Having a car is pretty much essential wherever you live around Australia. Me? I’ve lived in many cities… Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth. Sometimes with a car and sometimes without a car. Having a car is definitely the better option. Getting yourself from A to B within the comfy confines of your own car it… Well it’s like an extension of your home really. It’s yours, and it’s your happy place – except perhaps when the traffic is maddening.
Now, I’ve owned a few cars in my time, too. When I first got a car, I didn’t much care about keeping it clean. Whatever, it got me from A to B. A second hand junk box if you will. “What’s the point of keeping it clean?”, I thought. There was a thick layer of dirt on the outside that only got washed when I thought it was getting really filthy. Inside the car there were dust bunnies, hair balls, old food wrappers, clothes, newspapers – all sorts of things. It was pretty gross, and sometimes I’d feel a bit embarrassed of it, particularly when I found something gross when I’d do a clean every now and then.
Fast forward to the new car I bought. It was clean and beautiful and suddenly I wanted to keep it that way. I wanted to feel like it actually was a comfy, nice place to be on my commute to work in Sydney, because hey, it took a long time to commute. I’d clean weekly or fortnightly, make sure to always throw my rubbish in the bin, and remove any items that I really didn’t need to be in my car.
Then I started to think… maybe a clean car not only makes me feel good about it, maybe it’s better for my health, too. I mean, obviously it was better for my mental health. I felt good whenever anybody came for a ride with me other than that flicker of shame I felt. But there were aspects of my physical health that I considered, too.
Like, for instance, I know that I’m moderately allergic to dust. Letting my car get dirty meant that there was a build up of dust – obviously not as much as you’d get in the home, but still. Had my use of antihistamines decreased by having a clean car? I’d like to think so.
Then there’s the thing if mould starts building up in your car. I’ve heard horror stories from friends about very old fruit they’d found in their car after wondering what that smell was. I’d also noticed myself one day after I’d left wet clothes and a towel from the beach sitting there after forgetting, and then finding it mouldy after about a week or so. I also know that mould can be highly toxic. If mould gets into your fabric seats, walls, or ceiling in your car it can be really hard to get rid of. The effects of mould can get so bad that you can end up dying from complications related to mould growth. It can mimic symptoms of asthma which breathlessness and a heavy chest in less severe cases.
Of course the solution to keeping your car free of damaging things to your body is to keep it clean. If you’re a little bit lazy or time poor then you can easily get others to do the job for you. It’s not just car exteriors that companies can clean, you can also go for interior detailing. Giving your car a really thorough internal clean quite regularly can help you to breathe more easily and feel happy when you’re driving around town.
So, get rid of all the rubbish in your car, put items back in your house where they belong, and book yourself in to get your interior car detailing done – and why not give it a wash and polish on the outside while you’re at it. You and your health can thank me for it later!
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