How do I insist this new car stays clean.

[TrotOnCharlie]

Picking up a new to us car tomorrow. It's immaculate, kept in a garage, driven occasionally one very careful lady owner.

We live near the beach, have a dog and two teen kids. DD1 actually asked me why the back of our car was always so messy. When I checked, it was all their fault - PE kit, biscuit wrapper, empty water bottle, etc.

Can I keep this new car lovely? How do I keep this new car smart?

Rubber mats? Bus passes for teens?

If they leave anything in it then just call them back to take it out. Every single time.

Yes, just make them take their own crap out of the car.

And maybe if they’re the age where you want to give pocket money you can give them a fiver to wash and polish.

Tell them anyone who leaves rubbish or crumbs in the car will not be allowed to eat in the car.

And they have to take it in turns to empty out the car bin

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I have a similar problem minus the teenagers. What I also have (and I suspect you do too) is incontinent seagulls. I can browbeat the wrapper droppers and I am mostly responsible for the sand but I think the gulls wait until I am not looking and dance on the roof of the car, the excitement leading to random outbursts of pooing Enjoy the new car though, maybe a miracle will occur

We don’t eat in the car. Ever. No exceptions. Every journey what is taken into the car comes out at the end of that journey.
I use a boot cover so when we’ve been to the beach I can just unclip it and shake most of the sand away.
Use a cordless handheld vaccum weekly to keep on top of it. The cleaner it is the easier it is to keep clean.

Nobody eating or drinking in the car is a good rule.

As a lifelong car slob, I am going to try turning over a new leaf from now on with my car.

I Might make dc take a bag if they want to transport anything in the car & teach them to pack it away before the journey ends!

Not eating or drinking in a car is a bit extreme.

Just give it a wipe down and a hoover once in a while, job done.

When I had a car I had a rule that it was not a portable storage unit so nothing was left in the car overnight so PE kits, school bags, shopping bags etc all came out as soon as we got home every night. The only things that stayed in the car were things that lived there permanently - emergency kit, jump cables, first aid kit etc - and I had an organiser in the boot to keep them all out of the way but easy to access.

I had a cheap plastic cereal dispenser box that I used as an in car bin - it was small enough to not get in the way, but big enough to hold a few days of rubbish; it had a flip top lid that was easy for DD to open but secure enough to make sure stuff stayed in it until it was emptied and because it was plastic I could throw it in the dishwasher periodically if there was anything sticky etc. Whenever we went somewhere I have a quick sweep of the car and put any rubbish in it before we got out and then once a week I'd just take it inside and empty it into our kitchen bin.

Another little trick a friend told me was to get some silicone cupcake liners as they are the perfect size to fit inside car cup holders. By using the liners you can remove them easily- so if someone spills a drink or it just gets a bit grimy over time you just take out the liner and rinse it out rather than having to try and scrub out sticky residue from the actual cup holder as they are invariably awkward and full of unnecessary nooks and crannies

I also had little hooks that clipped onto the back of the front seats to hang bags on, I found that if our bags were hung up, rather than dropped in the footwells there tended to be less stuff that fell out and then rolled under the car seats to multiply and it made it easier to access them than having to scrabble around on the floor.

Get them to clean it weekly, might focus their minds on not making a mess in the first place!

I also remove outdoor shoes before getting in the car when I’ve been to the beach and slip on a pair I keep in the car for driving, helps a bit with sand getting everywhere. And get a bin of some description for the back of the car to put any wrappers etc straight into.

I forgot to add - my mum also has a dog and lives near the beach and she keeps her boot clean by using a fitted sheet.

She attached little loops to the corners of the sheet and command hooks in the four corners of the boot space to hold the sides of the sheet up. When the dog jumps in to the boot after a trip to the beach she only touches the sheet, so when mum gets home she let's the dog out and then just has to unhook the sheet, gather up the corners and lift it out, and any sand/dirt is contained. She usually switches it out every few days but if she goes shopping or picks up DD and she has bags and needs to use the boot space, she can easily unhook the sheet and put it into a carrier bag/fold it up so that the other items don't get dirty but any sand/dirt is contained.

I used to be the same, but my latest "new" car was immaculate when I got it so I made a concerted effort to keep it that way.

We have leather seats but previously we've used really good quality seat covers.

We have a TransK9 cage for DDogs which is easy to keep clean and traps their detritus in one place.

I've not banned eating as I've found a sneaky trip to the McDonald's drive thru a useful bonding exercise with teenage DS. All rubbish does have to be removed after though, and I'm shameless at calling him back if he wanders off and leaves it behind.

We also change shoes if they're very muddy or wet and I no longer drive in wellies.

We also have a valeting place locally that will do the whole car (smaller 4x4 so on the larger side) inside and out for £35. It only takes them about 15 minutes as there's about 6 of them, but it's money absolutely well spent and encourages us to keep it cleaner in the interim.

Changing shoes to get in the car if you've been anywhere sandy or muddy is a good suggestion.

I hike a lot and am also a car slob so my cars are always full of mud. But it does improve if i manage to change my shoes to drive to and from walks and keep a plastic ikea box in the car to put muddy ones in.

Definitely get car mats if it doesn't come with it. You can get generic mats to fit most cars cheaply off ebay.

Maybe ask them both to do a once a month rubbish clear out, vac and wipe round?

I'm getting a newish car that will be spotless inside and out later this week after driving a banger for the last year. Perhaps I should take my own advice?

Be a parent and tell your children to clean up their mess?

I like the tip about the silicone cupcake liner for the cupholders. I've got some of those so will definitely be doing that.

I don't think anyone here has used the silicon cases for years, time to repurpose.

I'm also going to devote far too much time to finding a suitable bin, the old solution if grabbing a dog poo bag means we just have a load of suspect looking bags tucked in corners.

Boot liner, dog containment device, we have a fixed lead in the car but it need to be shorter because he still hangs over the back seats.

New car excitement here. Can't wait.

We are getting a new car next month and I will be having words with my DCs regarding exactly the same thing.

DS1 is inheriting our old car if/when he passes his test and has already announced that when it's his car, no-one will be allowed to eat or drink in it...

The hypocrisy is stinging...

@THisbackwithavengeance

We are getting a new car next month and I will be having words with my DCs regarding exactly the same thing.

DS1 is inheriting our old car if/when he passes his test and has already announced that when it's his car, no-one will be allowed to eat or drink in it...

The hypocrisy is stinging...

DS is learning to drive and his car is his pride and joy. One day I saw an orange Twirl in Waitrose on the way to collect him from college, and ate it in his car while I was waiting for him.

The temptation to smear chocolate on the seats and throw the wrapper on the floor was hard to resist

Boot bags - not near a beach but take kids to muddy parks a lot in winter and we use big IKEA bags in the boot for all muddy items to go in.

Rubbish - we are all guilty of rubbish so just need to keep emptying each day.

The rubbish is small but ever present. The ripped corner from a packet, the parking ticket rip off bit, the abandoned junk mail leaflet.

I determined to start positive and maintain standards, will report back in a month. I will then be following up when DD finally gets a car.
I watched DD's friend bonding with her first car over the weekend, it's been sat in, cleaned, extra led lights purchased. This child has vomited in my car, left behind water bottles, crushed birthday cake in tissue, I might have a middle aged melt down in her back seat.