Using baking soda to clean car seats is a natural, non-toxic alternative to using a commercial cleaner, and it’s cheaper too. Moreover, it can clean various surfaces and eliminate any odor. This article will discuss how to clean car seats with baking soda.
The magic of baking soda comes in after cleaning the dirt and trash in cars. Create your baking soda solution. You can even add an extra punch of vinegar, work it in the stains, let it sit for 30 minutes, wipe the residue off, then goodbye stains!
Table of Contents
What You Will Need to Follow This Tutorial
Baking soda and water are the main special ingredients for this cleaning procedure. Vinegar is also an effective ingredient you can add to the cleaning solution. Apart from this trio of very simple but impressive household items, don’t forget the usual things you need for cleaning.
Vacuum Cleaner
Before you start cleaning car upholstery with baking soda, you would first need to use a vacuum cleaner to get rid of dust, dirt, debris, and pet hair.
Crevice Tool
The crevice tool is a vacuum cleaner attachment that’s long, thin, and tapers at one end. It’s perfect for cleaning narrow spaces and gaps.
Baking Soda
Baking soda is a miracle household item that can dissolve any dirt and stains when mixed with water, including any stain in car seats. It can also eliminate odors just by being in contact with affected surfaces.
Warm Water
Water must be mixed with baking soda in order to improve the baking soda’s cleaning capability. It would also be needed for dampening a cloth for wiping off the residue after cleaning.
Vinegar
Vinegar is another household item that can work wonders for cleaning car seats because it’s an acid that can dissolve stains. It can also get rid of odors.
Bowl
You would need a bowl for mixing the baking soda and water.
Toothbrush
A toothbrush can be used for applying and working the baking soda solution onto the stains on the car seats.
Cloth
A cloth is needed for wiping off the residue after cleaning.
Step by Step Instructions for Cleaning Car Seats With Baking Soda
After you’ve collected all the things you need, you can finally proceed to clean car upholstery with baking soda. It’s just an easy procedure using a simple household item, but the results are highly satisfactory. Follow the steps provided below to achieve the clean car seats you desire.
Step 1: Clean Out the Trash
There are a couple of things you need to clean out in your car first before you work a baking soda solution on it, some of which are the trash inside your car.
Your car needs to be litter-free so that nothing will impede your cleaning. This also prevents your vacuum cleaner from being choked by any piece of trash. Check your car for any pieces of trash like crumpled papers, plastic bottles, plastic wrappers, etc. Get rid of all the pieces of trash you see.
Step 2: Vacuum the Car Seats
The next things that you will need to get rid of are all the dust, dirt, debris, and pet hair. Cleaning them out would allow your cleaning solution to better target the stains on the car seats. Doing so would also prevent them from being pushed further into the cloth car seats or scratching leather car seats.
It would help to use a crevice tool on the seams of the car seats and in between the backrest and bottom part of the seat. This ensures that narrow spaces are cleaned.
Step 3: Clean Stains With a Baking Soda Solution
First, create the baking soda solution by mixing one-fourth cup of baking soda and one cup of warm water in a bowl. You may also reinforce the baking soda with a little vinegar and clean car seats with baking soda and vinegar. When you add vinegar to baking soda, they chemically react, resulting in an acidic formula that can clean tough stains.
Then, take the toothbrush and use it to apply a light layer of the solution to the affected areas. Gently work the stains in circular motions. Let the solution sit on the affected areas for 30 minutes to allow it to penetrate and take effect on the stains.
After 30 minutes of letting the baking soda solution sit on the affected areas, wipe away the residue on the car seats with a clean, damp cloth. If you found some stubborn stains still present on the car seats, then repeat step three.
Step 4: Vacuum the Car Seats Once Again
It would be a good idea to also vacuum the car seats after cleaning with the baking soda solution, as this can help suck out any cleaning residue and pull out more of the moisture that may have seeped into the car seats from cleaning with the solution.
Step 5: Dealing With Car Odor: Sprinkle Baking Soda or Leave a Bowl of Vinegar
Using baking soda or vinegar are the simplest but very effective ways to eliminate odor inside a car. See the steps for getting rid of odors for each method below:
- Baking Soda Method:
Sprinkle some baking soda on car seats and carpets and leave it there to sit and absorb the odor. Baking soda can be left on the surface for a few hours or even overnight for the best results. Then you would vacuum it out afterward.
- Vinegar Method:
The vinegar method allows you to get rid of smells without having to do any vacuuming, unlike the baking soda method. You can simply do this by filling two bowls with white vinegar and putting one each in the dashboard and in the back seat, which you will leave in the car overnight to absorb the odor.
After you remove the bowls, leave the car windows open to allow the vinegar smell to dissipate.
Conclusion
Now that you’re educated on how to clean car seats with baking soda, hopefully, your car seats always get maintained well. Just sanitize them regularly or when necessary, and the stains and odors on your car seats would be history. Also, there are other tips & tricks to maintain different types of car seats with distinct properties and materials, such as how to clean leather car seats, black cloth car seats, leatherette car seats, and vinyl car seats.
Perhaps you can also let friends know about this simple yet effective procedure by sharing this article. If you enjoyed reading this tutorial or have any feedback, kindly let us know in the comments.
