Lose That Winter Funk and Clean Up the Junk!

Lose That Winter Funk and Clean Up the Junk!

All right you truckers! It’s spring and we’re coming into the busiest part of the season. If you’ve been collecting cobwebs sitting in reset waiting for old man winter to retire, you need to dust yourself – and your truck – off and get ready to hit the road. There’s nothing worse than the smell of your cab after being closed up all winter – except perhaps what you might find under the seat! Get out of your winter funk, clean out the junk and start your trucking season with a clean and shiny cab.

Eh! Why Should I?!

You might be thinking, “What difference does it make? I’ll just kick the trash out of the way and roll the windows down.” Nobody would blame you; we’ve probably all let our trucks get just a little out of control when it comes to grunge – and I’m not talking about the music. A clean truck, however, gives your clients a good impression. It shows you care about your truck, which just so happens to be the vehicle that is going to haul their goods. If you care about your vehicle, you’ll care about their goods.

Aside from making a good impression, believe it or not, you could actually damage your health by letting your truck get too dirty inside. As garbage accumulates, so do the creepy crawlers that are attracted to it. Not only that, if there is moisture in the air your garbage will begin to mold. Mold is extremely dangerous to anyone with respiratory problems, and still a very bad idea to inhale even if you’ve got lungs of steel. Sure penicillin is derived from the green, fuzzy stuff, but that doesn’t make it healthy to grow science experiments in your truck!

It’s Clean … But It Still Smells!

You’ve stood up to the task and spring-cleaned your truck from top to bottom, inside and out; man, does it sparkle! You found at least $20 in change under the seat – hot damn! – and a fossilized half-eaten hamburger and what appear to be strips formerly known as French fries. Even though you scrubbed and scrubbed, removing all hazmat dangers left by your garbage, your cab still stinks. Which really stinks! Because you didn’t go to all that effort to clean your truck out only to be reminded it was dirty in the first place. Don’t worry, we’ll deodorize!

Now, don’t go and buy 100 pine-scented air freshening cardboard trees and hang them in your truck like John Doe in the movie Seven. This will only serve to freak people out! Rather, you’ve gone to all the trouble to clean your truck so that it’s healthier, deodorize it in a healthy manner, too! You don’t need strong-smelling chemicals like bleach to remove unpleasant odors from your rig. Just do the following:

For Hard Surface Cleaning:

• 1/3 part white vinegar
• 1/3 part hydrogen peroxide (3 percent solution)
• 1/3 water

Take these three ingredients and combine them in a spray bottle. Shake the bottle gently and spritz liberally on all hard surfaces in your truck. Allow the solution to sit for a few minutes on stained or particularly smelly surfaces. Wipe clean with a towel, paper towels or even newspaper.

For Carpeting and Cloth Upholstery:

• 1/2 part white vinegar
• 1/2 part water
• 1 tsp. dishwashing liquid
• 1/4 cup hydrogen peroxide (3 percent solution)
• Baking soda

Mix the white vinegar and water in a spray bottle. Use the spray bottle to saturate any stained or stinky carpet and cloth upholstery with the white vinegar/water solution first. Allow the solution to sit until it is almost dry, and then take paper towels and press down on them to sop up the remaining liquid.

Sprinkle baking soda liberally over the areas you just cleaned with the vinegar solution. Mix your dishwashing liquid with your hydrogen peroxide and pour over the baking soda. Take a cloth or brush and scrub the pasty solution deep down into the surface. Wait until it is dry and then vacuum the whole mess up.

This also works well to get cat and dog urine stains out of your home’s carpeting. Funky fact: Did you know that people used to use cat urine as a disinfectant? … I digress …

Leather and Suede Upholstery:

I’m not even going to attempt to tell you how to clean that! I do not want accidentally ruining it on my conscience!

You Found What In Your Truck?!

Alright, let’s have some fun. What is the absolute worst thing you’ve found in your truck? What about somebody else’s rig? Have you ever packed your food, eaten it out of the plastic container, sealed it up tight when you were finished, tossed it in the back, forgotten about it and then pulled over to check your rig when it exploded and the top blew off?! Admit it! You’ve found unidentifiable environmental hazards in your cab, so ‘fess up!

By Edward Green.