Spring Cleaning Tips To Make Your Windows Shine

I love spring. Looking out the windows, watching the flowers bloom, and smelling the sweet aromas of my lilac bush wafting in through the open windows on the refreshing breeze. Too bad winter leaves my windows covered in grim and very hard to open. Luckily I have some tricks up my sleeve to make my windows sparkle and open with one finger.

Every spring I take the time to wash my windows and give them a little maintenance to keep them working in top form. It's a once a year effort that pays off all through the fall. The secret to really clean windows is in the cloth you use to wash off your cleaning solution. My two favorite items are coffee filters and newspaper. The most important property of a window cleaning cloth is that it has to be lint free. Coffee filters work great, but with a large number of windows I could use several hundred of them to wash all of those windows. This is pretty wasteful, so I usually use newspaper. Just crumple it into a big ball and wipe away. The newspaper soaks up the cleaning solution and helps spread it evenly. I use one piece of newspaper for the first pass and then I use a clean second sheet for the final polish. Make sure you only use the black and white news print. The color stuff and ads usually has too much ink on it and can leave ink streaks on the sides of the window.

The cleaning solution also makes a big difference. I usually make my own as store bought window cleaner can be pretty expensive for what is in it. I just mix 2 tablespoons vinegar, 4 tablespoons ammonia and 1 quart water into a spray bottle. Just Spray and wipe. Don't forget to wash inside and out. For outside windows on the second floor, I use a lawn chemical sprayer. I just put the vinegar and ammonia into the sprayer and it mixes it with the water and sprays at least 25' into the air. You can buy one of these lawn sprayers for under $10 at your favorite lawn and garden store.

 Keeping vinyl windows opening properly can be an exercise in frustration. The problem is that the vinyl tends to want to stick together. So when you try to open the window, the friction can make it very difficult. I have tried many different lubricants but always come back to Pledge. All you have to do is spray a little Pledge onto the tracks and open and close the window several times. Once the pledge has been spread out, the windows will open with ease.

Let me know how these work out for you. I have been using these tips for years but would love to hear what works best for you. You can also find lots window cleaning tips on the web. Happy cleaning.