Pimp My Ride, Mama Style

That's right. We took Cleaning Club outside this week in order to hook up the mini van with some sweet new rims and a custom flame job.



Oh all right, you got me. We didn't do any of that, but we DID scrape mystery crud out of the back seat cup holders and clean gum off the seats. Not to mention all the vacuuming, scrubbing, wiping, and Q-Tip detailing that went on (All Hail Shannon, the Queen of the Q-Tip!)


Front seat cup holder. You don't even wanna know what the back seat ones looked like.

I am serious, the inside of my van has never been so clean. At least not since we bought it and proceeded to road-trip from TX to GA during the first week of ownership. Add 2 kids to the 2 we had already, and it's pretty much stayed a mess ever since.


Nasty carpet and 10 year old road atlas we unearthed beneath the basket that sits here.



Get those old ketchup packets OUT of the glove box.

We emptied everything out first- the glove box and all other compartments, throwing trash away as we found it and setting the rest aside. We took the seats and floor mats out, and even tossed the car-seat covers into the wash. Shannon detailed the car-seats themselves, while Rachel and I Armor-Alled the hell out of every surface in there. Now, I am usually a fan of plain old soap and water or maybe a bit of vinegar or perhaps a natural cleaning product or two. But that stuff really makes the car feel all new-ish again. The dash is shiny! And it got the grimy crud out of the faux leather grain on the armrests too.



Which reminds me: take a look at the armrests and steering wheel in your vehicle sometime. Especially if they are beige or some other light color. Yuck! The other thing that really surprised me when I took a closer look was the area between the door interior and the edge of the actual door. Blech! I was able to clean that grime off on all the doors and the back hatch, and it makes such a difference! I've completely overlooked that so many times when washing the car or cleaning the inside. It was so great being able to take the time to clean those off because of all the help I had.



Rachel vacuumed the entire thing out while I finished the doorways and washed the windows.



Luke took an interest in the vacuuming around the edges of the back hatch.



And Andrew was completely enthralled with the vacuum hose and tools.



Michael once again served as our overlord, keeping a watchful eye out for places we missed.


 "I can see those smudges from here! And don't forget the rear view mirror!"

 
"Can I get a little help here?"

We got the floor mats and seats back in, sorted through the rest of the stuff to bring in the house or put back into the van, and called it a day. Just look at the floors in there!

 

I followed through with the car seats and got them out of the wash and hanging to dry before I went to bed that night so I could re-install them in the morning. And of course, I was hit with a massive surge of the Cleaning Club Effect when the sun came out on Wednesday and I realized how grimy the outside of the van was now in comparison. A trip to the $4, all automated, water recycling car wash took care of that though, and made Stella & Lyle happy besides (who doesn't love a ride through the carwash?) I even brought an old towel with me and stopped to wipe the van off afterwards, which enabled me to get a few spots the auto wash missed AND shine my car up all pretty. 


Now it's so shiny I can take cool pictures of the trees reflecting in it.

It feels so great to get into a nice clean vehicle. Especially when it's yours. The kids didn't seem too impressed when they first got in, but then I directed their attention to the cup holders and storage pocket in the sides of the back seat. "WOW! OHMYGOD THIS IS SO AWESOME!!" was the basic theme of the conversation for several minutes thereafter.

It's very cool to now be able to take my Cleaning Club project with me everywhere I go. This is just another example of something I wouldn't have done as well or as quickly had I done it myself. And my entire family will be reaping the benefits for a long time to come- if for no other reason than Mom being a happier chauffeur!