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April 28, 2009
Spring Cleaning, the Prequel
This past weekend, I started one of my favorite rituals of spring, cleaning the windows. I have approximately five million windows in my house. When you are someone who needs a lot of light and are looking at houses, this seems like a fine selling point, but, later, when you're washing the windows, it seems less so. The cats and I can't give up the sunshine and fresh air, though, and washing the windows has always seemed like one of the best ways to let the sun know I appreciate its return in the spring.
Of course, because my windows are legion, I either need to devote an entire day to washing them or parts of several days. This year, I'm devoting parts of several days. So far, I've done all the windows on the main floor and a couple on the bottom floor. Four more windows on the bottom floor, six more upstairs, and I'm done.
You can wash your windows much more quickly if you do a bad job, but since this is something it only makes sense to do about once a year, you might as well do it right, and washing windows starts with a vacuum cleaner. I use the brush attachment to vacuum the screens as well as the window sills, sashes, jams, and etc. Then I use an all-purpose cleaner and LOTS of cloths to clean all the non-glass parts of the window, especially the sill, which, if you're like me and clean the windows once a year, is probably filthy.
Now that everything AROUND the window is clean, you can focus on the glass. My favorite glass cleaner is the one I learned about in one of my favorite books, Green Up Your Cleanup by Jill Potvin Schoff. It's one part water to one part distilled white vinegar with some drops of essential oil so it smells prettier. I use lavender oil with the idea that it might help calm me down if I see something nasty in the window jams. Anyway, every cleaning guide worth anything that I've ever read recommends spraying or sponging the cleaner onto the window (I used to sponge, but now I spray-Heloise is the one who got me started on the bucket, but even she's come around to the spray bottle) and then using a squeegee to wipe it off. If you can make the squeegee work for you, rock on. I seem to be squeegee-impaired and can only get good results with newspaper.
Which reminds me, DO NOT USE PAPER TOWELS TO WASH YOUR WINDOWS. It's expensive, wasteful, unnecessary, and leaves a bunch of little paper blots all over the place. Newspaper works just fine, although I recommend wearing some gloves when you're using it, otherwise you will have newsprint all around your fingernails for a couple days. If you don't mind that, though, use your bare hands. You aren't using any chemicals that are going to hurt you, after all.
When you're done with the windows, maybe you can find a little energy to tackle the closets. Or maybe you'll just want to sit and stare at your nice, clean windows with a lemonade or a beer and something you cooked on the grill. There's a right choice there and a wrong one, but I'll let you be the final judge.
Book mentioned:
Schoff, Jill Potvin. Green Up Your Cleanup. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Creative Homeowner, 2008. (SPIRAL: 9781580113953)
Posted by adrienne at April 28, 2009 09:49 AM
Comments
Man, that's how my Dad always made us do windows: newspaper and vinegar. And do you THINK we got anything in it to make it smell nice? Why, no.
Oddly enough, no beer afterwards, either...
Posted by: tanita at April 28, 2009 11:07 AM
I can't say that I like washing windows, but I LOVE reading about you washing yours. :)
Btw, in Operation Yes, there's a bit about dirty window sills that you will totally appreciate.
Posted by: Sara at April 28, 2009 11:16 AM
Tanita, Essential oils are expensive, so I kind of get that, but NO BEER? How did you guys deal with the scary things that sometimes wedge themselves into the window jams?
Sara, You know I can't wait to read that book. :)
Posted by: adrienne at April 28, 2009 01:12 PM
Don would be proud of you Adrienne,especially the way you clean and vaccuum all the other parts of the window first, before you wash them!! You know how particular he is about cleaning things,I appreciate having him around though. Now Spring is definitely here.
Posted by: Bri's Mom at April 28, 2009 03:25 PM
The thought of reading Sara's next book fills me with utter glee.
I enjoyed reading this, but it reminded me how badly our windows need cleaning. At least, though, when one of us gets to it, I've got some handy-dandy tips here.
Posted by: Jules at April 28, 2009 04:49 PM
Linda, Well, you know I'm not so particular about all my cleaning tasks. ;)
Jules, You parents of preschoolers are lucky you manage to take showers and stuff. You haven't got time to worry about the windows.
Posted by: adrienne at April 28, 2009 09:53 PM
Um, am I the only one who sees the alternative to using the expensive essential oils for fragrance? If beer is involved at the end of the process, why not use beer to give the cleaning fluid a little zing? Think of it as pouring off the top of your forty in honour of your dead homies -- kind of a Martha Stewart version of it.
Posted by: Jeffrey Lee at April 30, 2009 11:04 AM
Jeffrey, That is brilliant.
Posted by: adrienne at April 30, 2009 02:38 PM