How to Clean Car Seats

With 5 kids you can imagine the wear and tear my car seats get. I feel like I’m constantly saying to my kids, “Don’t put your feet on the seats!” And guess what? They always do. I started looking up how to clean car seats last week because I had it.

How to Clean Car Seats

How to Clean Car Seats

With 5 kids you can imagine the wear and tear my car seats get. I feel like I’m constantly saying to my kids, “Don’t put your feet on the seats!” And guess what? They always do. I started looking up how to clean car seats last week because I had had it.

 

I’m talking all of this time right now to clean my house, I figure I might as well take the time to clean my car, too. The cars are always the last thing on my list and they shouldn’t be. I feel like we live in our cars as much as we do our home sometimes!

Let me get back to the question at hand – HOW TO CLEAN CAR SEATS?

There are a few things you need to keep in mind when you’re determining how to go about cleaning car seats in order to get your desired results:

  1. What kind of material are your car seats (leather seats, vinyl seats, or cloth seats)? Is there a fabric cover
  2. What kind of wear and tear is happening (Do you have kids? Are you using carseats?)
  3. What color are your car seats? Many times if you have lighter car seats dirt and grime shows up a lot quicker!

Many times when you purchase a car the dealer or the brand of the car will gift you car seat cleaner. That helps because it immediately takes away the question of how to clean car seats because you have the solution and/or cleaner already. Just follow the directions and you’re good to go.

But! And there’s always a but… when the cleaner or solution runs out, you will need to know what to do and you’ll most likely turn to hardware stores (or even the grocery store). You want to make sure you know what to do with stained areas on your seat cover or even on your seat belt. There are lots of products to turn to from dry foam cleaner to even commercial leather cleaning products. The good news is you can do this on your own!

How to Clean Car Seats

How to Clean Fabric Car Seats –

If you’re someone who doesn’t like to use chemicals when it comes to cleaning, I have a solution (no pun intended) for you. When trying to determine how to clean car seats without toxic chemicals look at what you have at home.

My advice?

1. You can easily and safely use basic vinegar in a vinegar solution mixture. When I was pregnant with my kids I would use a vinegar mixture all the time to clean. The smell can be a little crazy, but it’s a safe cleaning solution to use – especially if you have kids.

Vinegar

Just mix a cup of vinegar and a gallon of hot water into a bucket. You can add a few drops of dish spa if you want, but it’s not necessary. Take a rag or a sponge and dip it into the solution for a good cleaning on dirty seats. You can use this all over your fabric car seats. You could also easily add it to a spray bottle and get a microfiber cloth to clean. I’ve also heard you can use a baking soda solution, too. Make a little paste with baking soda and a cup of water and really sink into your seat fabric to get out stains.

2. You could also use laundry detergent, too (the best is using household products!). I know that there are pure and clean detergents, so definitely utilize those brands and use them on your car seats to clean them and get nasty stains out. I would take a cap full of detergent and add it to a gallon of water to try and get a thorough cleaning job done.

How to Clean Car Seats

Make sure you cover all of the spots with this easy mixture for cleaning. You can just use a dry cloth to rub it on. This leaves your car smelling delicious, too! You won’t regret doing this one. As far as letting it dry, keep your doors and open for about an hour or more to let the air circulate through.

*Bonus idea for no chemicals. You could buy a soft brush, clean sponge and rags to use on your seats. When you’re preparing for how to clean car seats, it’s a good idea to have a bucket with products ready to go. The first step is always making sure you have items that can easily be used in a jiffy! It’s amazing to see what a cup of warm water will do to your car. We’re talking clean cloth car seats around the clock.

If you don’t mind using chemicals on your fabric/cloth car seats when trying to figure how to clean car seats, here are (2) products I would recommend you use.

1. Bissell Pawsitively Clean Foaming Power Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner – Don’t laugh here because I don’t have pets, but I have found this cleaner to work exceptionally with a car full of kids. My cousin gave me this tip years ago and I have used it for YEARS! This is amazing for stubborn stains you need to get out.

I love this Bissell product because it:

  • Special foam lifts and cleans
  • Fabric-safe brush makes clean-up that much easier
  • Ideal for upholstery, vinyl, plastic, pet beds and carpet
  • Intended for Dog and Cat stain and odor removal

2. Woolite Carpet and Upholstery Cleaner 12 oz. Foam – Here’s another easy on the go solution for cleaning fabric car seats.

Woolite Carpet and Upholstery Cleaner 12 oz. Foam

About Audrey

Audrey McClelland has been a digital influencer since 2005. She’s a mom of 5 and shares tips on her three favorite things: parenting, fashion and beauty. She’s also a Contemporary Romance Author.

Sign Up To The Ultimate Style Newsletter for Moms

Categories

ShopStyle “List” Of all Things I Like and Blog About

Pinterest