7 Things I've learned about cleaning my car interior

 No preamble this time, we're just going to jump right in to it.

Microfiber towels

I used to use paper towels for everything but I hated all the little bits of lint they would leave floating around. Microfiber towels are a game changer. They're cheap, and reusable though you can certainly get higher quality with a higher price point. I use them for basically everything these days.

Bissell 3624 Spot Clean pro

For those of use with cloth seats this thing is amazing. It's portable, about the size of a good sized crock pot, with a long cord for connecting to distant outlets. One thing: don't go bananas on the handle. If you use two hands as I did to really press the handle into the fabric it will crack. It'll do just fine if you use one hand but not two.

Magic Eraser

I've always had a lot of trouble with streaking when I clean my windows, which drives me nuts. Partly this may be due to the towels I've used, but something I find that helps is Magic Erasers. 

Pro tip: magic eraser is just a brand name, if you want to pick up a bunch of 'magic erasers' cheap search for melamine. It's the same stuff without the pricey marketing.

Vacuum First

Vacuum the interior as the first step on your interior cleaning process, before you start cleaning the seats, or the floor mats, or windows. 

Pro tip: when you're vacuuming the sensitive areas like the radio, use a soft brush in combination with the vacuum to get all the little bits of dust and lint. The same is true for the air vents.

Clean Seats Second

If you're going to deep clean the seats with the afore mentioned Bissell do this second. Inevitably the sprayer will get solution on areas you didn't mean to, like the floor mats, which is fine if you're to clean those later anyway.

Pro tip: if you get serious use a pump sprayer for your cleaning solution. Fill the Bissell's cleaning solution tank with water. Spray the water as you suck up the cleaning solution. When everything is coming up clear through the Bissell you know you won't have any soapy residue left in the fabric.

Floor mats:

Now clean the floor mats. I have all weather mats so I just use simple green and a scrub brush.

Plastic Protector

It is amazing what plastic protector can do. I use 303 Aerospace protector and man it really livens up the plastic to looking like new again. Especially in areas that get a lot of sunlight and not too much attention like the dash. Looks great.

Pro tip: if you have all weather floor mats like I do you can use the plastic protector on them to get them looking fresh but be warned it also makes them incredibly slippery. So if you have people getting into your car you might want to warn them.