Even though it's superficial maintenance, there's something to be said about taking pride in our vehicles by giving them a good clean and polish.

There can be something quite relaxing and satisfying about washing our cars. For car lovers who agree with us, here is a step by step guide to show us how it's done by hand:

Getting everything organised before we begin getting our hands dirty will allow us to complete the job efficiently. First we need to set our cars up on a flat piece of concrete away from direct sunlight. This prevents premature drying which can leave our cars looking patchy and blotchy. We also need to make sure our windows are closed, the antennas are retracted and our windshield wipers are propped up away from the glass.

Now let's set everything up nearby that we will need to wash our car:

• 2 x buckets of soapy water filled with car wash detergent (follow the recommendations on the bottle for suggested water-to-detergent ratio)
• 1 x bucket of warm clean water for rinsing
• 1 x hose
• 1 x long skinny wheel brush
• 2 x wash mitts
• 1 x glass window cleaner
• 1 x large sponge for our tyres
• 1 x microfiber cloth to dry our car
• 1 x car wax
• Some good tunes to listen to ;-)

So it's time to get washing and believe it or not, the order actually matters. First we hose down our cars to loosen and soften any dirt, aiming the water downwards so the dirt does not accumulate.

Then we can dip one of our large wash mitts into the soapy water and begin applying it to our cars - section by section - starting at the top first and slowly working our way down. Using a wash mitt is perfect as it is soft and less likely to scratch the surface of our cars. We can use the bucket of warm water to keep our wash mitt clean. If we have any bugs or bird droppings stuck to our cars it's important we get these off as they can damage the paint. Letting them soak in warm water hopefully should soften them enough so we can slowly remove them without scratching our vehicles.

The next step is to rinse each section of our cars with a hose. This step is important as we don't want the soap to dry on the paint as it may stain it. We can then apply window cleaner to the windows and wipe them down.

The wheels are next. They're usually the dirtiest parts of our cars so we need something like the long skinny wheel brush to start cleaning the sidewalls of the tyres. If, however, they're already quite clean, we can just use a sponge to give them a quick once over. Once we are done we can spray the wheels down with the hose.

Using a microfibre towel, we can now begin to dry down our vehicles. This helps prevent the buildup of rust. Microfibre towels are great as they can be reused after cleaning them in the washing machine.

Once our cars are completely dry we can begin applying the wax in circular motion to our vehicle. The wax helps protect the car's paint from fading under the sun. Doing a thorough job of cleaning our cars should take about one to two hours.

Oh, the pride of a job well done! Happy cleaning...