When we bought the Beast we knew it was dirty. That was okay with us because we talked them down on the price, got a great deal, and we knew that with a little elbow grease we could clean the upholstery and everything would be fab.
We had no idea how dirty that thing actually was.
Over the summer I spent 45 minutes ON ONE SEAT of that middle row, pouring on the upholstery cleaner, scrubbing with a brush, rinsing out dirty water, refilling with clean water, and all I got was a lot of dirty water and one seat that was no cleaner. Hubby suggested I try vacuuming up the dirty water with our ShopVac (yes, FarmChick, we no longer have to borrow yours!) and that worked a bit better, but still, very dirty seat. And I hadn’t even started on the rest of the interior.
Then I found myself lusting after other vehicles. Not because they were newer or bigger or prettier, no, I longed for them because I imagined they had clean upholstery.
So I started the hunt for carseat covers. Good covers, not the ones that bunch up and have to be adjusted each time you enter the vehicle, but nice carseat covers that are made specifically for your type of vehicle.
After hunting around I found some made out of a cheap but long-lasting material and they were almost $600 for three rows.
PEOPLE that is a lot of money.
But I really want clean seats. I don’t want to flinch when Baby Chickadee’s pacifier lands on the seat or when my kids sit on them without their carseats. So I planned to get the pretty new CLEAN covers within six months.
But Mr. Frugal saw the look in my eyes that says “I don’t care how much I’m spending I’m going to do it” and he headed out the door with a bucket, vinegar, dish soap, warm water, a brush and the ShopVac.
Guess who got that seat clean?
Oh friends, it is soo nice and clean now. That one seat was all he had time for that day, but imagine when there is a nice day and he cleans the rest of the interior for me! I will be so happy and I will laugh with abandon when my kids eat fallen M&M’s off the seat next to them!
He asked if I minded the vinegar smell and I don’t. It smells clean to me and that’s all I care about.
But really, vinegar is kind of the miracle cleaner, isn’t it? I mean, I dropped some cash on the upholstery cleaner but a regular old vinegar mixture worked better. My mother-in-law uses vinegar instead of JetDry, my sister-in-law uses vinegar to clean her tub and her toilet, I use vinegar to mop our floors. Who needs the expensive stuff when the cheap, non-toxic stuff works better?
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We went and looked at that Sequoia the other day and it was DIRTY too! It also had rattles and stuff that I don’t want to deal with too though, so we are going to keep looking. Now you know the key to getting hubby involved. Threaten to spent some cash:)