Our cars are more than simple transport machines, they are undoubtedly an important part of our daily lives. According to an estimate, humans spend 51 minutes on average driving daily. If you don’t believe the estimate, think of all the things you do with your car. You take it to work, to dates, to pick your family, you take it on trips and sometimes you just take it on a relaxing drive. Whatever it is we use them for, one thing is sure, the car wears down with time. The once shiny brand new vehicle you bought will slowly turn into a piece of junk if it is not properly maintained. Car maintenance, however, doesn’t have to be a daunting job or an expensive one. You’ll be surprised at how easily you can maintain your car with just some simple household products and cheap utensils. In this article, you will learn a few, simple maintenance tricks that will help you enjoy your car’s functionality and keep it looking brand new for longer.

1. Defrost Your Door Handles Fast.

Items Needed:Cooking spray Estimated Price:$2*

“Winter is coming” or perhaps winter has come already where you live. Either way, we know what it feels like to be out in the cold, rushing to our car to turn on that sweet, sweet car heat, only to yank the door open and it is frozen solid, it’s a really cold feeling.

Thankfully, a really quick solution can be found right in your kitchen with no hassle. We’re talking about cooking spray! All it takes is a spray of it to get that defrost your handle and get that sweet car heat.

2. Stop Losing Your Coins.

Items Needed:Pool noodle Estimated Price:$7*

Have you ever been driving and the quarters you were gonna use to get a bag of Doritos at the vending machine fell in that space between seats? You know that space, right? That seemingly endless vacuum, that bottomless pit where everything gets lost forever.

The problem with that space is that it is so difficult to reach into even by the smallest of hands. So what do you do? Easy, just cut out some foam pool tubes to the length of the problem spaces, shove ‘em in, and Voila!

3. Hands-Free Phone.

Items Needed:Rubber band, pen Estimated Price:$5*

If you’re a responsible driver, you obviously won’t use your phone to text, call or browse while driving. But what about when you need GPS service? It gets hard to drive with one hand on the wheel and the other holding your phone, and frankly, it is very unsafe.

So, what should you do instead? You have to hack into the ventilation system of your car with nothing but a rubber band and pen. Kidding, there’s no hacking, just put an elastic rubber band around the vent, roll it up with a pen so that it sticks out from the bottom, then put your phone through the upper and lower loops to hold it in place.

4. Get Rid Of Bad Odors.

Items Needed:Air filter. Estimated Price:$11*

Remember that new car smell when you first bought your car? Yeah, those were the good ol’ days. If your car has been in use for a long time, then it probably does not smell so good anymore or maybe it smells really bad. Don’t go looking for mint or body spray, because those are not for cars. The most likely cause for car odor is the car’s air filters. They can get really dirty and clogged up, so you should take out the old smelly ones and replace them with fresh new ones.

5. Fill Spaces With Insulation.

Items Needed:Pipe insulation, Scissors, Tape measure Estimated Price:$20*

If you don’t know why you should seal the spaces between your windshield and dashboard, here’s one; it keeps your car dryer in cold weather, one more; it sound proofs your car. What’s more? It does not cost you more than $20, and a little DIY time.

Of course, you can pay professionals to do it, but why bother? Head to the DIY store, get the materials you need, preferably pipe insulation or rubber sealant and get it done.

6. Prevent Your Doors From Freezing With Cooking Spray.

Items Needed: Cooking spray Estimated Price:$2-$5*

Winter is one tough season that needs serious preparations. You’ll need to get thicker clothing and stock up for the fireplace, but what about your car? One way to prepare for winter with regards to your car is to prevent the doors from freezing up. The easiest way to do that would be to park in a covered garage but that’s not always possible, so what do you do when your car has to stay outside? Use Cooking spray.

Cooking spray makes the list again, this time however, you should use it before your car door freezes. Before every winter night, spray cooking spray on the rubber seal of your car door, it will help keep the doors from freezing up.

7. Buy An Electric Blanket That Plugs Into Your Car.

Items Needed:Electric blanket for your car Estimated Price:$30-$40*

Like we said before, you need to prepare for winter, but not just for your car, you don’t want to freeze too. Temperatures can drop so low sometimes that car heating wouldn’t cut it, in times like that, an electric blanket is your best option.

The cool (or warm) thing about electric blankets is that you can use them both in your house and in your car. The Stalwart Electric Car Blanket for example, fits right into your cigarette lighter and comes with a ninety-six-inch cord, so even people in the back are not left out in the cold. Electric blankets don’t cost too much, The Stalwart Electric Car Blanket sells for only $29.95 on Amazon and is listed “Best Seller” in its category.

8. Remove Car Odor With Baking Soda.

Items Needed:Baking soda Estimated Price:$2-$5 per box*

Car seats trap scents, smells and odor over time, and if you don’t remove them, they can stick forever. This hack is especially useful for Uber, Lyft and Taxi drivers, or family cars that convey a lot of people. Whoever it is, baking soda, being a natural odor-neutralizer, will neutralize even the nastiest of smells. Just sprinkle some baking soda on your car’s seats, let it stay overnight and then vacuum it up the next morning. It’ll comes right off when vacuumed, so don’t be afraid to use a substantial amount.

9. Plunge Out Car Dents.

Items Needed:Plunger Estimated Price:$9.95*

Car dents are annoying, there’s no denying that. They deface the beautiful skin of your car and leave it looking ragged. Thankfully, there’s an easy way to fix dents and get regain that smooth look and all you’ll need is a regular plunger and hot water.

Start by splashing some hot water on the plunger and then the dent, after doing that, place the plunger on the dented spot and start to push and pull, the dent will come right out. This hack will work best when the body of the car isn’t too damaged, but even when it is, the trick will make the dent look a lot less worse.

10. Make Your Own Air Freshener.

Items Needed:Scented candle wax, glass jar Estimated Price:$7*

If you need a little scent in your car, you can be your own scent maker, with just scented candle wax and a little glass jar. Start by making a few holes on the lid of the glass jar, then take some scented wax out of a candle into the glass jar and place it in your car. And that’s all it takes, now, when the car gets hot the wax will melt and release a burst of fresh scents into your car.

11. Clean Headlights With Toothpaste.

Items Needed:Whitening toothpaste Estimated Price:$3*

Headlights get dimmer with the passage of time and the influence of weather and atmospheric changes, little by little, the lights grow dimmer. Dim headlights can be a serious driving risk in the night time. You don’t need to change the headlights or the cover in most cases. You just need toothpaste. Yes, toothpaste!

The first step is to wash the headlights with detergent and water. While still moist, apply a thin layer of toothpaste on the headlights and leave it to dry for five minutes. Then spread the toothpaste around and with a slightly damp cloth, and clean the area in a circular motion. After cleaning for about three minutes, your headlights should shine as bright as the sun.

12. Get A Shiny Dashboard With Vaseline.

Items Needed:Vaseline Estimated Price:$4*

Vaseline is not just useful for dry skin and cracked winter lips, it can give your dashboard a shine unlike anything you’ve ever seen.

To get started, wipe your entire dashboard with a moist cloth, detergent or liquid soap and water. Once the dashboard is dry, take a dry cloth and apply some Vaseline onto it, then use the cloth to wipe your dashboard and watch it shine and sparkle.

13. Make A Portable Paper Towel Handle.

Items Needed:Paper towel roll, elastic cord Estimated Price:$9*

You never know when you might need Paper towels. As little as those soft, white, little paper rolls seem, they are multi-functional, super absorbent and very useful anywhere, anytime. There’s the trunk of your car, but paper towels can easily end up wandering around in there. So, here’s a little hack for you; Place a short elastic cord in the trunk’s lid and then insert a roll of paper towel between the two ends of the elastic cord. This will hold the roll in place and keep it from getting messed up.

14. Make Your Car Shine With Conditioner.

Items Needed:Conditioner Estimated Price:$4*

It’s not every time that you have the time to go to the car wash to get your car cleaned. Well this trick is for those days exactly and all you need are; a sponge, a bucket of water and a quick run to the bathroom for a bottle of conditioner.

First, add a little conditioner to your bucket of water, dip the sponge in the mixture and start to wash. Including conditioner in the mix gives your car more shine and make it more dust resistant. Make sure that the conditioner you use contains lanolin or silicone because those two ingredients are the ones that bring the shine.

15. Wipe Your Wipers Clean.

Items Needed:Isopropyl alcohol Est. Price:$3*

When it rains, it pours and you’ll need your windshield wipers to be at their most efficient or you might lose visibility. Wipers accumulate grease when they haven’t been cleaned for a long time and once this happens, they don’t clean as well.

To clean your windshield wipers well, you’ll need to wipe them with isopropyl alcohol. What the alcohol does, is to de-grease the surface of the wiper blades so that they are sharp enough to clean even the smallest of raindrops so you can have your 20/20 windshield vision.

16. Coffee Filters Are More Than Coffee Filters.

Items Needed:Coffee filters Estimated Price:$2*

Coffee filters can certainly do more than just filter coffee for our early morning caffeine needs. They are perfect for removing every last ounce and inch of dust from any surface. The fabric they are made from is completely lint-free and so they clean completely and leave no marks. What more do you need to hear? Just apply a little amount of olive oil to the filter and wipe the entire surface. And just like that, you get a spotless and shiny dashboard.

17. Figure Out What That Button Is For

Items Needed:Your hands and a “Recirculation” button Estimated Price:$0*

Guess what? This hack is completely free. It comes free of charge with your car right on the dashboard but most people don’t know what it does.

This hack or feature, is called “the recirculation button”. What it does is to determine where the car takes air from for conditioning. It is by default set to outside but pressing the recirculation button changes the ventilation system’s orientation to recirculate the air inside the car.

This feature is helpful in times when you’re in a place with a lot of smoke, the car just takes the clean air already inside and recirculates it. Using this button helps us breathe cleaner air and it also saves fuel since it will reduce the efforts of the air conditioning system in cooling the car.

18. Keep Your Cup Holders Clean Always.

Items Needed:Cupcake tin liners Est. Price:$1*

Cup holders are very useful in cars, they help us avoid spills and hold bottles and cup, quite nicely. They only have one issue- they get dirty easily. However, it doesn’t take getting a tiny vacuum cleaner or other devices to clean it. You can just place cupcake liners in your cup holders so that they never get dirty in the first place.

This method is easy, since any dirt or moisture will be absorbed by the liners, which are cheap and easy to change. This way the car will stay clean for longer, and you won’t have to worry about cleaning up the holders.

19. Check For Pennies In Your Door Handles.

Items Needed:A penny Estimated Price:N/A

This is more of a caution than a hack. But it is still useful for your car. It has been going viral on the internet that car burglars are now placing pennies on door handles to prevent car locks from being effective.

So, when next you are going to park somewhere public, make sure to check all door handles before leaving. And when you find a penny, remove it and lock your car again before leaving.

20. Defrost Your Door Locks.

Items Needed:Hand sanitizer Estimated Price:$7*

Winter, comes for everything. From your windshield wipers to your mirrors and the locks to our cars. A frozen lock is not cool at all, it can be a major inconvenience, especially when you really need to use your car. But with this trick, the cold will never bother you or your car anymore.

If your car lock gets frozen, simply squirt some hand sanitizer on it and watch the ice melt away. Hand Sanitizers are alcohol-heavy gels, and alcohol heats up and melts ice real quick, so using hand sanitizer is a really quick way to defrost your locks. Just make sure you use as much as possible.

21. Defog Your Windows With Kitty Litter.

Items Needed:Kitty litter, old socks Estimated Price:$9*

Winter comes with many problems, the cold, the frozen car parts, snow filled roads and don’t forget condensation. It forms in your car because of the difference in temperature outside and the inside the car. Condensation also causes the windows and windshield to fog up, thereby reducing visibility.

But you can easily prevent condensation from forming in your car with cat litter. No, you shouldn’t pour cat litter all over your car. Instead, put some cat litter into an old sock or two and place them around the car. The cat litter will absorb any and all moisture formed inside the car, giving you clear windows.

22. Protect Your Wipers With Old Socks.

Items Needed:Old socks Est. Price:$0*

Socks keep your feet warm during cold winter days, but your cars can also benefit from them as well especially your windshield wipers. Covering your windshield wipers will help prevent them from freezing up and sticking to the windshield. But you don’t need to buy new socks just for that. A pair of old socks or even mismatched socks will do just fine. Just make sure that you keep the windshield wipers upright when putting on the socks, this will prevent them from breaking or coming loose.

23. Clean Leather Interiors Easily.

Items Needed:Olive oil Estimated Price:$9*

Leather car seats are difficult to maintain. Most people spend a lot of money, buying up expensive products just to maintain their leather seats. But this hack will save you all that money and fuss if you are a leather seat owner, and all it takes is some olive oil.

Cleaning your car seats with olive oil will get you the same results as any of those expensive products. The first step, is to wash the leather seats with some hot soapy water and then rub a little olive oil on the seats. Apart from giving the seats a vibrant look, the olive oil will also prevent the leather from drying out and cracking. And where there are already cracks, add a lot more olive oil and you can be sure that the cracker will look better.

24. Make Car Scratches Disappear.

Items Needed:Nail polish, toothpaste. Estimated Price:$5*

A minor car scratch is something you don’t have to live with. It is something you can deal with, right from home. All you need is; toothpaste, candle wax, glue and nail polish. It’s a long list, but those things actually get the job done.

For tough scratches that will not disappear after sanding or polishing, nail polish is what you need. Make sure you get the color of nail polish that’ll match your car’s paint. If you don’t have nail polish handy, you can still make quick work of those scratches with toothpaste. Just apply toothpaste on the scratch with a little water and clean it in circular strokes with a soft cloth. It is very unconventional, but it works like a charm.

25. The Garmin Dash Cam 55: A GPS Cam Like No Other.

Items Needed:Garmin Dash Cam 55 Estimated Price:$245*

While the cost of this hack is a bit on the high side, it can help you in many ways. Its state-of-the-art GPS technology lays out the road for you in amazing detail, it comes with a voice sensor that can be used to start or stop recording and also to take pictures. Its camera is 3.7 megapixel camera, equipped with 1440p video quality, so you can be sure that it works even on dark roads.

The Garmin Dash Cam 55 also comes with “G-Sensor” that automatically detects motion around you. It also has an auto-record feature that starts immediately the device is plugged in.

26. Take The “Penny Test”.

Items Needed:A penny Est. Price:$0.01*

This test is to help you know if it is time to buy new tires and all it takes is a penny from anywhere you can find it.

To get started, place the penny upside down, make sure that Lincoln’s head is facing the floor, then insert the coin between the tire’s thread. This test is to check depth, so if the thread still goes across Lincoln’s forehead, they are still good to use. If the thread goes deeper than the forehead, it’s time to ditch those tires and get new ones.

27. Coca-Cola Tip #1

Items Needed:A bottle or can of Coke Estimated Price:$1.50*

When battery terminals collect grease and dust, dirt over time, the car might experience difficulty starting. But before you panic or go to the mechanic, try this simple trick with just Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola is very effective at removing corrosion battery terminals, you just need to lightly rinse a piece of cloth with some warm water and then pour the Coke on the cloth. This will remove all the corrosion and dirt on the terminal easily and now you can save yourself a trip to the mechanic and enjoy your car.

28. Get Every Corner With Cleaning Gel.

Items Needed:Cleaning gel Estimated Price:$9*

Cleaning a car is not always easy, especially when it comes to cleaning some small spaces like air conditioning vents where dust has settled. You can’t properly clean it with a piece of cloth or even a vacuum.

For this kind of tight situations, you will need cleaning gel.

Cleaning gel is a sticky substance that looks like slime and with it, you will be able to reach all those tight corners and give your vehicle a thorough cleaning. Besides removing dirt and dust, this trick will make your car smell better since the air vents will be fresh and free of murk. Also, you and anyone in your car will be able to breathe fresher, cleaner and purer air when your vents are free of germs and dust. Cleaning gel is highly reusable, so when you are done cleaning your air vents, you can just wash it and keep it somewhere for later use.

29. DIY New Car Smell.

Items Needed:Clothespins, pom-poms, essential oils Estimated Price:$10*

New car smell is something we all love, it’s an exciting smell we never want to lose. But unfortunately, as we use car over time and it is exposed to smells, scents, and aromas from our daily activities, and those smells slowly takeover the fresh new car smell, till you don’t even notice it anymore. But all hope is not lost, you can get your new car smell back. And you don’t even need an air freshener or other scented products, with just simple household products, you can make a personalized and healthy scent all by yourself.

All you need to make it is; a wooden clothespin, three pompoms, and any essential oil of your choice. When you have all that, start by gluing the pom poms to the top of the clip. Next, add a few drops of your essential oil to the attached pom poms, and then attach the clip with everything on it to any air vent. And just like that, you can have that dream new car smell again. What’s more? If you do get bored of the smell of your current essential, you can easily repeat the steps and change the essential oil you added to something better.

30. Keep Your Mirrors Ice-Free

Items Needed:Sandwich bags Estimated Price:$4*

A frozen mirror is nothing but annoying. You surely don’t want to deal with it as you wake up and start to rush to work on a winter morning. The best way to deal with it is not to have to deal with it. So what do you do to avoid getting frozen mirrors? There’s an easy trick for this that does not require you parking in a covered garage or someplace else. All you need are two plastic bags, one for each mirror. Just cover the mirrors loosely with a plastic bag each and snow will not be able to form on all the parts of your mirrors that are covered. What is best about this trick is that it is so easy to get plastic bags, so make sure to try it on your mirrors.

31. Coca-Cola Tip #2

Items Needed:Bottle of Coca-Cola Estimated Price: $1.50*

Another Coca-Cola trick makes the list, this shows how versatile the carbonated drink can be. This time we will be showing how to remove rust from the body of cars, so just head to your fridge or the nearest vending machine, grab a bottle or can of coke and get ready to work some magic. The first step here is to pour just a little coke on the rust affected area and let it work on the rust stains for a few minutes.

After leaving it for about five minutes, proceed to take a piece of cloth and rub away at the liquid, the rust and the stains should come right off. It’s that easy. Be warned however, that using Coca-Cola on regular car paint can damage the lacquer. However, using Coca-Cola on other parts of the car that are not painted is completely safe.

32. Use Potatoes to Defrost Glass

Items Needed:Potatoes Est. Price:$1 per potato*

This is another preventative hack that involves defrosting car glass and it only requires a potato. Everybody has a potato in their kitchen, so this trick is easy to use anytime, anywhere without needing any specialized supplies or products.

This trick is especially useful in old cars where the function to defog the glass is not functioning properly. All it takes is to cut a raw potato and then rub the peeled part over the screen carefully. The starch released from the potato works well to prevent water from condensing on the glass, thereby giving you a frost free screen even on the chilliest of nights.

33. Shine Your Bumper with Shoe Polish.

Items Needed:Shoe polish, sponge Estimated Price:$7*

The effects of the sun over a long period of time, tends to affect the bumper of your car making it fade from the vibrant color it once was, into something very unappealing. This is especially true when you have a black bumper, it turns to a very distasteful shade of gray. Thankfully, you can restore the once vibrant black color and restore the shine that comes with it with nothing expensive or special, just shoe polish and a sponge to rub it in, and your bumper will look as good as new again.

There’s no recommended amount of black polish you should use, it totally depends on you, how faded your bumper is and how black and vibrant you want your bumper to look when you’re done. Just take the sponge, dip into the polish and slowly apply it on the bumper, slowly and gently, to get a very neat finish. That is all it takes for your bumper to look as good as new.

34. Use Cotton Swabs To Clean Tight Corner.

Items Needed:Cotton Swabs Estimated Price:$3*

There are some parts of your car that you don’t even know can be cleaned, you just overlook them since they seem unreachable and they are not so prominent. It is not until they gather some significant amount of dust that you begin to see them and wonder how you can clean them in the first place. One example of such a place in your car is the mark on the steering wheel. That little place can collect a lot of dust over time and become gunky. How the dust got there is not as important as how to clean it, so how do you clean it?

You could use a small piece of cloth to rub over it, however, you can be sure that it won’t be thoroughly cleaned and spotless. Instead use Q-tips, those little cotton swabs are very effective not just for cleaning you ears but also for reaching the impossible spaces in your car. Using a Q-tip will clean every inch of dust from those spots and give your car a fresh look.

35. Make Magic with WD-40

Items Needed:WD-40 Est. Price:$9*

Things stick to your car, insects, liquids, bird poop and all other sorts of things and it gets very difficult to remove these things once they are dry. If you scratch or rub on them too much, you might damage or remove the paint surrounding the area. So how do you go about it?

WD-40 is a very good substance to use when it comes to sticky situations like this. It is an oily substance that effectively helps you get rid of sticky things on your car, without damaging the paint. The instructions on the WD-40 is to spray it on the affected area, leave to dry for about 10 minutes and then remove by wiping it off. Once you have applied it on the insect or whatever is stuck to your car, everything should come right off when you are wiping. Be careful, however, not to use it on windows and on your windshield. It is not recommended, because the oil may reduce your visibility if not properly cleaned.

36. Deep Clean Your Carpets.

Items Needed:Stain remover Estimated Price:$4*

When you first bought your car, the carpets were flawless. They had nothing on them, no spots, stains or marks. But over long periods of usage, they start to lose that flawlessness and start to retain dust and dirt, becoming harder and harder to maintain and keep clean.

You cannot get off the stains easily, they will require deep cleaning and that can get tricky but we will show you the best way to clean your carpets without damaging them in any way. The first step is to take them out of the car and then spray the mats with a stain remover, any stain remover you have on hand should work just fine. Next, put them in the washing machine and add some detergent to it. After washing, take them out into the sun and let them dry for some hours until they have no moisture left in them, this is to avoid building up mildew and humidity. There you go! Your carpets now look brand new.

37. Use WD-40 To Remove Bumper Stickers.

Items Needed:WD-40 Estimated Price:$9*

Bumper stickers can be trouble to get off, especially when the kind of adhesive they were made with are the very tough ones. If you have a bumper sticker on your car and you’re having trouble getting it off, there’s no need to worry, you can do it very easily with WD-40 once again. The oily WD-40 makes our list one more time because it can remove the stickiest of substances and adhesives.

The same process it takes to remove the insects is the same process you need to remove sticky bumper stickers. Spray on the sticker, let it soak for a few minutes and it will come right off when you peel it off.

38. Make Your Wipers Wipe Again.

Items Needed:Ethyl alcohol Estimated Price:$2*

As little as they look, windshield wipers are very important to our safety when we are driving, especially on rainy days. But windshield wipers can suddenly stop working becoming a driving hazard for you. A lot of times, the wipers stop working because they have accumulated significant amount of dust and dirt that is preventing them from moving at all. In cases like that, there is no need to change the wipers completely, they just need a little cleaning. You can easily clean your windshield wipers with some ethyl alcohol, it cleans like a charm. Ethyl alcohol is pretty easy to find, it is the base chemical for methylated spirit, so if you happen to have it around. Just rub on some of the ethyl alcohol on your wipers and wipe them with a cloth and the dirt will come right off. Now your wipers can get back to work and you can drive safely.

39. Watch Out for the Doors

Items Needed:Pool noodles. Est. Price:$3*

This trick is very useful for you if you have a very tight garage with limited space to park and your car doors keep hitting the wall where you are parked. Simply get two pool noodles, one for each side of the car and attach them to the walls just beside where your car is parked. Make sure to attach them at the area where the car door touches the wall so that you can avoid dents and scratches when next you or someone else opens your car doors.

40. Mayonnaise Cleans.

Items Needed:Mayonnaise, rag. Estimated Price:$3*

Mayonnaise is great for food, it sure makes great sandwiches. However it can be put to use in another way that might not be as delicious but is equally satisfying. Mayonnaise can remove tar stains from the body of your car, pretty easily.

So if you happen to have some tar stains on your car for whatever reason, just take out a little mayonnaise and apply it to the affected area with a piece of cloth and then rub it all over the tar stains. Leave it for about five minutes and then wipe off the mayonnaise with another piece of cloth. The tar will have vanished right along with the mayonnaise.

41. Vacuum Thoroughly With This Trick.

Items Needed:Cardboard tube. Estimated Price:$1*

One thing about vacuum cleaners is that they require a lot of accessories and those accessories can be very expensive to buy sometimes. However there are a few homemade tricks you can use to avoid the cost and still get that thorough cleaning you desire.

Here is one of such simple and cheap solutions and all you need is just a cardboard tube. To get started, find a simple cardboard tube that can easily fit the end of your vacuum cleaner and tape it or glue it. Next, flatten the other untapped side of the tube into something like a nozzle. And there you go, now you can easily reach all angles, spaces and crevices in your car.

42. Use Gum To Fix Holes.

Items Needed:Peppermint gum. Estimated Price:$1-$3*

Chewing gum usually makes holes in our teeth, but that same gum can be very useful in fixing some other holes. If you have a part in your engine that is leaking and you can’t to the mechanic soon enough, this trick will help you out. Just chew a little gum and once it softens, place it on the hole wherever it is, make sure that it sticks well however.

This hack is best used only for short periods of time, it is always better to get a proper fix for the leak at a mechanic shop for the safety of you and the health of your car.

43. Easily Remove Stubborn Stains.

Items Needed:Clay bar Estimated Price:$7*

Stains are inevitable on the surface of your car, they are unavoidable most of the time so you need to know as many ways to deal with them as possible. When it comes to stains on the outside of the car, they can be tough to remove becomes they are easily exposed to air and sun which dries them up quickly, making them extra tough to remove. However, you don’t have to let those stains stop your car from shining spotlessly, you just need to get a clay bar.

Once you have your clay bar, moisten it up and rub it over all the stains you can find, they will easily disappear. For a smooth and shiny finish, make sure to wax or polish those spots when you’re done.

44. Shine Your Wheels With Bleach.

Items Needed:Bleach and detergent Estimated Price:$3*

The super cleaning agent bleach is used for many purposes but I bet you did not know that it can work magic on the dirty and grimy wheels of your car. If your wheels are oh so dirty, then consider this bleach trick before you go looking for expensive products and chemicals that might not even do as impressive a job as bleach would.

To clean your wheels the bleachy way, just pour some detergent into a bucket, add a little bleach and then add some warm water to the combination. Use this mixture to clean your wheels with a piece of cloth or sponge and let it soak for a bit. Soon your wheels will shine again.

45. Get A Shiny Car Interior.

Items Needed:Kerosene Estimated Price:$9*

There’s a difference between clean and shiny. Your car may be clean or look clean but to give it a shiny look, you have to put in a little more work. And a really cheap way to achieve that shiny finish you desire is to use kerosene.

Kerosene shines stuff pretty well and you can use it to shine the interior of your car, giving it that brand new look. Simply mix some kerosene and water and dip a piece of cloth into the mixture, then wipe the areas you want to shine. Just like that the interior of your car will look as shiny as the day you bought the car.

46. Fix Burnt Interior Leather.

Items Needed:Onion Estimated Price:$1*

Do you have a part of your interior that is burnt and you want to get rid of it? Or perhaps you want to sell the car and make it look like the burn was never there, either ways, this trick is for you.

Leather burns make your car look old and worn out, thankfully, you don’t need more than an onion to remove them. Just cut the onion place it on the affected areas and let the liquid soak into the leather for a few minutes. You can then take off the onion and clean the area with warm water and cloth. While the burns may not completely go away, this will greatly reduce the visibility of those burns and make your car look less older and worn out.

47. Easily Clean Your Cup Holders.

Items Needed:Socks, travel mug. Estimated Price:$6*

We have talked about cleaning Cup holders before, or not having to clean them with the cupcake covers method. However, if you don’t prefer that method here is another one that works just as well or even better.

To clean the dust and dirt from your cup holders, just get a mug and a sock. Just cover the cup with the sock from starting from the bottom and then spray some cleaning product in the dirty cup holder. It can also be just detergent and water. After that, put the covered cup into the cup holder space and turn over the cup sometimes, making sure to get every inch of the space. When you are satisfied, take out mug and you cup holder will be dirt and dust free.

48. Make Your Trunk More Spacious.

Items Needed:Canvas bar, hooks, strap Estimated Price:$12*

Your trunk can be quite a mess when you have too many items in there. This is not your fault, the trunk is just one big space with no segmentation. You can however, keep your trunk more organized and arranged with this simple, neat trick.

All you need to do is to install a simple bar inside the trunk, add some hooks on it to hang things that might need hanging and attach a canvas strap to help hold bottles steady. With this method, your trunk will always be tidy and neatly organized.

49. Keep Your Tissues Close.

Items Needed:Tissue box. Estimated Price:$3*

Toilet papers are not the only cleaning papers you should have in your car, some tissues might come in handy as well. So how can you keep tissues in your car without getting them messed up? You just need to keep the box in a strategic place that is easy to reach and access.

So, buy a little box holder and the best place to put it is on the sun visor. It is easily accessible, so place your tissue box there and you will always have tissues within reach.

50. Clear Bird Poop With Club Soda.

Items Needed:Soda Estimated Price:$2*

As beautiful as birds can be, they can sometimes poop on your car, especially on the windshield which is both disgusting and frankly, annoying. Luckily, clearing the poop does not have to be a difficult task, all you need to do is pour some club soda on it and your job becomes a lot easier. The club soda will soften the droppings as the bubbles clear out the stains. Once you pour the club soda on the affected area, leave it be for a few minutes before you clean with a glass cleaner. Just be careful to make sure that the soda does not touch the hood of the car and damage the paint.

51. Clear Away Tough Dirt With Vinegar.

Items Needed:Vinegar Estimated Price:$2*

Some stains are just so stubborn. No matter what you use to clean them, they don’t seem to go away, that ends with this trick!

To start, vacuum your seats or carpet, to get rid of loose dust and dirt. Next, you are going to use just vinegar and warm water to make an effective homemade cleaning solution. To do this, you just need to mix equal parts of vinegar and warm water together. Once you have the cleaning solution ready, proceed to spray it on the seats. Then wipe off the vinegar solution with a dry cloth and the stains will come right off too. This method, also removes bad odor apart from dirt and dust.

52. DIY Window Tinting.

Items Needed:Maple syrup, charcoal toothpaste, cling film Estimated Price:$20*

Tinting windows is usually a job for the professionals, but you can also use the trick discovered by a netizen to tint your windows perfectly. All you will need for this hack is maple syrup, charcoal toothpaste, and some cling film.

To begin, apply maple syrup on the windows with a brush and then add some charcoal toothpaste as well. Once you’re done, cover up the window with enough plastic wrap and leave it for about an hour. When you remove the wrap, the windows will have been properly darkened. Be careful, not to let the mixture stray to the body of the car, so it won’t damage the car paint.

53. Remove Bumper Stickers Easily.

Items Needed:Hairdryer Estimated Price:$0*(If you already have one)

Hairdryers are another multipurpose household items. They can also remove your bumper stickers as well as they can dry your hair. The most stubborn of stickers will come off when exposed to the heat of hairdryers.

Plug in the hairdryer and set it to a high temperature that is high enough to weaken the adhesive that glues the sticker to the car. Once the sticker is sufficiently heated, it would come off really easily and neatly.

54. Remove Dry Mud The Best Way.

Items Needed:Oven cleaner foam Estimated Price:$8*

Mud is one of a car’s nemesis, it messes up and disfigures the car. Mud is still easy to remove when it is wet, it could even slide off by itself, but it is however more difficult to remove when it has dried up. The best and easiest way to clean dried mud, is to use oven cleaner foam. It does a wonderful job cleaning dry mud, just take a substantial amount of it and apply it to the wheels or wherever the dried mud is sticking on your car. After applying it, wait for about five minutes and then clear the foam with some warm water and your wheels and car will be shiny as new.

55. Clear Up Melted Crayon Stains.

Items Needed:Waxed baking paper, griddle Est. Price:$5*

Children are adorable human beings that live a carefree life. One of their carefree activities is painting, which they can do on any surface and unfortunately, your car seat is not exempted from this list of surfaces. Perhaps this has happened to your car, you know how tough it can be to remove those stains. This trick will help you remove those tough stains easily. What you need to do is to place a piece of waxed paper used to bake and just iron over it. When you do this, the crayon stain will come loose and then you can finish up the cleaning with a regular upholstery cleaner.