Here’s a Springtime Tip for Your Car
Photo by Harry Cooke on Pexels.com
This is going to seem so basic (and maybe a little counter-intuitive in terms of the environment at first), but I can’t help sharing this as a hot spring tip for helping you avoid spring cleaning for your car: keep a few large trash bags in your car.
It never fails, each spring, that I find myself at Lowes or Home Depot or some other hardware or home improvement store and I end up walking past the nursery. I see all the spring plants on display. The flowers. The vegetables. All these seedlings and transplant opportunities reaching up at me out their little pots just begging me to take them home.
It happens even if I came for a new, electric leaf blower because my old one is gasoline, and I’m trying to be nice to the environment. Or I’m there for paint. Or maybe some tool needed to fix something on the car.
It never matters why I’m there, every spring it happens. The temptation. And, honestly, I usually give in. I love nature, and having a garden is not only good for the planet and good for curb appeal, it’s good for the soul.
It’s not so good for the back seat of my car. Not that great for the trunk either.
Every time I succumb to the springtime promise of summer bounty, I end up having to vacuum out my car. Or at least, until I realized that having a couple of big trash bags tucked away could save me having to get in there with the vacuum again.
So just put a few of those large green bags in your trunk, or stuff them in a seat pocket, and you’ll be good to go when the next spontaneous urge strikes to buy a few containers filled with dirt. And some bags of soil to go with them. You get all the fun of springtime, and none of the mess in your car or SUV. Plus, if you use the durable kind, they hold up great and can be reused. They’re easy to clean off, which makes them less like the plastic bags we tend to think of as being hard on the environment, and more like a miniature tarp. Survivalists and preppers talk about this versatile durability all the time. So rather than think of them as plastic bags, think of them as small tarps that fold away, taking up way less space in your trunk than a full-sized tarp would.
Keep Your Car Clean from Other Unexpected Spring Messes
Speaking of springtime and your car (Check out our recent post on that very thing HERE), you may end up on a few road trips as the weather turns. Maybe you’ll run up to Tahoe or up somewhere just above the snowline and the kids end up talking you into stopping so they can have a little romp before the snow is all melted away. The bags are handy for keeping the dirty and grime at bay inside your car. (Plus, in pinch, they might help the kids slide down a hill!)
You can also use that bag to kneel on if you have to put on chains or change a tire on slushy or muddy ground—and don’t forget, as part of our service offerings, we can check your tire pressure and look for wear when we rotate your tires the next time we are at your home or workplace.
That handy trash bag will go great for putting wet clothing somewhere other than in your trunk where the moisture might turn to mold.
Oh, and on the topic of kids and road trips, there’s always the chance of car sickness to contend with too. I know, it’s not what anyone wants to think about, but having those bags stuffed in your trunk does give you a place to store the … uh … stinky clothing at least. You might even use a second bag to cover the seat so that whoever is sitting back there doesn’t have to sit in the … well, you get it. It’s especially an issue with cloth upholstery.
Don’t even get me started on how bags can be useful for pet accidents (or leaky human diaper accidents too) etc.
So, I realize this is a super basic bit of advice, but it costs very little (you probably already have some at your house anyway). Grab 3 or 4 bags and stick them somewhere in your vehicle. When time comes for spring travels (or any time, really), you’ll have one less thing to worry about if something spontaneous comes.