Why am I like this? Disgusting car

[StupidFaces]

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)

I'm naturally a bit messy by nature so would have said YANBU but a used nappy is a bridge too far for me. If somehow I missed disposing of it at the time, I would have thrown it away the next time I opened the car. The smell couldn't have been pleasant.

Could you pick a day of the week where you clear the car of rubbish before going somewhere nice to associate the clean car with nice things.

My car is not great! Mud on the back seats from the dog, parking receipts stuffed in car doors, random caps, waterproofs in random places, generally dusty, gaffer tape and parcel paper over the broken sat nav.

I like a previous poster's idea of having a set routine for cleaning and tidying your car. I did not even know that vacuums existed at garages - this is game changer for me! Now dreaming of a future in a clean car!

We have a brilliant car wash near us, next to a petrol station at Sainsbury. You pay at the petrol station then put the code they give you into the machine, like a car park machine. Drive under the canopy, then - and this is the wonder of it The machine moves, your car stays still. wooooo. A gantry goes over your car, water, detergent, cleaning cloth things do their job, you sit there in your car until the gantry goes back to it’s starting place and you drive off. It’s not quite as good as a hand wash, but it’s a lot cheaper, and more fun.

My car is full of mud from dog walks but no rubbish. If I do have to eat in the car I'd take the rubbish with me when I finished that journey. Drinking from a reusable water bottle would help. I do take the dog to one field about 10 mins away and there are no poo bins so I have to put the bagged poo in the boot until I get home. I'll never accidentally forget that as it reeks!

My car is often a tip but only with things like crisp packets, car park tickets etc, nothing that would smell. It rarely gets cleaned though, maybe twice a year. Thankfully it's cleaned when it's serviced!

People can be so rude and nasty- questioning your personal hygiene is just low.

I think trying to build keeping on top of the car into your daily routine is probably your best bet. I would clean it out so you are working with a clean slate then keep a supply of bags in the car and ensure you have one on the go to use as a bin going forwards.
Hoovers at petrol stations are really easy to use, they either take money in coins, some have the little blippy pad to tap your card on. Others you need to pop into the counter and get a special coin. They usually have a time on them so you know how long you have. It can be hit and miss with how good they are. We have just bought a shark vaccume which has a really good hand held cleaner and attachments which are perfect for cleaning the car so I just use that now.
Equally cleaning the outside of the car is really easy. You can either go through a car wash, but I like to use the jet wash mainly because it is fun.

I used to be bad with my car when I was younger. For me the solution was just keeping a supply of tesco bags in the door pocket so that I have the hands to carry in any rubbish created. I also have a rule that if we go through the drive through we put the rubbish straight in the bin at the location rather than drag it home with us and then it inevitably gets left in the car.

Good luck. you can do it :)

The grandchild..

I recently replaced my car and so currently it is nice and tidy.
The old one was a bit of a mess but only with things like parking tickets, receipts and the odd empty bottle or wrapper. I was so surprised how much was in there and how quick it was to clear it all out.
I hope to keep the new one in a better condition although I know it won’t be perfect.
If I have pre arranged giving someone a lift I would always make sure the seat and footwell are clear.
If it’s a casual offer and the person doesn’t like the state of my car they can always walk or use public transport, which of course is always spotless.

@StupidFaces Do you have older grandkids who would like to earn some pocket money? Maybe pay them to clean your car for you.

My Nana had lots of grandkids and great grandkids. She used to pay us for little jobs in the backyard to help out with weeding etc.

We used to love earning money.

She didn’t have a car, but having the experience of earning money for specific tasks inspired me to earn extra money with a few of my friends by going around our neighbourhood and offering to clean cars for a set price.

Are there vacuums at petrol stations?

Are there vacuums at petrol stations?

Seriously? Have you never topped up the water or checked your tyre pressures at a filling station, and clocked the massive hose coming out of the box marked "vacuum"?

No I have a private driveway 🤷‍♀️

My car gets hammered with work & is always full of bits of hay/straw/raisins/kid debris
I've found a company who do a really decent clean for £20 so I go there every couple of months or so. Really helps. Maybe see if there's anywhere local to you? I do tend to clear rubbish on a regular basis but my hoover never quite does the job that well.

The spoon(s) are on the floor somewhere

I think you should just accept you are not good at this and gey your car valeted once every month or whatever. You gey home valeters.

Omg!

It's one of those things that gives me THE ick in partners - in the same way a home in a similar state would.

I think it's instinctual repulsion at being closely confined with unhygienic (particularly someone else's) mess.

And it does make you wonder what other sound judgement is lacking.

Wait, so its your mess, you eat yogurt in the car and then just chuck it on the floor of the car . ....???? And same goes with crisps and so on, just throw it when you're done. ...???

I need to know if the Grandchildren nappy was open too!!!!

I’ve always struggled to keep my car tidy.
I’m a single parent, work FT and have to park 1/2 a mile away from home and so I found time a real issue.

What has helped me massively is:
-reducing how much rubbish I have in the car - eg by not eating or drinking too often in the car.
-having a bag for rubbish which can be shoved in the boot in an emergency.
-keeping (crap) spare things in the boot incase I need them but it makes the rest of the car look empty.
-booking in a time and day where I actually clean it - this is so much easier if you keep on top of things and will only take a couple of minutes.

Sorry OP, sounds utterly grim.
I guess it's just slovenliness and a lack of standards / effort to keep things tidy.
I can picture having to give someone a lift... no wonder you were mortified, I would be too.

I have adhd and ocd. Google this and maybe it’ll resonate. 3 showers a days seems obsessive, the stress about going to a petrol station because of coins and the confusion about why you do/don’t do things you don’t/do want to do sounds very familiar.

of course I only know what you’ve posted so I have zero idea, maybe you just expend energy elsewhere and the car is where you drop some slack. Maybe you had a parent who didn’t look after their car and so you never learned to…

Another one saying to get into the habit of removing the rubbish and stuff that doesn't belong in the car everyday when you get home. We - including the DC - always do this and thus the car is always ready to give others lifts.

We don't hoover or clean it that often, but we also don't eat food in it and make the DV change out of football boots before getting in etc.

Most garage vacuum cleaners take care now.

Go one evening and just have a look at it to see if it takes card or cash.

Then plan a day and time to take all of the rubbish out and then go and hoover it.

Once you’ve done it once then you’ll be fine.

It sounds like you get a bit overwhelmed so bury your head in the sand and then it gets worse and then it’s even more overwhelming, so it’s a viscous cycle.

You just have to set a time and force yourself to do it.

That's really grim OP, you will end up with mice in your car! IME, tidy life = happy life! I have DC and always make sure the home is nice (and the car) so they can bring friends round. I think saying to your friend to touch all that gross stuff (tissues / nappy?!) was not a very good thing to say and not hygienic at all.

You will feel better about yourself if you do things little and often - rope the kids and DH into it. A family needs to be a team

I keep a plastic bag in my car as a rubbish bag it's in the passenger seat footwell- when it's more or less full I bin it at a petrol station bin.

Then when I pay for my petrol, I ask them politely for a plastic bag - more often than not they give me one (or charge me 5p).

This will stop your rubbish cluttering up the car.

I pay for a £20 mini valet about once every 6 months as they can clean it better than I can