Natural Car Cleaning Solutions

After a camping trip this past weekend (and a long lapse since the previous cleaning!), the inside of my car was in pretty bad shape. I was determined to use natural solutions for the dirt, grime, and an unpleasant smell that was beginning to waft through the vehicle.

I decided to tackle my dirty windows first. Somehow in the process of going up and down, they had gotten sticky, almost rubbery black smears up and down the driver and passenger side windows. I’d tried a few tactics in the past to get rid of them including scraping and rubbing with no luck. Even my normal homemade glass cleaner would not do the trick.

Luckily, I came across an easy homemade window cleaner for cars that was tougher than anything I had tried- and it worked right away! I combined the below ingredients in a spray bottle (yes, extra spray bottles are always good to have on hand!) and gave it a good shake. I then sprayed it on a lint free cloth and scrubbed the windows, then buffed with another cloth. Soon all of the windows were gleaming and the black smears were gone!

• 1 cup filtered water
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1/8 cup rubbing alcohol

After the windows were looking nice, I grabbed my delicate disinfectanct cleaner and an old dish towel for the rest of the detailing. I sprayed it on the dash, steering wheel, and used it on just about everything plastic in the car. It worked- and smelled- great. The dust and sticky messes disappeared.

Last, but not least, as it was getting dark I still needed to tackle the smell and vacuuming. I located a great recipe for freshening the carpet and sprinkled baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves on the carpet before vacuuming. Although I was initially weary of this idea, it actually ended up working very well. My car smelled fabulous and it vacuumed up perfectly!

Hopefully these little tricks work for you, too, and if you even decide to go with a natural cleaner for the outside, you can start with just some hot water and liquid castile soap. Happy car cleaning!