Hellobee Boards

When I was in college, I kinda lived out of my car because I traveled home and to my boyfriend (now DH) place, so my car wasn't the cleanest. While my DH had a clean car back when we are dating.

Nowadays, 8 years later, he is the one with the messier car. It's one of my pet peeves is leaving food trash in my car. Now that I have a home and can easily take trash from my car and right into our trash can, I can keep a cleaner car. I hate it when he drives my car and leaves empty drink containers or fast food trash in my car. I ask him all the time to pick up after himself after he drives my car.

I'm not sure why he does it. It's easy for me to leave my car and check to make sure I don't have any food trash. Our LOs are pretty young but I'm hoping he does a better job cleaning up since we got a bigger car so he can be a SAHD and tote the twins around.

We just try to be really diligent about taking out trash when we park the car in the garage. There is a garbage right by the door so it's a constant reminder to throw the crap away!

How does he feel about the way his car is? It's hard to get someone to make a drastic change in something if they aren't personally motivated to make it happen, but if he's on board with cleaning up his act, pun intended, then you might be able to help him get there. I tend towards having a messier vehicle, but don't prefer it that way. For me, much of the mess is generated by the girls. I use cloth shopping bags to help with some of it. One hangs behind the passenger seat as a garbage bag, and I empty it and exchange for a fresh one when we get gas. Another hangs in the back (we have a minivan) to collect anything that does't live in the car. I can pop things in there, carry the bag into the house, empty it, and put it back in the van for next time. I have a car organizer in the back, but honestly I think a Rubbermaid tote or something might be cheaper and work just as well. In there I keep things like some extra toys in a small bag, extra clothes for the kids, our portable potty seat, boogie wipes, a wrap, and anything else that might be otherwise homeless. There's a basket in the back with some books for each girl; I try to remember to take it inside from time to time to change the books that are in there. Between the girls' seats there is a basket with coloring books, stickers, and things for them to do. I find that having containers for things to go in helps me with the clutter.

@Lilbear: Great idea to get it detailed first! I find as someone who lets her car get nasty, I try really hard for the first couple of days after I clean it on Sundays. And I try very hard to keep it clean much longer after I've dropped the $ to have it detailed. I really want a nice clean car, and admire people whose cars are always trash/stain free, but it's just hard for me for some reason.

DH can be the same way! My car is always really clean with no trash (because I always take it out with me as soon as it is generated) while he has empty wrappers, bottles, etc. throughout his car. While it drives me nuts and I especially hate it when he leaves things in my car, it is one of those things that I don't say much about because I would rather choose my battles.