You know it’s happened to you… that apple core your child was nibbling on rolls under the car seat… and they don’t tell you. For days you wonder about that sweet-but-rank smell percolating in your car. I absolutely abhor getting into a car where my nose wrinkles before I’ve even sat down. The trouble is, in wintertime, cars get locked up tight, trapping odors and intensifying them. This can make holiday travel less than pleasant!
So I teamed up with my blog partner OdorKlenz for another post in my smell-good series! This week, I’m sharing my best tips to keep your car smelling fresh all winter with natural odor eliminators.
Keep your car smelling fresh all winter
Take advantage of mild autumn weather and clean. out. your. car! Here’s how I give my car a deep clean and keep it smelling fresh all winter.
Removing excess junk from the car goes a long way in fighting odors because there are fewer places for odors to hide. I can’t believe the stuff I found this week when I “mucked out the stalls” as I like to call cleaning where my two little boys sit. Crumb city. Chuck everything that does not belong in the car into a box (or the garbage).
Vacuuming the car is my least favorite job. But it’s gotta get done. I remove the car mats and bang them out and/or wash them with the hose if the weather is nice enough and they can air dry. But if you don’t have time, vacuuming is good enough.
Wipe down all surfaces with a wet cloth to remove sticky residues. Use a water/vinegar solution with lemon essential oil for a disinfectant cleaning.
Clean the kid’s seats! If you have car seats or boosters, remove them completely, and wipe or vacuum the regular car seats. So much gets caught underneath car seats! You don’t want that stuff there all winter. If you have time wash the car seat covers, too.
Place an odor eliminating pad in a discrete place, like under a seat, to continually absorb new odors coming into the car. Food, sweat, and other odors come in on our clothing and bags, so having an odor eliminator constantly at work helps keep your freshly clean car, well… FRESH!
The OdorKlenz Odor Eliminating Pad uses only safe earth minerals to passively neutralize odors. Their odor eliminator pad tucks nicely into small spaces where odors can linger (like the carpets in your car!). It’ll eliminate your current odors, and work to prevent new odors from festering. Since it’s non-toxic, you don’t have to worry about small children finding it or handling it. I love that the Odor Eliminating Pad has no fragrance, because to me, those sickly, perfumed car “deodorizer” smells are as bad as the stink itself!
Now keep smells out!
Remember when your car was new without a single spill or stain? Well, spoiler alert: you’re not getting that back, but you can reclaim some of the former glory!
Contain the garbage. Buy a cute little mini trash can with a lid or keep a stash of old grocery bags for the purpose. Empty this trash regularly when you gas up and your car will always be garbage free!
Only allow water or closed containers (travel mugs, leak-proof cups). Coffee, soda, and juice spills account for much of the smell in cars because the liquids dribble and sink into the fabric, making them hard to get out!
Avoid eating in the car. I know, this is hard. But nobody is going to starve from point A to point B. One time, when my boys were especially messy, I banned all eating from our car for one week, and our car was so clean!!
Be prepared for spills. Even if you don’t eat in the car, kids can get sick, animals can make messes, and grocery packages can leak or break. This fall, I bought some mums and didn’t realize the store had watered them before I bought them. I put them in the back of the van and by the time I got home, they had leaked dirt and water. My van smelled dank for weeks because that plant smell soaked into the carpet. So keep a cleanup kit handy:
- Paper towels
- Plastic garbage bags (for wrapping up stinky and really wet spills)
- Throw away plastic gloves (for animal/human waste spills)
- OdorKlenz Absorbent Granules to trap smells
Sometimes it’s hard to get to the messes in cars right away because you’re traveling or busy. So I started keeping my can of OdorKlenz Absorbent Granules in the car. Applying the Absorbent Granules means I’m already taking care of the odor! After removing any solid waste, sprinkle the granules directly onto the wet spill and they’ll start soaking up odors, along with the extra moisture.
The crumbly granules are made from the natural and non-toxic earth minerals like the other OdorKlenz products. The Vermiculite, Magnesium Oxide, Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide go to work soaking up damp odors and knocking them out. Later, you can just wipe them up with a towel, a whisk broom, or a hand vacuum.
So… there you have it. Clean odors out. Keep odors out. Knock odors out with OdorKlenz!
A clean car will have no odor…
Because Clean Has No Odor®! If you’ve masking the smells in your car with perfumed deodorizers, you’re not getting at the heart of the problem: the odor itself! I’ve really loved sharing OdorKlenz with you all because it’s a product I’ve found really works. I love how I can get stubborn stinks out of laundry, how my bathroom and kitchen sinks are funky-smell-free, and our cars are ready for winter!
All these common odor issues are resolved with the patented technology of OdorKlenz’s natural earth mineral products!
Check out OdorKlenz Absorbent Granules and OdorKlenz Odor Eliminating Pad to resolve common odor issues in the car for fresh-smelling holiday travel!
OdorKlenz has a 30-Day Money Back Guarantee, plus free shipping on orders over $75! AND… my readers get 20% off on OdorKlenz.com orders with this PROMOCODE: happystrong20
Now that your car is fresh smelling, use my other natural living ideas for keeping your home smelling fresh to add a little holiday spirit to the air in your car!
This post was sponsored and compensated by OdorKlenz. I am also an OdorKlenz Affiliate partner, which means that I may receive a small percentage of sales completed by clicking on the links in this post.
