If you’re like most of us you tremble at the dreaded thought of spring time and cleaning your windows. Yes winter is over and you can barely see out of them. So, do you do it yourself or do you call in the professionals? Let me assure you that this job isn’t as hard as you think it is. If you want to save yourself some money I suggest you do it yourself with these easy and inexpensive do-it-yourself tips. It is true that there are a number of window cleaning solutions that you can buy at your local stores who claim to do a wonderful and streak free job, but believe it or not, you can do it for a fraction of the cost by making your own solution and have the satisfaction of knowing that you did it yourself.
Chances are you have everything you need already in your home. so what you need is a large spray bottle approximately 16 ounces, some white vinegar, preferably distilled water as it will cut down on the minerals in the mix and prevent water spots from appearing on your windows later on, and some old newspapers. All you have to do to make the solution is add about 2 to 3 tablespoons of white vinegar to some very warm water in your spray bottle, and if you don’t like vinegar because of the strong smell you may also use lemon juice or club soda. Also if you like, it may be a good idea to add a little antibacterial dish soap to your solution. This will remove any wax build up that may be on your windows from your previous cleaning or from some commercial type cleaners that were used in the past. So if you have been seeing streaks after cleaning your windows and you just can’t seem to get them clean, that is why, there is a wax buildup! This is also true of the mirrors in your home. You can use the same solution to clean all the mirrors in your house for a streak free shine.
In fact if you have a lot of windows you may want to make this solution in a bucket rather than a spray bottle. Just use your own judgment as to how much vinegar you add to your water as well as the antibacterial soap. Usually about a cup to a gallon of water is good and about 1/4 cup of dish soap. You may wish to divide the job up into a couple of days by doing the front of the house one day and the back another day. It’s important to clean windows on a day that’s not too sunny because the sunlight tends to make it more difficult to tell if the windows are clean and also avoiding streaks.
So now that you’re ready to actually start washing those windows, just wrinkle up the old newspaper and dip it into your solution and wash away. It’s always a good idea to do the inside of your windows in one direction preferably diagonally and the outside in another direction horizontally. This helps to see if there is any streaking going on. Some people don’t like the idea of using newspaper because of the ink coming off, so you may also use large coffee filters because they are lint free and are relatively cheap. Now to really show off your clean windows invest in a real blackboard eraser, the kind that’s made with wool and give it a little extra shine and see if the neighbors notice.