LifeHack: How A $7 Plastic Tub Could Save You $132
The next day I noticed the inside of my van reeked of fish.
Thinking back to my trip to Costco, I remembered the employee taking the plastic bag containing the crab legs out of the cart and dropping it on the conveyer belt. As he did so, one of the spines on a leg must have punctured the bag causing liquid to spill onto the belt. The cashier got another plastic bag to put over the punctured one. As I was paying the bill, I was asked if I wanted a box for my items. I nodded in agreement thinking it would help prevent any leakage into my van.
Double bagged and in a box, crab juice must have still leaked into my van.
I was sure that the smell would dissipate after a day, so my initial reaction was to do nothing. When I got into my van on January 2nd, I was again punched in the face with the smell of seafood. It was time to take more drastic action
It was time to clean the interior of the van to try to expunge the fishy smell.
I vacuumed the entire interior of the van, and cleaned all the carpeting using a foaming product. I even did the ceiling. I then wiped down the leather seats with disinfectant cleaning wipes. Twice. Finally, I wiped down the dashboard and doors with automotive interior cleaning wipes. The van was immaculate, and smelled strongly of cleaning products. I was sure I had corrected the problem.
On day three, I entered the van to go to work expecting to be greeted by the same fresh lemon scent. My face grimaced as the smell of the crab legs unrelenting attacked my sense of smell.
You HAVE to get this thing detailed exclaimed my wife!
I surrendered. I didn’t know what else I could do. I took the van immediately to a car wash that also did detailing and paid $132 to have the van professionally cleaned. When the van was done, the employees even said, I don’t know where it was coming from, but we managed to get that fish smell out. I nodded and smiled stating that’s exactly why I was there.
Looking at this as a $132 learning opportunity, I wondered to my co-workers how I might avoid this from happening again. One of them suggested I bring along a cooler to put the crag legs in next time. That way, if liquid spills out, it stays in the cooler. That might work, but I might end up with a cooler that I use for other purposes permanently smelling like seafood. The cooler suggestion did point me in the right direction, though. Next time I decide to make crab legs I’m going to buy a plastic storage tub for $10 from Amazon.
I could try to clean it out with soap and hot water, but even if it did permanently smell like seafood it wouldn’t matter since transporting crab legs would be it’s sole purpose in life. That small $10 expenditure will save me from a $132 cleaning of my entire van. Lesson learned.
Have you ever transported something in your vehicle and just couldn’t get the smell out? Did you have to pay to have your car detailed?
Brought to you courtesy of Brock
Brock is a software engineer by day and personal finance blogger at night. He is a fitness junkie and enjoys grilling and smoking meat. Married with two children, Brock strives to improve his skills as a husband and father, and is always on the lookout to stretch his family’s budget as far as he can.
Oh that is such a bummer! But great idea to keep something in the back of the car for this purpose!
What a great idea, it’s amazing the money that can be saved with a bit of a forethought and a cheap fix.
We’ve had grocery-in-the-van mishaps that make me ill to think about. This is a great idea.
I left a bag of shrimp in my car over a weekend. Lot of baking soda, sun and open windows eventually took care of it, but yeah, it took a while.
@Erin – it was definitely a bummer…but at least the crab legs were fantastic, AND my van is spotless inside now. 🙂 Thanks for reading!
@Liz – It’s a simple solution for sure…it’s not something we’ll use that often (crab legs are expensive!), but not having to have our van detailed each time would be a plus. 🙂
@Jamie – Haha, I’d love to hear about some of your “mishaps”…..glad you liked the idea!
@RAnn – Oooh, Baking Soda…I didn’t think of that. I wonder if it would have worked for me too…..thanks for the thought!
Ugh. Good thinking. I’ve definitely seen the idea of getting plastic bins for your trunk on mommy blogs, but I never really thought of why – it seemed like an unnecessary extra to me. You definitely just demonstrated why it could be a great idea.
@Mel – I’m guessing there may be a ton of uses for a plastic tub….especially if one has small kids. 🙂