taking our strollers to the spa

Applesauce smudges, sandbox sand, stale raisins, the faint smell of urine, and crumbs... SO many crumbs! These are just some of the unpleasant things that come along with owning strollers and car seats that get downright disrespected by the rambunctious toddlers who occupy them. And for most moms, spot-cleaning is the best we can do, unless you're willing to set aside time to break out the instruction manual and multiple YouTube videos, to learn how to remove and replace the car seat/stroller fabric. Oh and did I mention you're house-bound while you're doing all of this... because you won't have a car seat to transport your children! There's GOT to be a better way!

Meet Stroller Spa. The 100% green, baby gear detailing service that will take your messy car seats and filthy strollers, and restore them to their former glory! When I first posted about Stroller Spa on Instagram, I had SO many moms message saying, "WHAT! I didn't even know this was a thing!". Neither did I, until my mom shared that a family member on my step-dad's side owned a company that did just that! At the time, I was a new mom with sparkly clean gear. Fast forward to a second child, a potty-training toddler, a few new strollers, and a couple of years, and I was in desperate need.

I reached out to Jamie, my Step-Dad's niece, mother of three, entrepreneurial bad-ass, and owner of Stroller Spa, based in San Francisco. She was traveling down to Southern California and had availability to remotely clean my gear. I was so excited to watch her process and couldn't wait to see my gear go from tired and dirty to sparkly new.

Here is a 'before' picture, from the day I dropped off my gear:

Stroller Spa typically loans out car-seats and strollers while yours are 'at the spa', but we were lucky enough to have a family member nearby with extras so we didn't need to utilize that aspect of the service. After dropping off our gear, I naturally took my own car to get detailed because you guys... my backseat was GROSS. Half-eaten granola bars and who-knows-what-else were hiding under those seats. I knew that nothing would be better than installing clean car-seats in an equally clean car!

While I was off doing my own cleaning, Jamie was busy removing and hand-washing all of the fabric on my gear. It was then scrubbed with a commercial grade steamer, chassis scrubbed, wheels taken off, picked clean and shined. Lastly, she gave each piece a full tune-up.

You guys. Everything looks brand new. And smells brand new. Needless to say, I could not be happier with how deep they cleaned my gear and how beautiful it looks! The best part is Stroller Spa uses all-natural, unscented cleaning products on the gear they clean so I could feel good about Alice's new baby skin being cozied up against the freshly cleaned fabrics.

In light of the recent Coronavirus outbreak, Stroller Spa is offering some great content online (linking to a great post about the three questions to ask when purchasing a used stroller), along with virtual car seat installations to insure your car seats are installed correctly. With all of this extra time spent at home, now is the time to make sure your car seats are safe. That way when it's time to get back on the road, for car-pools and swim practice, you have that extra peace of mind.

Stroller Spa is also franchising so if you feel like your area NEEDS this service - check out their franchise page. And to all of my Northern California mama's, I urge you to check out Stroller Spa at one of their four locations (San Francisco proper, Marin, East Bay and Palo Alto). It was one of my best decisions and now I am back to enjoying my beautiful, clean baby gear!

To learn more about Stroller Spa - visit their website at www.strollerspa.com!