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Original poster

Why am I like this? Disgusting car

215 replies

StupidFaces · 28/04/2023 07:26

I’ve always been quite a scruffy person when it comes to housework etc but in the past few years I have learnt to keep my house relatively clean and tidy.

My car however is totally disgusting. Empty water bottles everywhere, crisp packets, yogurt pots, chip wrappers, odd shoes, used tissues, random paperwork … there is nowhere to sit other than the drivers seat. It stinks.

A few weeks ago I had to give someone a lift unexpectedly and I was embarrassed - there was even a used nappy on the floor in the back. She opened the passenger door and gasped. I told her to just Chuck everything into the back but I was mortified. I gave it a proper good clean after that, got rid of all the rubbish, vacuumed it, put an air freshener up … a week later it was back to normal.

I don’t even know how it gets so bad. Am I just a lazy sod? I don’t even seem to see it until someone else needs to get into it (or DH uses it and complains about the state of it)

OP posts:
RandomGeocache · 28/04/2023 09:04

RudsyFarmer · 28/04/2023 08:58

My kids trash the back of my car but there’s no litter in there. Just bits of chocolate and crisps ground in 🤦🏻‍♀️

So have a "no eating in the car" rule? I used to give another child a lift to playgroup in the morning when he was about 4, one morning his gran sent me out to my car with a bowl of cereal and was quite scandalised when I said he would have to finish it before getting in.

RichardHeed · 28/04/2023 09:04

Blossomontree · 28/04/2023 08:47

I would rather a wet nappy left in a car than chucked out on the road or grass, in fact. I’m guessing OP left it there as no bins at hand.

Because there are no other options than slinging a nappy on the side of the road, or leaving piss festering for a week 🙄

BellaTheDarkOverlord · 28/04/2023 09:06

Car bin. I got one that clips on back of the seat from headrest. It has a waterproof inside. It is handy.

SpeckledlyHen · 28/04/2023 09:08

Blossomontree · 28/04/2023 08:37

Why not simply take it out of the car when you arrive home one of those ‘sounds easy but is not’

I get home. Get two year old out of car, into house, cat winding round my ankles demanding food, seven months pregnant and desperate for a wee. Feed cat, sort DS, wee, then DS wants something then this happens and that happens.

Yes, I could make them all wait (perhaps not my bladder) but it isn’t easy to ‘just’ do it. Especially when you’re in and out and in and out!

Yes but the OP has said there’s no kids involved, she’s not pregnant (has grand children) so is hardly in the same position as you. She’s stated it’s just her..

ttcat37 · 28/04/2023 09:09

Why a woman with grandchildren needs to be told how to take rubbish out of the car is completely beyond me.
Your motivation could be to stop setting such a disgusting example to your grandchildren? I wouldn’t let my dog get in a car like that let alone a baby.

Libelula21 · 28/04/2023 09:10

@TiredOfCleaning the weekly routine is a great idea!

To have such high personal hygiene but have such a messy car almost invites some psychoanalytic response!

Don’t bear yourself up about it, you are who you are. Maybe just keep a supermarket bag in the car for the rubbish.

My car often gets messy, mainly cos I have a child and we do lots of linked trips - grandad’s - shops - park - home - and so I can’t carry everything into the house single handed when we get home.

mrsbyers · 28/04/2023 09:11

Car bin or a carrier hooked somewhere helps , the nappy is pretty disgusting though - are you depressed ?

justasking111 · 28/04/2023 09:12

I have grandchildren in the car so empty it using a laundry basket then sort in the house. I'd get it valeted then get a laundry basket to put in the footwell

Kanaloa · 28/04/2023 09:13

Blossomontree · 28/04/2023 08:47

I would rather a wet nappy left in a car than chucked out on the road or grass, in fact. I’m guessing OP left it there as no bins at hand.

I don’t think the options are leave dirty nappy in the car for a week or chuck it on the road. I’m sure at some point in that week she had access to a bin.

Polis · 28/04/2023 09:15

Yes but the OP has said there’s no kids involved, she’s not pregnant (has grand children) so is hardly in the same position as you. She’s stated it’s just her.

Where did the dirty nappy come from? Her?

Portandlemonade · 28/04/2023 09:15

It's really very simple @StupidFaces

At the end of every car trip as you park in your driveway or on the street, you pick up your handbag, shopping, work bag etc AND YOUR RUBBISH.

Goodness- is that beyond you?

Tlolljs · 28/04/2023 09:17

Dirty nappy was a dgc

KittyAlfred · 28/04/2023 09:19

Blossomontree · 28/04/2023 08:47

I would rather a wet nappy left in a car than chucked out on the road or grass, in fact. I’m guessing OP left it there as no bins at hand.

And she never saw another bin again, so had no choice but to keep the nappy in the car, for all eternity.

FictionalCharacter · 28/04/2023 09:24

Stop eating in the car!
Get the car cleaned properly at one of those places that does cleans by hand. Then resolve to keep it clear. Take rubbish in as soon as you get home, every day. Best to use a refillable water bottle and then you won’t have plastic bottles all over the car.

Sighhhhh · 28/04/2023 09:25

I doubt OP is being serious

Alltheebest · 28/04/2023 09:26

Some people are just messy, don't feel ashamed.

I would be a bit wowed if I saw your car but wouldn't judge. I put rubbish in my handbag so I never leave it in the car but I have carrier bags for sticky stuff.

I second the carrier/bin bags. Put rubbish in it and if you forget to take it out when you leave at least everything is in one place.

I'd have MULTIPLE bags so you're not stuck with no bag after you've put one in the bin, hence starting the cycle of rubbish again.

starfishmummy · 28/04/2023 09:26

The nappy was my granddaughters who I had taken out for the day a week earlier (it was wet nappy, not poo)

Because week old urine doesn't smell at all Confused🤮

JosieOhNo · 28/04/2023 09:27

Anyone else wondering what the OP did with the spoon she ate the yoghurt with?

Lots of WTF things in the post, but this is the one bugging me 😂😂

Kanaloa · 28/04/2023 09:28

Gtsr443 · 28/04/2023 08:44

Filthy stinky car eaters sitting in their cars eating yoghurts up to their ears in grandchildren's excrement.

Get out of your stinky car and eat your yoghurt by the side of the road like civilised people do.

Show quote history

I haven’t just pulled it out of nowhere - op says the car ‘stinks.’ I’m not exactly a weirdo for not wanting to be in a car that stinks and has dirty nappies in it.

Out of curiosity, would you be happy to leave a dirty nappy on your living room table for a week and have people over to visit? Would you think that was normal?

Lcb123 · 28/04/2023 09:29

Sorry but your post made me feel sick. Eating in the car regularly is horrible, and the nappy... just clear out your car after each use.

readbooksdrinktea · 28/04/2023 09:30

Bimbom · 28/04/2023 07:44

A used nappy?!

I really don't see what's difficult about this. If you're capable of driving a car you're capable of taking your rubbish with you when you park it

Yeah, the nappy is disgusting, sorry. It's not difficult having a rubbish bag in the car and taking it with you every day at the end of the day.

cocksstrideintheevening · 28/04/2023 09:30

Just how and why are you eating yogurt in the car?!

I have horsey children, the back seats are generally not the cleanest at this time of year but if anyone generates any rubbish they take it out with them that day. I keep a throw in the boot in case any one clean needs to sit in the back.

It gets cleaned very two or three weeks at the local handwash place.

RudsyFarmer · 28/04/2023 09:31

RandomGeocache · 28/04/2023 09:04

So have a "no eating in the car" rule? I used to give another child a lift to playgroup in the morning when he was about 4, one morning his gran sent me out to my car with a bowl of cereal and was quite scandalised when I said he would have to finish it before getting in.

Show quote history

I would do the same but we do so many extra circulars I need them to eat in the car very often. It’s just one of those things and I live with it (and DP valets in periodically).

DIYandEatCake · 28/04/2023 09:32

I eat in my car fairly often (peripatetic job with not much time for lunch), and also struggle with rubbish. It helps to keep a carrier bag in the car and chuck anything in there, then it’s easy to grab and take in at the end of the day.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 28/04/2023 09:38

I dare say it’s for the same reason, OP, that quite a lot of stuff lying around my sitting room for days on end, hasn’t yet been taken upstairs and put away in its proper places.

The other day I found the sunglasses I’d been hunting for, for at least a week previously (eventually went and bought a new pair) in an open make up bag (with my manicure/pedicure stuff in) that’s been sitting on a side table since I last did my nails at least 3 weeks ago.

I don’t know why there isn’t a lazy baggage emoji, but that’s my reason, OP - basically CBA.

I only really get the proper tidying-up urge when I know guests are imminent.