Protect Car from Kids [How to Keep a New Car Nice With Kids]

If you follow me on IG [or if you follow me around in real life… yikes], you know I recently bought a new car. We actually drove all the way to Dallas to buy it, but that’s a story for another post. I have 2 little kids, so keeping anything nice is a challenge. Here are the strategies I’m using to protect car from kids…

Introducing my New Ride: Infiniti QX60

First off, here’s my new ride: Infiniti QX60. It’s a 3-row SUV, but we keep the third row folded down for more cargo space.

I’ve always been into cars and personalizing them as much as possible. First thing I did with this beauty is get the taillights, brake light, and reflectors tinted.

Long-term, I want to get the badges blacked out, too.

I have a thing for black cars. My favorite car I ever drove was a Saturn Sky, a brand-new roadster when I was 18 years old. Black exterior, black leather, and a black ragtop that was down about 95% of the time.

I want black rims, too. These are just stock 18″ wheels, but I plan to upgrade to 20″ black in the [hopefully near] future.

Heavy-Duty Floor Liners

With kids come a lot of dirty footprints. I chose WeatherTech floor liners over OEM and competitor options because WeatherTech offers the largest coverage area. They fit my vehicle perfectly and help protect from the inevitable spills that come with driving around with 2 kids.

When they get dirty, I just pull them out and hose them off. Sometimes Colton even hoses them off for me. He loves to work the garden hose!

Warning: WeatherTech is an investment. But I figure it’s well worth it to keep my car nice, plus they’ll hopefully be a selling point when we re-sell the car [a long, long time from now].

We got the WeatherTech cargo liner, too. It’s done its job protecting from little boy drinks!

One advantage of the OEM cargo liner is that it folds up and down with the third row of seats, whereas WeatherTech does not. I’ll have to remove the cargo liner if I want to put up the third row. But, I wasn’t pleased with the material of the OEM–it seemed more for looks than function, so I didn’t go with it.

Protect Cup Holders with Cupcake Liners

Here’s a little hack to protect your cup holders: use silicone cupcake liners to catch spills and crumbs. When they get dirty, wash and re-use. These are the exact ones I ordered and I can attest that they are, in fact, dishwasher-safe.

Extra Device Chargers

I also ordered some extra iPhone/iPad chargers to keep in the car. My old car didn’t have USB charging capabilities, so this was an exciting upgrade.

Graco 4Ever Extend2Fit Platinum Car Seat Review

Moving on to the backseat… it’s not fair that mom got all the upgrades, so I was thrilled when Graco sent us a couple of their new Graco 4Ever Extend2Fit Platinum car seats to try out! These seats are seriously amazing: they are a rear-facing seat, forward-facing convertible, booster with back, and backless booster all in one seat! Right now, Blair is in the rear-facing position, and Colton is in the forward-facing convertible.

The seat meets with Blair’s seal of approval.

And Colton gets comfortable enough for those car naps. Which means I can park somewhere to bum WiFi and get some work done on my phone while the kids sleep.

I’m seriously impressed with how comfortable these seats look and feel. They even have quilting on the seat pad!

The 4Ever Extend2Fit Platinum is also very easy to install. It uses EZ Tight LATCH technology which basically makes it a lot easier to install than the seats we purchased in 2015 and 2016. It’s crazy how much the technology can change in just a couple years.

From now until May 25th, buy a Graco 4Ever car seat and get a free NUK Everlast sippy cup! Click the image above to learn more. Blair has been using the Everlast 360 cup for a couple weeks and I was really impressed with how quickly she took to it. AND it’s spill-proof!

Car Seat Protector Pads

We installed these car seat protector pads to protect the car’s leather seats from car seat indents. They’re super easy to install [as in, just put them underneath the car seat] and so far, no indentations. Well worth the investment.

Seat Back Organizer for Car

We also ordered these car back seat organizers from the same brand. As you can see, Blair doesn’t have a lot in her’s yet, but I’m sure she’ll fill it up soon. They have a ton of compartments to hold toys, sippy cups, and even tablets.

Plus, they protect the back of the seats from footprints from forward-facing kiddos.

Car Seat Mirror for Rear-Facing Babies

A car seat mirror is a must-have for rear-facing kiddos. I can keep an eye on Blair to see if she’s awake or asleep, and generally see what she’s up to in the car.