A Singaporean In Australia

I hated it, I always did. The steam cleans worked to a certain extent and Jen told me she "couldn't smell anything wrong." Historically, her nose hasn't got a good track record so my laziness allowed that to go on for months, since I rarely take a ride on her car until my guilt finally took over last weekend. Perhaps I could not tolerate with the stale old car smell anymore and decided enough was enough.

As far as I'm concerned, steam is fucking great. If you don't agree with that, put your face at the end of a steam jet to understand. Unfortunately, as great as steaming is, it has limitations when it comes to cleaning the interior of the car. It could be the equipment, or simply the way cars are built to be - with awkward angles and hidden corners inaccessible to machines.

So I vacuumed. I vacuumed with maximum effort, so much so I was worried one of my neighbours would come at me with a baseball bat. I used a home vacuum, not a handheld one we normally used in Singapore. It was a pretty powerful one which sucked. One of the rare situations where something didn't suck because it sucked because it was meant to. Since it was pretty powerful, it was pretty noisy. That was why the fear of annoying people nearby. I am living in a strata, in case you don't understand why.

It was backbreaking business but it was way better than using a handheld vacuum where we ended up with a broken back and a barely cleaned car. One good thing about Australian living is that working on your car with electricity supply nearby is a realistic situation, whereas it had been a tough call for me in Singapore because I don't live in a landed property. As such, I ended up with a broken back but a car interior I was proud of. What was left to do was to remove the old car smell and infuse it with a scent of heaven.

I am fighting to keep cancer at bay. So I will be doing myself a favour if I stop using products straight from the shelves. These products of convenience comes with a price. Normally low cost but at times with a price we cannot afford to pay. So I made my own cleaning agent which comprised of only 2 basic ingredients. With my special needs, I added a 3rd ingredient to make it complete. I called it the Magic Potion.

Apple cider vinegar cost less than half the price of those I could buy in Singapore. So that made me happy to use it as one of the main ingredients of Magic Potion. Baking soda, as we know it, is renown for its cleaning properties and is a relatively low cost ingredient as well. The essential oil came from a good friend, TT, and was added because I wanted a bit of new smell, hopefully pleasant. All I wanted was to say goodbye to the old car smell for good. So I sprayed Magic Potion all over the upholstery of Stargazer, include carpets. I mildly soaked a cloth and used it to clean the rest of the car parts, such as the plastic areas.

The result : Gone was the old sweaty car smell and the scent of sandalwood lingered even after its 4th day. Magic indeed. Why did I even spend money for car fresheners at all, which was neither cheap nor good for our health. Alright, I know breathing in essential oil may not be good for health too. At least I think it wouldn't do more harm than compounds like Benzene, Toluene, Phthalates or Fomaldehyde which are present in our everyday car freshening products. So never again. It's Magic Potion from now on.