To keeping a cleaner car this go round

Happy Friday friends!

At a certain point in the summer running a vacation rental at the shore and our house in Philly feels like an impossible feat. We try to keep both up to a certain standard, but if one falls behind it's definitely the Philly house. We're the only ones paying to stay there. So the windows might not shine like the top of the Chrysler building, but we do our best to keep the grime and dog hair at bay everywhere and to manage the trash and recycling with military precision. 

I wish this extended to our cars but alas it does not. As I mentioned last week, I got a new to me car. I am the person who runs their car through the car wash once a year and vacuums it never despite having four dogs in it regularly as well as all the sand from all the beaches in Ocean City. 

Our cars are full of surfaces that are touched repeatedly: the handles, the steering wheels, the seats. If you never clean them, they could be building up a disgusting level of bacteria. The same goes for all the food wrappers and empty cans that fall to the wayside on the floor or make their way under the seats. The carpets and mats are harboring dirt and grit from the bottom of our shoes. Transporting pets in the back of the car leaves room for all sorts of horrors lurking on the seats and floors and windows. 

So a new car is my chance to be reborn as a non-dirtball. I need to commit to giving my car a routine clean like I do with the high touch areas in a house. I am famous for leaving a Bubly can to wither and die in the cup holder over the course of days or a week, or carrying wipes in the car with the intention of wiping all the high-touch surfaces with an anti-bacterial cleaner but instead the wipes don't shut properly and they dry out and I never do it. I get cars with leather seats for easier cleaning then, you know...never clean them. 

I'm looking to change my tune this time around. I spend a lot of time in my car back and forth to the shore and it's like a little mobile house.

Just like our homes are a reflection of our personalities, our cars can be as well. Maybe you'd love to live in a mansion with a pool, but just because you don't doesn't mean you don't care about your home. I'm not a car person, but in all cases cars are cheaper than mansions, and some are even cute or pretty too, like this 2022 Hyundai Elantra for sale or the navy Jaguar SUV I walked by last night or the mini Cooper I wanted to get but thought would be too small. Some of which are in my price range and some are not. Whatever car you have or income level, you can make your car look good. Professional car washes are a great way to make the paint and chrome sparkle, but I mean I can also DIY in the driveway. 

It starts with me. Here's to not being lazy and living in the Mobile House of Sand and Hair. 

And here's to the photos from this week I meant to put in Thursday Thoughts yesterday but accidentally deleted before I could.

Monday night sky and Straight No Chaser concert (bought the tickets in 2019 for 2020, that was cancelled, it finally happened last night and it was great); tomato sandwich season; Tuesday night on the beach and running into Shawn with Quaker City on the boards on the way home; Wednesday night moody sky at the beach gave way to a perfectly fine sunset by the bay less than two hours later; and two bonus - assed out on Thursday night and it is amazing how much more space is in this tiny apartment when we remove or stash dog items. 

Have a great weekend!