Whether you drive the standard mommy minivan or you are riding in an old-school convertible, your car is going to be a big part of your day to day life. That’s why the cleanliness of your car is so important. Unfortunately, as most parents know, the second you introduce a kid into the car, any hopes of keeping it clean and stain free go out the finger-print covered window.
Make no mistake, children are often a blessing and a joy, but that tiny fraction of time when they are not, they are a whirlwind of mess and destruction like something out of an L. Frank Baum novel.
While most messes are easy enough to clean, sometimes stains and tears do happen. Fortunately, you don’t have to live with the damage to your car forever. If you are looking to give your car some new life, here are three steps you can take to improve the interior on a budget.
- Step 1: DIY Seats Repair
Professionally replaced seats can cost as much as $200 dollars, and often times cheap seat covers can look ill-fitting or simply out of place with the rest of your car. For almost nothing, you can purchase an upholstery needle and high strength thread so that you can easily mend the tear in most fabrics. Or you can opt for patching.
- Step 2: Steam the Carpets
Believe it or not, you can purchase car carpets tailor-made to fit any car no matter the make, model, and year as far back as the mid-1940s. However, if you’d rather not replace your carpets entirely, most stains can be lifted with a good steam cleaning. Even most deeply set in stains can be lifted this way. - Step 3: Cover the Cracks
In older cars, the sun can and often will cause cracks in your dashboard. Unfortunately, there is no way to fix these problems outright, but there is a clever way around the problem. Find some suede or other fabric that matches with the rest of the car’s interior and cut out a piece that can effectively cover the dashboard. Affix it with velcro or a liquid adhesive and your problem is suddenly a charming design feature.
Your car is a haven, a safe and happy ferry for you and your beloved children. But for the frugal mom, it can seem like you are helpless against the wear and tear your children inflict on your car. Hopefully, these three tips can help make your car look good as new.
