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5 natural ways to clean and maintain your car interior
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Here’s a quick rundown of natural ingredients and methods for maintaining your car’s interior and cleaning some of the tough stains that you might get in your car. Even your electric Tesla is going to need cleaning once in a while, and whether you have a green car or not, you want to at least be green cleaning it. Right? Leather/Vinyl - I’ll start here since, overall, these are the easiest to clean. Well, they are if you aren’t reading the huge claims of most leather cleaning solutions and kits, that is. Otherwise, you’ll think you have to have everything but blood from a baby seal to keep your leather “like new.” Otherwise, literally all you need to keep leather clean and fresh is a regular wipe-off with a damp rag. Really, that’s it. The moisture keeps the leather supple and the rage wipes away most things that are “stuck” to the leather. Stains rarely set into leather if they are cleaned up immediately and one of the easiest things to get, no matter where you are, is a wet cloth. For harsher stains and things that have set pretty well, use toothpaste. Ya, I said toothpaste. Squirt it onto the stain and rub it around with your finger. You can use a toothbrush if you want, I guess. Wipe away the excess with a, you guessed it, damp rag. This gets most stains out. For the really touch ones, try rubbing alcohol (isopropyl). Check it on a small area that doesn’t matter, like under the seat, first. Make sure it won’t bleach the leather’s color. Most of the time it’s OK, but some leathers and colors don’t do well with alcohol. If it’s OK, then dab the area with a cloth soaked in alcohol. Rub gently, dabbing and pausing to allow the alcohol to dry occasionally. This will lift out most stains that toothpaste can’t handle. Carpets and Cloth - If you have a cloth interior and/or carpets, then you will be glad to know that maintaining their clean and fresh smell is easy. You can make a simple carpet freshener with baking soda and your choice of scents (cinnamon, clove, etc.) can be mixed. The scent must be powder in form, otherwise, use straight baking soda and ad the liquid scent in drops to your ashtray or on a damp square of cloth you can put in the glove box. For stains and real messes, use the steam vac with vinegar (1:10 solution vinegar:water). If you don’t have a steam vac, mix the same solution in a small bucket and give it a squirt of soap (my soap recipe is my favorite). Rub that in with a cloth dipped in it, scrubbing the area with the stain. Rinse by using clean water on another rag with the same rubbing process. Then aerate (open doors/windows) for a while to dry. Once it’s dry, use baking soda and a vacuum to get the lingering vinegar smell out and you’re set. Hopefully these help. Keeping a clean car is pretty easy and it doesn’t need to include a lot of toxic chemicals and questionable (costly) products either.
To use the baking soda freshener, just sprinkle it on the interior (cloth seats, carpets, etc.) and leave it for a while. A couple of hours (with the windows cracked) is best, but a few minutes will work if you don’t have time. Then vacuum the powder out of the car thoroughly. If you have a steam vac, follow the dry vacuuming of the baking soda out of the car with a hot water steam (no solution needed) if you’d like.
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