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How to Get Rid of the Worst Car Smells | Even Odors From Kids & Pets

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This post is sponsored by Refresh Your Car®! but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.

I’m not one of those moms that doesn’t allow food in the car.

We have a busy life with 3 kids and if my toddler having juice and crackers in her car seat means the difference between a happy road trip or a road trip full of tears, I’ll take the former any day! 

I mean look at that face, it’s no wonder I try to keep my kids happy while in the car. Also, look at that car seat, is she rubbing her dirty fingers on the headrest? *Putting my face into my hands

Anyways, having a car full of kids means lost snacks, socks, toys, candy. You wouldn’t believe some of the things I find when I’m cleaning out my van.

…and along with all of that comes odors. One look at that car seat and I think I might know where some of those odors are coming from.

How to Get Rid of the Worst Car Smells | Even Odors From Kids & Pets

How to Get Rid of the Worst Car Smells

So, odors! If you have kids, pets or both chances are you’ve dealt with those mysterious odors.

You know, the ones that no matter how hard you work cleaning your car don’t disappear?

How about the smells that you recognize are there, but can’t deal with right away because you have a screaming baby and toddler who’s needs are more imminent?

Here’s some quick solutions for car odors:

Clean What You Can

Of course the first solution is to clean what you can. Now, I am a mom of 3 kids and I am not judging.

There are days when I am barely coping off of 2 hours of sleep with my newborn. Cleaning a car with a baby and toddler in tow is sometimes just not possible. Especially since we have a big van.

Whenever both of my littler kids are happy in the van and we have extra time I will do a quick clean up of what I can manage.

Hopefully when you do this you can remove as many items that are causing odors as you can. If you have access to a car vacuum even better.

The last time I did this I found old food, stinky socks, and a sticky something in the back row cup holder. YUCK!

If my husband has some extra time off work during the week sometimes I’ll recruit him and my 10 year old to help with the van cleanup.

Maintain What You Can

Okay so you’ve cleaned to the best of your ability now it’s time to try and maintain the clean.

I like to put a good scented trash bag in the back of the van, so the kids can throw away what they can. Because no matter how many times I remind them they won’t remember to throw everything away.How to Get Rid of the Worst Car Smells | Even Odors From Kids & Pets

But, something is better than nothing and that trash bag is easy for my older son to take out once a week.

Make it Smell Wonderful

My last tip is to just make it smell wonderful!I like to do this with Refresh Your Car air fresheners!There are so many scents available for these air fresheners and I like mixing it up every once in a while.

The best part is just how fast they get rid of the odor.

You can smell the fragrance the second you get them out of the box and they smell amazing. But, not in an overpowering way!How to Get Rid of the Worst Car Smells | Even Odors From Kids & Pets

Of course my goofy kids have to get in on the fun and put air fresheners in every vent in the van from front to back.

How to Get Rid of the Worst Car Smells | Even Odors From Kids & Pets

I love the USB option for the front seat. You can even plug something in the USB port at the front of the air freshener.

If you really want the smell out of your car Refresh Your Car can help in leaps and bounds. Even if you have bad smells from diaper changes, kids, and pets. These baby’s will fade that smell right out.

They have a scent for everyone from Island Coconut to Perfect Peach. My husband likes the more manly smells like lightening bolt and leather.

The mini diffusers work really well too! The smell of our van was really getting to me last week and the minute we filled it with these it was no longer a problem.

How to Get Rid of the Worst Car Smells | Even Odors From Kids & Pets

[su_button url=”https://ooh.li/2b2256b” target=”blank” rel=”nofollow noopener” background=”#542c7a” size=”11″ wide=”yes”]Find out where you can buy Refresh My Car here![/su_button]

Want to Win a Refresh My Car Prize Pack?

Would you love to have some air fresheners to help you with your car smells?

I’ve partnered with Refresh My Car to give one lucky reader an Auto Fragrance Prize Pack like the one shown above.

To enter visit Refresh My Car and tell me which scents you would most like to try in the comments below.

One winner will be chosen at random on June 3rd and the winner will be announced that week.

I apologize for the inconvenience the ending date of this giveaway had to be moved to 6-3-2018.

Congrats to our winner Kathy Pease!!! Thanks to all who entered, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter so you don’t miss out on future giveaways!

Rules: This giveaway is open to residents of the US ages 18+.

So, tell me, Have you ever had any lingering odors in your car? How do you get rid of them? What scent of Refresh Your Car would you most like to try? I’d love to hear all about it in the comments below!

Reader Interactions

About the Author

Samantha Ramos

Samantha Ramos has her B.A. in Special Education. She is a stay at home mom and homeschooler to 3 children in Southern California. Her biggest passion is positive parenting and helping moms find simple solutions to every day mom problems!

Stock Photos from Depositphotos

Comments

  4. Jerry Marquardt

    I like the notorious Hawaiian Sunrise Fragrance Tunnel the most of all the great items on the refreshyourcar.com website.

  8. Buddy Garrett

    Our car has lingering odors from pets and fast food. We use air fresheners. I would like to try Island Coconut.

  12. Wendy McBride

    Citrus Sparkle is my first choice! I love citrus scents! I also love Sweet Pea scent and so many of the others sound awesome as well!

  17. Trisha McKee

    For Summer, I’d love to try Fresh Linen and also Fresh Strawberry and Cool Lemonade. I have an hour commute each way to work and of course scents start to linger in my car. Food scents and shoe scents. I usually try spraying or hanging one of those inexpensive pine deodorizers but nothing has worked so far. I need help!

  19. Laurie Emerson

    With 2 small children and 3 large dogs I have had lingering odors many times in my car. I usually put in a new air freshener as well as put some scented laundry detergent sheets under the car seats. I would like to try the Island Coconut.

  20. Lisa V.

    I am a Lyft driver, and always like to have something that is soft and fresh, so Fresh Linen.

  27. Yana Ryjova

    I want to try island coconut because my boyfriend’s car smells like hot garbage!

  29. Lynda S.

    I’d like to try the, “Alpine Meadow & Summer Breeze” and the, “Fresh Linen”.

  33. Ashley C

    With a little one we definitely have some car odors. I try to let my car air out occasionally

  34. Christina Gould

    I would like to try the Fresh Strawberry and Cool Lemonade fragrance. Thanks for the giveaway!

  50. Shannon

    I put one in my fan a work. Now my office smells fresh. These new scents are great.

  55. Jacquelyn Oneil

    We have teenage boys, so, we get smells. We actually use the Refresh sticks! That’s why I am so excited to enter this! These work the best. We have tried lots of other stuff to keep the odor down, but, these work best.

  57. Wendy R.

    I don’t know what my husband does, but he makes every car stink if he drives it for any length of time. Cool Breeze and the Hawaiian scents sound great to me!

  58. NICHOLE k

    I’d love to try the strawberry/lemonade scent.. my favorite drink, so i’d love the scent!

  70. Nicole Flynn

    I would most like to try Pina Colada and Mango Mandarin. The scent sounds like it blends two wonderful summer scents together.