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 pretty bad, to the point where I've had nasty niffs from half eaten food gone off but a used nappy is too far even by my standards

I keep a roll of small (bathroom bin sized) bin liners in my car door cubby, and always have one hanging on my gearstick, that way rubbish goes straight in there and never makes its way to the floor.

Also keep a pack of baby wipes and a lint roller with the bin bags, so spillages can be cleaned up, hands wiped and cat floof or pastry crumbs can be lifted off my clothes.

Get someone to come and valet it for you.
You will not want to mess it up when it's back to showroom condition

I park next to my bins. Anything that needs disposing of goes straight in: coffee cups, water bottles, etc. I don't eat in the car. Dirty tissues/wipes go in my handbag and straight into the kitchen bin. I have wipes in the car for hands, dashboard, steering wheel, etc.

Once a month I have it valeted for £30.

I’m quite tidy, my family is not so I was finding that I had a car full of their crap. I used to keep a rubbish bag in it (that only I used and found that I still had a car full of crap and also a rubbish bag. Now I empty it every night when I get home without fail and wipe/vacuum it at least once a fortnight. It always looks lovely.

Weirdly, my car is the only thing in my life I can keep clean and tidy. My house is embarrassingly messy but there is no rubbish in my car, I go to the local hand wash place once a month, I regularly fill the tyres with air, and I keep it hoovered/dusted/windows cleaned. I don't allow eating and I once blurted out a horrified "don't fart on my seat!" at DH, who laughed at me for days

As others have said, you can take it to a petrol station to hoover it or you can pick up cordless handheld vacuums for about £15 in places like B&M. That might not be powerful enough to sort your car out right now but it could help you keep on top of it after a proper valet.

Also, you mention mess but not dirt. If your seats are grubby, you can buy car upholstery cleaner that comes in a can with a built-in scrubbing brush.

Mid, etc I can understand. But bottles and rubbish you just have to remove every time you get out of the car.

Don't shower so much, it dries your skin out!

Anyway. You need to accept that no one else is going to keep your car clean, or clean it for you. Unless you pay them :)

It sounds like most of your rubbish is food related. Try not to eat in the car unless you really can't help it, and then have a bag to hand that all rubbish goes in so it's straight in the bin as soon as you stop. Have a picnic blanket in the boot so you can sit out and eat then shake out the crumbs and use a bin if need be (this is also much nicer than eating in the car!)

Accept that no one is going to sort it except you, and diarise cleaning it once a month or so. Whether at home or at a garage or paying someone. Just make it a job you have a system for.

Still?

FGS - get off MN and go clean the car!

Grim!
No excuse. Just sheer laziness on your part.
I've a rule no eating or drinking in the car.
Only thing in boot is an umbrella and shopping bags.
It's not difficult to keep a car clean. Dread to imagine what your house is like.

A week-old used nappy is beyond disgusting op, and old yoghurt pots. Why do you eat yoghurt in your car? You need to get in the habit to take your rubbish with you EVERY time you drive your car. It’s that easy. Don’t get a car bin because you will never empty it and it will be even more vile.

5 minute tidies once per week/month (depending how bad you are) to chuck out the tissues/bottles/nappies/reciepts.

And a game changer is catch all tote in the front seat for all the crap you need thats normally just rolling around (you unused tissues, sunglasses, de-icer etc...). Everything is instantly tidier when its 'contained' and then the whole bag can be moved in seconds to let someone sit in the front without a second thought from anyone.

That’s beyond messy, that’s a bio hazard. The bacteria in the rotting food waste and nappy, seriously that’s horrific.

I am lax about getting mine vacuumed tbh but after a journey grab a bag and empty rubbish, that will make a huge difference. In your shoes empty it out get it cleaned inside and out, probs cost £20/£30

you NEVER drink in your car?

No I don’t. I don’t need to.

OP I know some have suggested it but don't think a valet will help.

The place round here all CLEAN your car (wash it, polish the dash, hoover the mats etc...) they dont tidy it.

They expect you to completely empty it before you drop it off (even removing kids car seat) or they wont do it.

I have remembered an incident in my old car. I was driving along when all of a sudden there was a huge Bang , and something shot past my face and hit the window , then a foul stench filled the car. For a microsecond I thought someone had shot at me ( overactive imagination here), pulled over to investigate and realised that an old plastic milkshake bottle I had discarded months previously had been quietly festering away until the build up of gas inside it had blown off the lid. Luckily it didn’t hit me as it went past me at a good speed and could have taken my eye out as my mother would say. I am now a lot more careful about clearing out car picnic rubbish.

I am the worst for an untidy car, its disgusting

One day i had to unexpectedly give a lift to the CEO of the company i was working for at the time.

She sat on my front seat with her bag on her knee looking round in horror scared to move.

Pretty sure she got a tetanus after.

Mortifying

Well thats weird, I don't know anyone that doesn't. You must not drive on hot days or long distances (or suffer severe dehydration).

If you think its strange to have a bottle of water in your car then the mind boggles.

No, never. I'm quite capable of travelling from a to b without needing to swig from a bottle.

I have a four hour daily commute. I certainly drink water in my car! (And I have wine gums and licorice sticks in my glove box).

I always have water in my car. It would be stupid not to. Don’t want to get stuck in a car queue or something in snow or hot weather and not even have water. But I tidy up after myself.

It's not just from A to B though is it (and depending on where your going A to be can be a bloody long journey), it's also C while your there and then B to A back.

Maybe you are a lady who lunches type that drives for pleasure can sit around in a coffee shop or goes to friends houses where your plied with tea etc... but for most people running around doing work or errands you either take a drinks bottle with you or have to buy something when out.

Frankly when I have been on the go since 8am especially on a warm sunny day I do tend to get a touch thirsty but don't feel like chugging an entire 500ml bottle of evian outside of Asda after the weekly shop between check out and car before jumping to go do the school run.

It makes much more sense just to plop it in the hole in the car especially for holding your drink.

Well there might be a time, even for you, where you get stuck in your car between a to b.

Also its recommended to keep a bottle of water in your car for emergancies. You'll really be glad of it when you have been stuck on the side of the motorway waiting for RAC for 4 hours.