[Lauruffian]

Today, hubby and I have the day off, and our two spawn headed off to fall camp (two days of fun, which mean two days fewer of them trying to kill each other and/or destroy the house). Stunned at the rare kidless day, hubby and I decided to take our 2010 Tundra in for a very thorough cleaning. We sat and enjoyed conversation and sushi while the truck got de-Goldfished and de-horsehair and stall-mudded. Okay, so that sentence didn't flow as I had hoped, but you follow.

Our poor truck is gorgeous on the outside--it is still pretty young, after all. But inside? Oof. It isn't cleaned regularly because the car seats have to come out, and that isn't easily done. So, it accumulates. Smooshed crackers, about a dozen Matchbox cars tucked in various places (what are they, breeding??), horse hair, dried mud, bits of hay, a fine layer of dust over everything...you get the picture. So did the guy who signed us in when we brought the truck over. I told him to do the most for this truck that they could, apologetically explaining I had two sons. When he opened the door, he actually said, "Wow." I then added, yes...two sons and two horses. "Oh, two horses--now I get it," he said.

It is now clean. I shall set the timer to see how long it lasts. Since we took the car seats out and I threw their liners in the wash, we're using hubby's Volvo for now. Mm-wah-ha-ha.

But I have to ask, timidly--is this pretty much par for the barnowner (well, in this case, barn leaser) course?

How dirty is your main barn vehicle?

(When I first got a horse, back before we leased the barn and 100% self care and long before children, I could keep my Honda Civic pristine while the trunk collected everything. Now...notsomuch.)

[quarterhorse4me]

Kids, dogs, horses....each one exponentially increases the degree of filth of your vehicle. I keep a standing appointment with with my car detailer ever 7 or 8 weeks otherwise the filth is overwhelming.

FYI- when those kids become teenagers it gets even worse!

[furlong47]

I bought my car in January. It was owned by an older couple and they did not drive much. It is 7 years old but was in pristine condition. I don't think the back seat had ever been used.

Fast forward about 3 months, and everything was already filthy. I do other outdoors sports in addition to riding, and I do a lot of traveling, so I spend lots of time in my car with dirty shoes, dirty clothes, eating in the car, etc.

Sometimes I think about that poor older couple keeping the car so nice, just for me to trash it...

[MistyBlue]

2 young children and a barn/multiple horses?

It would be shocking if it was immaculate. But it also doesn't need to get really nasty either. Organize it like you would organize inside a home.

Hang small plastic bags inside each door handle for trash...kids can use the trash too.

Don't let them eat inside the truck. Or if they do, only food that doesn't get smashed everywhere.

One toy per child per car ride. When each child leaves the car, so does that toy.

And a very quick, simple interior semi-clean you can easily do once per week: Open all doors of truck...blast interior with a leafblower. Shoots all unattached debris out the other side.

Of course all the organizing and good intentions in the world won't last forever, especially with small kids. But do what you can for as long as it lasts.

[ezduzit]

I have a Ford freestyle. There's hay, sand and other unidentified matter that got tracked in. It also went to the sand dunes this summer so there a fair amount of beach in it too. I keep the seats folded down for the dog. An old mattress pad fits perfectly but is usually pretty grungy before I put it in the washer. Right now there's a stack of clean towels and a clean blanket going back to the barn. Two dirty buckets and saddle pad to be washed. The outside is pristine. I'm thinking DH considers it a small house...he does the outside and I'm get all of the inside.

[LauraKY]

Oh, just wait for the soccer/lacrosse car pools. I kept garbage bags in the car for their muddy feet. Still didn't help.

[Zenyatta]

My car is a tack box/hay trailer on wheels.

[NoSuchPerson]

One time on the Mary Tyler Moore show, Rhoda took her car to the mechanic, who complained about how messy her car was and asked why she couldn't keep her car nice and neat, like Mary did. Rhoda replied that while some people may think of their car as transportation, she considered hers to be a giant purse on wheels.

I've always loved that and have used it for years as an explanation for the state of my truck.

[Superminion]

My truck looks like a tiny tornado unloaded inside it. It's gross. Napkins, dirt, dog hair, cheerios, sticky juice puddles, horse hair, schweaty coolers, muddy blankets... not to mention all the extra lovelyness that catches a ride in on my boots or the bits of nastyness that DH drags in from the woods. I have expensive floor mats in the front, but they don't do much. I'm quickly losing the battle.

[katarine]

The main farm truck is an 07 we bought new. It's pretty darn clean. I don't do filthy cars and trucks. My DH's work truck is a disaster, but we're only in the 'big' truck to do horse stuff or move the boat, so it's not the day in day out usin' truck. I intend for that diesel to last forever and I can't see trashing it up and letting it get destroyed. It cost too much to just ruin it.

[Hinderella]

There's a great "Rhymes with Orange" cartoon that asks the question "Car? Or Carmoire?". I've always driven a carmoire On the other hand, if I'm fully prepared if my car goes off the road in a snowstorm and I'm trapped for days.
One day the dog and I were sitting in the car in the bank parking lot and some teens walking by said "do you smell horse?"...and my windows were rolled up

[katyb]

I hate it when my husband cleans the vehicles out - I suddenly have no umbrella, spare bottle of water, jacket, snack, sunglasses, whatever. I like to be prepared!

[Lauruffian]

So nice to know I'm in good company. And great tips, MistyBlue--I especially like the leaf blower idea!

Meanwhile, the "Similar Threads" linked below are both perplexing and amusing me. "Vegetarian holiday main dishes"?

[Acertainsmile]

We will spend tomorrow trying to extract the "fish" smell from my car...no source could be seen, so who knows. Nuff said!

[dani0303]

My F-250 doubles as a rolling tack room. I have bridles, girths, saddle pads, etc in there. My dog sheds A LOT and there is dog hair in places that the vacuum can't reach. My SO sometimes takes it to work with him in the oilfields, especially when it's muddy and he needs the 4wd. Also, it's snow season. 'Nuff said

[Lauruffian]

Funny, someone at my youngest son's preschool just recently got the identical truck we have (same make, model, color, extended crew cab, etc.). It's frequently parked right next to mine during drop off/pick up times.

Difference is, it's driven by a the kind of guy who hangs a metal scrotum from the hitch and adds other manly-man touches (blacked out tires, blacked out badges, menacing decal in the back window, etc.).

Pfft. I have a feeling manly-man's truck may not actually *work* for a living.

(That's what I'm saying to make me feel better about my dirtier truck, and I'm sticking to it.)

[goodhors]

I had bench seat covers, on the truck seats of our crewcab. They had no seams between the seat and seatback, so all the dirt was trapped for easy removal. Seat covers were thick and heavy, soaked up spilled drinks, greasy food, or grease from food bags. There were pockets along the front of the seat, which collected AMAZING amounts of "stuff". Always cleaning that out to find things. I would remove the seat covers and wash them, put them back on. I also purchased some rug scraps, that I used to cover the floor rugs. With dirty barn boots, mud, snow, wet shoes, the floors would get REALLY dirty. So when the rug got filthy, I just rolled it up and threw it away. Then purchased a new piece of rug for the front or back seat floors.

The dogs weren't really an issue. They don't shed, but they do have BIG hairy feet that collected dirt and wet getting to the truck. Seat covers and floor rug scraps handled that easily.

Have to say the seat covers and rug scraps really kept the fabric and the truck rugs on the floor in amazingly good condition. Since they never were exposed to daylight or actual touching in use, they were bright and unfaded, plushy rug surfaces under all the coverings!

I cleaned the truck out about every 6 weeks while kids were under 10yrs. As they got older they could help by picking up their "stuff" before leaving the truck, so I could stretch out times before cleaning. Seems like trips in truck were pretty short, so not eating in there or very long to get someplace, so they used litter bags to keep it neat (plus those seat pockets). Snacks were fresh fruit or veggies, not crackers or drink boxes. Either way, I didn't get a big accumulation as kids got older. Litter bags helped a lot too.

Guess I am way too cheap to pay someone else to clean my vehicles. Rather spend the money on something else I wanted. Loved those seat covers! What a work saver in cleaning the truck.

[billiebob]

My truck is dirty. There, I said it. Between the barn dirt in the cab and the hay in the bed and the mud on the wheels.......I figure it's like an anti-theft device when I go into downtown Philadelphia.

I feel bad paying anyone to deal with the mess. The last time I took it to the car wash the guys there just laughed at me. I like the leaf-blower idea--might have to try that!

[paw]

My beloved 12 year old Subaru is a mess. The trunk is a virtual tack shop, and the back seat holds all of my coats, shoes, and random bits of who-knows-what. It's in the shop at the moment, so I'm sharing cars with my husband, who's way more of a neat freak - it's driving me crazy trying to remember what I need to put in the car before I go anywhere!

I dream about having it detailed, but can't imagaine how much it would cost to really get it clean... And, of course, it wouldn't stay that way for long.

[kathy s.]

I have to laugh at some of the posts here. I bought my 1996 F350 Powerstroke new and have been known to Amorall the interior as I drive down the road. In fact, the flooring is rubber and so slick from my cleaning that my friends have be known to dive in b/c the floor mats slid around. I finally installed steps so they can get in safely, lol. I keep this truck pristine.