Small vehicular victories

Unfortunately, no one has puked in my car in the past week. Or discharged a dramatic poo-splosion. Or even backed into me in the drive-through lane, causing me to spill my chai latte all over my lap and my upholstery.

So that means I didn't get to test out all of these snazzy Blink products. Still, I do drive a mom-mobile littered with candy wrappers, used Kleenex, and unsticky old stickers, plus stray macaroni noodles and dried beans that have jumped off precious works of art. I still have beige leather seats that (now that spring is finally, sort of, springing) bear both salty white and muddy brown footprints in sizes "small" and "smaller." And I still occasionally transport a dog with a slimy nose.

But hey! You wouldn't know it now that I've cleaned up my act. I've relocated the garbage into a handy Trash Tosser drawstring plastic bag. The small but long-lasting Mess Lifter wipes took care of my grimy seats. And the very cleverly packaged Smudge Cleaner (it's a small spray bottle with a built-in pocket holding a stack of dry wipes) worked a charm on the nose prints. I even tried it out on the kitchen window next to my toddler's chair--the one that's been coated with fingerprints and unidentified food substances for weeks now. Goo begone!

What I liked: A big part of the appeal of these products is their good-things-come-in-small-packages design. Each container is small--six inches or so across--and can be clipped on to a seat back or door pocket or stuffed into the glove compartment. The products I tried worked effectively--the wipes were small, but long-lasting (I cleaned two kitchen windows with just one Smudge Cleaner, and wiped down almost all my leather seating with one Mess Lifter).

What I didn't: Keeping all these gizmos in my car makes it feel more cluttered, which pretty well defeats the purpose. I don't want to clip the boxes to the seat backs because then my kids will be able to get at the goods--and I'm sure you can imagine why that isn't good. My glove box and center console are already, of course, overstuffed. I solved this problem by using one of the Tidy Totes--Blink's reusable mesh bag--to contain all the containers.

Who it's for: Any parent (and I include you dog moms and dads here too) who wants to get ahead of the pigpen-on-wheels syndrome that can take over the family car at a moment's notice. Note that all the products except the mesh bags are disposable, which may not be acceptable to the greenest among us. The good news is that, as I noted above, one tiny wipe goes quite a long way.

For a chance to win your own batch of Blink products, enter the Mess Makers promotion. Grand prize is a digital photo package--we're talking two cameras, a camcorder, a printer, photo paper, and processing.