Meanwhile, I have collected an impressive collection of products for purposes such as: son peed in his freight car (cargo!); pregnant me vomited Taco Bell on the carpet; son dropped chocolate milk down the side of the bed against the wall (not to be discovered until much, much later); husband* spilled Diet Coke on the bed (and the carpet, and the computer, and the couch); son smeared poo on crib, walls, and carpet; son dropped play-doh on the floor which became wet and mashed into the carpet fibers; son gave other son various food products that when pulverized and sat-upon create an interesting rainbow on the floor.

* = frequently more accurately: "Spliggle spilled Husband's Diet Coke..."

Most of my cleaning products work pretty well. The one "sticking point" has been the carpet. Different products work better on different stains: Poo, Play-doh, Diet Coke, and Taco Bell each require different products. A new carpet cleaner (after two bowls and a new set of brushes) and a new carpet (with stain-repellant fibers and a super-wicking carpet pad) have worked wonders.

When I first got my new van a couple months ago, I was careful to inspect it every day to clean up any spills. Then the inspection was once a week. Now it is "whenever I see a glaring stain." Doing a full inside and outside wash was something on my "to do if I have time" list that kept being pushed into the future.

But on Monday, Husband told me he would like to borrow the van to take some interns to a meeting Wednesday. So suddenly, Operation Clean Van became a top priority.

I spent yesterday vaccuming, wiping, and scrubbing. I used Windex on the seats, and sure enough, the thin shiny coat of formula is gone. And of course, the windows, dash, and various cupholders became clean in no time.

But the carpet was going to be a challenge. Spliggle's bottles thrown and leaking would roll under the seats. The Cat's rice milk, juice, and other liquidy products would end up in splotches beneath his seat. One particular hardened reddish shiny disk completely encompassing the fibers below the second row had unknown origins.

I thought I was going to have to figure out how to use the attachment on the carpet cleaner. I didn't particularly want to haul out the machine to the front yard, but I'd do it if necessary!

But then the Cat got squirt-crazy with the Windex and saturated one of the carpet stains. Meanwhile, I was scrubbing a stain with a clothes stain remover. The Cat's stain went away! Mine didn't.

Soon, the Cat and I had "splirted" all the stains in the car. For removable rugs, I gave them an extra rinse with water and laid them out in the sun to dry. Amazingly, the Windex even cleaned up the hardened red stain.

The result: a nice clean van! Windex can save the world!

UPDATE: Erika's spider story reminded me that I kill spiders with Windex! I spray them off the ceiling or wall, then smoosh 'em. Take that!

UPDATE #2: I just read on Millie's blog that spraying Windex on a phone can cause interior corrosion. Eeek! So I hope I am not disintegrating my van's seats and carpet (and everything else I tend to spray!) I guess it is the disintegrating action that works wonders on the stains.