, your car seat will change color and smell. You must clean your car seats as much as you clean the exterior.
Read on if you need car seat cleaning hacks for your car.
Car Seat Cleaning Hacks
Dirty car seats ruin your car’s looks, and they smell. You don’t want you or others to feel uncomfortable whenever riding in your car holding your noses or fear that the seats may stain your outfits.
Therefore, a dire need for car seat cleaning hacks.
As a whole, car seat cleaning hacks include the following:
Dirty car seats are home to hundreds of bacteria that pose a risk to your immune system. Therefore, you must regularly clean your car seats to kill bacteria. Here are some car seat cleaning hacks:
Don’t Leave Trash On The Seat
The first step to maintaining clean car seats is to keep trash away from your car. Make your car seats a no-trash zone. Keep those pizza boxes, coffee, chocolate, and food away from your car. In addition, you should leave a trash can in your vehicle to collect all your mess.
Furthermore, remove any mess made immediately. Clear out the food waste and liquid spills before they stick to the seat and become a problem.
Use A Baking Soda Solution
You don’t have to wait till you take your car to the detailer before having clean car seats. Sift through your kitchen cabinets and take out your baking soda to create a cleaning solution for getting stains out.
Mix ¼ cup of baking soda with warm water and spread the mixture on stains deeply embedded in the car seat. Leave the mixture on the surface for about 30 minutes, then scrub to remove the stain.
Then, remove residues using a dry microfiber cloth. You should apply a conditioner on the car seats if they’re leather. This will serve as sunscreen to prevent the seats from cracking and fading. Furthermore, the conditioner resists future stains from messing up the leather.
Deodorize With Vinegar
Vinegar is a natural antibacterial and antifungal agent that deodorizes your car seat. Mix water and vinegar and spritz them on the seat. Leave it to dry, and it will neutralize the smell from your car seats.
Use Seat Protectors
Using seat protectors on your car is one way to prevent dirt from settling on it. Whether traveling with your kids or pets, you can prevent their mess from ruining your car seat’s fabrics or leather.
Most car seat protectors are durable and easy to clean, so you can easily wash off the mess, dry them, and return them to the seats. In addition, you should keep other essentials like wipes and sickness bags in your car to take care of the mess immediately.
Detail Car Interior Occasionally
A basic car wash isn’t always enough, especially if you don’t detail your car interior often. Ignoring your car interior will let dirt accumulate in it and the seats. Therefore, you should detail the car interior occasionally to remove dirt.
If you have the time, you can detail the interior at home. Otherwise, you should take your car to an auto detailing center around you, and they’ll professionally remove the mess from your car and restore its looks.
Use Club Soda
Another way to clean your car seat is by using a club soda. Get a club soda, spritz it on the stained area, and scrub it with a brush. Then, wipe off remnants using a microfiber cloth.
Use Rubbing Alcohol To Remove Stains
One effective car seat cleaning hack for leather seats is using rubbing alcohol to remove stains from the surface. Insert a cotton ball into rubbing alcohol and rub it over the surface.
The alcohol will slowly remove the stain from the leather; then, you can clean the alcohol from the seat using warm water and a dish soap mixture. Another alternative to rubbing alcohol is nail polish remover.
Non-gel Toothpaste
You can also clean a leather car seat using non-gel toothpaste. Dab a small quantity of toothpaste on the stain and use a toothbrush to scrub off the paint. Then, wipe off leftovers from the surface.
Use Lemon Juice Mixture
Stains are some of the contaminants that deface your car seats. You can easily get those stains out if you have lemon juice and cream of tartar at home. Mix the two into a paste and spread it over the stain.
Leave the mixture on the surface for about 30 minutes, then wipe it off using a damp microfiber towel. The only problem with this mixture is that it contains bleaching properties; therefore, you should only use it on light-colored seats.
Handpick Pet Hair Or Use A Lint Roller
Pet hair and hair, generally, can mess up your car seat. Sometimes, they settle into the car and may become hard to remove. They mess up the car’s look, so you need to remove them.
One way to do that is by handpicking the hair from the car seats.
Wear a rubber glove and pick up the hair and wipe over the surface after.
However, handpicking can be tedious; therefore, you can use a lint roller to remove the hair and wipe it on the seat afterward.
Baking Soda And Vacuum Combo
Beyond messes that you can see, you, your pet, and others can make messes that are unpleasant to your nose.
Therefore, picking out dirt and hair may not be enough.
The next thing to do is to deodorize the car.
Get some baking soda and sprinkle some on the car seats and leave them to absorb the odor from the seats for about two minutes.
Then, vacuum the baking soda from the seats to prevent them from littering the car.
Ensure you get all the crevices.
Vacuum And Clean The Seats
Vacuuming your car seats is sometimes inevitable, especially if they’ve accumulated a lot of dust and dirt.
Vacuum the dirt and dust from the car seats and reach all crevices.
After vacuuming, use a soft cleaning solution that’s gentle on the car seat material to clean them.
Conclusion
Dirty car seats don’t look good and pose a risk to your immune system. Therefore, you must keep them clean the way you do your car’s exterior.
You should consider carrying out occasional interior detailing to maintain clean interiors and car seats.
Furthermore, beyond cleaning the car seats, you need to keep dirt away from them.
Ensure you remove messes immediately after you make them, and deodorize the car seats often.
Key Takeaways:
References:
https://www.way.com/blog/top-car-seat-cleaning-hacks-that-will-make-your-life-easier/
https://www.hgtv.com/lifestyle/clean-and-organize/how-to-clean-leather-car-seats
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.popsugar.com/smart-living/How-Clean-Car-Seats-34765293/amp
