Spring is here, and if your car’s interior looks anything like mine did after a winter of hockey bags, coffee cups, and snack wrappers, it is time to do something about it. Here is the good news: you probably already have most of what you need sitting in your house right now. This homemade car cleaning gel costs almost nothing, takes about ten minutes to make, and works like a champ on all those hard-to-reach spots that a paper towel just cannot touch.

This is what DIY car care looks like, and your whole family can get in on it.

What You Need

Grab a medium glass mixing bowl, a plastic spoon, and these four ingredients:

• One full 4-oz. bottle of Elmer’s white glue
• 2 teaspoons of baking soda
• 1 to 2 tablespoons of contact lens solution
• A few drops of food coloring if you want to make it fun for the kids

One key note on the contact lens solution: you need a brand that contains boric acid or sodium borate. Check the label before you buy. Those ingredients are what actually activate the gel and give it that satisfying, sticky-but-not-sticky texture.

How to Make It

Pour the glue into your glass bowl first. Glass works best here because the slime releases cleanly without leaving a mess behind. Add the baking soda and stir it in thoroughly. If you are adding food coloring, drop it in now and mix until the color is even throughout.

Then comes the fun part. Add the contact lens solution and watch the whole mixture start to thicken almost immediately. Use your spoon to fold it over itself like you are kneading bread dough. Once it pulls together into a single cohesive ball, set the spoon aside and start working it with your hands. Knead it, stretch it, fold it back on itself. You might notice some extra liquid pooling at the bottom of the bowl. Do not worry about that. The gel will soak it right up as you work.

After a few minutes of kneading, the slime should feel smooth and elastic. That is your green light to get to work. Give your hands a good wash afterward, since some folks have sensitivity to glue or boric acid.

How to Use It

Before you go to town on your whole interior, press the gel onto a small, out-of-the-way spot first just to make sure it plays nicely with your car’s surfaces. This stuff is made for hard plastic surfaces: cup holders, air vents, buttons, dashboard trim, door panel gaps. You push it in, let it grab, and lift it away. It pulls out crumbs, hair, and all that mystery debris that ends up packed into your vents somehow.

Stay away from fabric seats, carpeting, or any porous surface. The gel can leave residue or get stuck in soft materials. Stick to the hard stuff and it performs beautifully.

When one side fills up with gunk, fold the gel over to bring a fresh, clean side to the surface and keep going. If it feels too soft or starts leaving residue, work in a few more drops of contact solution to firm it back up.

Storing It

Toss the finished gel into a small glass jar or a zip-lock bag and stash it somewhere cool in your house. Do not leave it sitting in the car. Summer is around the corner, and heat will turn it into a melted mess in no time.

How Long Will It Last?

That depends on how dirty your car is. If your interior is pretty well maintained, you might get four or more uses out of one batch. A really grimy car might burn through it faster. Either way, a new batch takes less than ten minutes to whip up, so it is no hardship to start fresh.

The experts suggest cleaning your car interior every two to four weeks alongside your regular exterior wash. Pair that routine with your new homemade gel, and those vents and cup holders will stay looking sharp all spring and summer long. You gotta check out how satisfying this thing is to use. Your car will thank you.