David and I plan on going out of Town to Pilot point on Sunday as a Date-Day and we plan on taking Charlie’s car because it h uses less gas. I told David I wanted to wash and detail the car before we went. The nice part was we wouldn’t need to spend any money because sometimes a review starts with a neat little package sitting on the kitchen table.
And sometimes it starts with me going outside and gathering up a bunch of Mother’s car-care products from Charlie’s car because I need them back for the review! That’s pretty much how this one happened. Plus, it allowed me to go through what we had and what we might still need to detail the car with.
My family was blessed when re received several Mother’s Care Car Care products to try, and rather than simply tell you what the bottles say they’re supposed to do, we actually put them to work. Charlie’s car gave us plenty of opportunities, too. Let’s just say that when you have a young adult who spends a lot of time in his car, you discover things.
Including hair. A lot of hair. And I still don’t know why there was so much hair on the dashboard! The dogs haven’t been in the car and not only that it looked like human hair not dogs hair. Charlie says its my hair and honestly it might have been because my hair is thinning by the day.
Having items like Mother’s is one of the things I appreciate about doing product reviews here at Greatful Moments. I don’t want to tell you that something is wonderful simply because the package says it is. I want to use it in our home and with our family and then tell you what we thought.
So today we’re talking about several Mother’s products that have found their way into our car-care routine. And while I originally started thinking about these for our Christmas Gift Guide/ Wish List, the more I used them, the more I realized these aren’t just Christmas gifts. They are year-round gifts.
They could make a great gift for the teenager who just got their driver’s license, Mom who is always the family taxi, Dad, grandparents, or anyone who takes pride in keeping their vehicle looking and smelling good. I could even seeing Car Lots giving these as Gifts to new car owners.
Let’s start with something every car can use eventually: Mother’s Carpet and Upholstery Remover. The product is designed for stains on carpet and upholstery and is pH balanced for all fabrics. And if you’ve ever spent any amount of time in a family vehicle, you already know why that matters.
Cars get dirty. People eat in them. Drinks get spilled. Shoes bring in dirt. Kids leave things behind. Adults leave things behind. Pets may ride along. And sometimes you look at a spot and wonder, How in the world did that get there? That’s where having a product specifically made for carpet and upholstery comes in handy.
What I liked about having this available was that it wasn’t something I had to think of as a special-occasion product. It is simply one of those things that makes sense to keep with your car-care supplies. And because we’re talking about Charlie’s car, keeping the interior clean isn’t just about making the car look pretty. It makes the vehicle feel better to be in. That matters.
The other day Charlie spilled his Coffee on the floorboard and we used the Carpet and Upholstery cleaner on it and it cleaned it up in a jiffy and didn’t leave any stains behind. Then I used it on the car seats because a little bit spilled on them and being cloth seats I wanted to see how it worked and it did perfectly.
Next up is Mother’s Total Interior Detailer, which is made for the dash, glass, screens, and more. This was one of the products that immediately made me think of Charlie’s car. Remember that dashboard hair I mentioned? I am still trying to figure that one out.
But once you’ve seen a dashboard covered in whatever life has left behind, you appreciate having something that can help bring the interior back to looking cared for. Mother’s describes this product as helping give the interior that new-car look and smell, and that is exactly the kind of feeling we’re after when we clean a vehicle.
There is something about getting into a freshly cleaned car. Even if the car isn’t new. Even if it has been driven around town a million times. A clean dashboard and clean interior can make you feel like you’ve given the vehicle a fresh start. And sometimes that’s all you need.
I used this on the interior not only in the car but our office chair and the leather chair in the man cave and both look brand new. I like how all the dirt comes off with just one swipe of the cloth. David is even going to take it to work to share with his boss for the trucks they use.
Then we have Mother’s All-in-One Leather Care. Leather needs care, too, and having a product specifically designed for leather can be useful when you’re trying to keep those surfaces looking their best. This one also made me stop and look around my own house.
I have a chair downstairs in the man cave, and I immediately wondered whether I could use this on it. But here’s something I want to emphasize:
Don’t take a leather-care product and automatically put it all over an entire piece of furniture just because the label says leather care. Before using a product on furniture, check the manufacturer’s care instructions and make sure the product is appropriate for that particular material and finish. If you’re unsure, follow the furniture manufacturer’s recommendations and test appropriately before treating a large area.
A car seat and a piece of furniture may both look like leather, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they should be treated exactly the same way. So that’s one of those little reminders I like to include in my reviews. Read the directions. Know what you’re cleaning. And don’t assume.
I used a little bit on the chair and it didn’t hurt it at all it made the chair look brand new. I can’t wait to share Mother’s All-in-One Leather Care with my sister for her car and also my mother in law to use in her car because of the grandkids always messing it up and it being filthy.
Then there is Mother’s Glass and Surface Auto Household Electronic Displays and Touch Screens. That’s quite a mouthful, but the purpose is pretty simple. Clean glass, surfaces, electronic displays, and touch screens without leaving behind the kind of haze and streaks that make you wonder if you actually cleaned anything.
This product is streak-free, no haze, resists fingerprints, is ammonia-free, and is tint safe. And this one isn’t limited to Charlie’s car in our house. I have a computer that desperately needed to be cleaned and I used it on it and now my computer looks brand new. My screen had fingerprints on it from everybody who has ever lived in the house? Not, now.
I also have a television that could use some attention but I have to wait because David is using it on his tv first and let me tell you as clean as his tv is now I just might take it instead of cleaning mine, and there are the windows in Charlie’s car that was driving me crazy because they were so dirty but not now because I used this and there sparking clean..
So this is another product where I can see the usefulness going beyond the vehicle. Screens are everywhere now. Computers. Televisions. Vehicles. Phones. Tablets. Touch screens. And somehow all of them seem to attract fingerprints. I appreciate having a product designed for these types of surfaces rather than grabbing whatever cleaner happens to be sitting underneath the kitchen sink.
And then we have the one that really caught my attention because it is different from the typical bottle of spray you might expect to find in a car-care basket. Mother’s Odor Eliminator and Refresher and this is designed for carpet and upholstery and the full AC system, and it is a no-residue fogger. It is also unscented.
You have a little lever that you push, and the product does its thing. I haven’t forgotten about the fact that I originally thought about trying it in my room. But Charlie wants it for his car. And honestly, I can understand why. A car can develop smells that aren’t necessarily coming from one obvious spot. Carpet, upholstery and the air-conditioning system can all become part of the equation.
That’s what makes this different from simply spraying something in the air and hoping for the best. And the size makes me think of another use for it: A stocking stuffer. Seriously. When I think about Christmas gifts, I don’t always want another thing that somebody is going to put on a shelf. Sometimes the best gifts are the things people actually use. With a teen and his friends this is a true Godsend.
When I first started putting these Mother’s products together for our Christmas content, my mind naturally went toward a men’s gift guide. Car care. A man’s car. Easy enough. But then I started thinking about our family. And I realized that a Men’s Gift Guide/ Wish List was way too narrow.
Does your teenager have their first car? This could make a fun little car-care basket. They may not know everything there is to know about taking care of a vehicle yet, but giving them products they can actually use can help them start developing that habit. And let’s be honest. A teenager’s first car doesn’t have to be perfect. But wouldn’t it be nice if it were clean?
Mom deserves a clean car, too. Especially the mom who is always driving everybody somewhere. School. Work. Appointments. Practice. The grocery store. Friends. Family. And all the places nobody else seems to want to drive to but more times than not has to because no, one else is going to.
If Mom is the family’s unofficial taxi service, why not give her something that helps keep her taxi looking good? A Gift for Dad Dad may enjoy taking care of his car himself. These products can be put together into a car-care basket that says, I know you like keeping your vehicle looking good.
Grandparents spend plenty of time on the road, too. A practical gift basket can be much more personal than simply buying another generic gift. Put together a few car-care products, add a handwritten note, and you’ve got a gift that says you were thinking about what they actually use.
This is where I think these Mother’s products become especially fun. Instead of handing somebody several individual products, put them together into a Mother’s Car Care Gift Basket.
You could include:
- Mother’s Carpet & Upholstery Remover
- Mother’s Total Interior Detailer
- Mother’s All-in-One Leather Care
- Mother’s Glass & Surface Cleaner
- Mother’s Odor Eliminator & Refresher
Add a microfiber towel or two if you want to make the basket even more complete. Then add something homemade. Not expensive. Not complicated. Just personal. A Coupon From Your Favorite Child Write out a little coupon that says: FREE CAR DETAILING Good for one car detailing at your convenience. From your favorite child.
Now, depending on how many children are in the family, you might want to negotiate that last part. I’m just saying. But I think that’s what makes a gift like this special. The products are useful. The basket is fun. And the homemade coupon turns it into something personal.
I’ve always thought there was something wonderful about a gift that doesn’t just sit around. We get plenty of things in our homes. Things we think are cute. Things we think we might use someday. Things we forget we even have. But a good car-care product? You use it. And then you use it again.
That’s especially true when you have a family vehicle that gets plenty of miles on it. Our cars are part of our lives. They take us to work. They take us shopping. They take us to appointments. They take us on vacation. They take us to family activities. They take our children places.
And sometimes they take us somewhere simply because we need to get out of the house for a while. So taking care of the vehicle that takes care of all that transportation makes sense. The biggest thing I took away from using these products is that car care doesn’t have to be a once-a-year spring-cleaning project. It can simply become part of taking care of what you already have.
Clean the carpet when it needs it. Clean the upholstery. Take care of the leather. Clean the dashboard. Clean the screens. Take care of the glass. Deal with odors instead of just ignoring them. Little things add up. And when you’re finished, you get into a car that feels better.
That is something I noticed while using these products with Charlie’s car. It wasn’t about making an old car magically become a brand-new vehicle. It was about taking the vehicle we have and giving it some attention. And sometimes that’s exactly what our things need.
These Mother’s products will be making their way into our Greatful Moments Christmas Gift Guide/ Wish List, but I don’t want you to think of them as Christmas-only products. That’s the beauty of a practical gift. You don’t have to wait for December.
A Mother’s car-care basket could be a:
- First-car gift
- Graduation gift
- Birthday gift
- Father’s Day gift
- Mother’s Day gift
- Grandparents’ gift
- Christmas gift
- New-driver gift
- “Just because I love you” gift
And sometimes “just because” is the best reason of all.
I started this review by telling you that I had to gather the Mother’s products from Charlie’s car. That’s because these weren’t products we simply photographed and put back in a box. We used them. That’s important to me. When I recommend something here at Greatful Moments, I want to be able to tell you about our experience with it.
I want to tell you what we used it for. I want to tell you what caught my attention. And I want to be honest when something has a limitation or when you need to check the manufacturer’s instructions before using it somewhere else. Because that’s what a review should be.
It’s not just repeating what is printed on the bottle. It’s taking the product into your everyday life and seeing where it fits. For our family, Mother’s car-care products gave us a reason to give Charlie’s car some much-needed attention. And if you’ve seen the hair situation on that dashboard, you’ll understand why that was necessary! Then we tackle David’s truck, my sister’s car and even my mother in laws car.
More importantly, they reminded me that car care isn’t just about cars. It’s about the people who drive them. The mom who taxis everyone around. The dad who enjoys keeping his vehicle clean. The teenager learning to take responsibility for their first car. The grandparents who spend their days running errands. And the family who simply wants to take better care of the things they already have.
So yes, I’m putting these in our Christmas Gift Guide/ Wish List as I help Santa load his Sleigh this year. But I’m also putting them on my list of practical, useful, year-round gift ideas. Because sometimes the best gift isn’t the one that makes the biggest splash when it is opened. Sometimes it’s the one that gets used the very next day. And maybe, just maybe, it will even help get some of that mysterious dashboard hair out of Charlie’s car.
Have you ever given someone a car-care basket as a gift? What would you put in yours?
Grateful. Thankful. Blessed.
GratefulMoments.com
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
