Wonderful Window Washing

So, back in April, 3 of us got together to make cleaners.  I already blogged about what a delight my new all-purpose surface spray is.  Now, I thought I'd talk about my window cleaner.

Again, like most homemade cleaners, it is extremely inexpensive to make.  Also, it is all-natural and doesn't contain anything you can't pronounce or any chemicals you need to lock yourself inside a lab to concoct.  Big incentives, in my book!

Here's the recipe:

1 cup water
1 cup vinegar
1/2 tsp. Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap

Like Megan and Nicole, I purchase vinegar in what is probably the largest size available to consumers...a giant bottle from Costco that retails at $2.99.  A cup of it barely makes a dent in the overall supply. I already had Dr. Bronner's liquid castile soap on hand in those fabulously small travel bottles from Target.  We're talking teeny tiny quantities of the stuff, so it's fantastic that you don't have to buy it in the typical 32-oz bottle, which usually sets you back $7-$10.  The travel sized bottle is $1.99 at Target.  And of course, water is readily available at your own tap.  Super cheap! Simply re-purpose an old spray bottle (I actually saved my old Windex bottle as it dwindled, knowing that I would make a new batch and never revert to buying it again...and that way it came with a great spray-er. You know how sometimes the nozzles on spray bottles can be frankly nightmarish.  I think Megan and I could tell you some stories about abominable spray nozzles on our bleach bottles at the CDC.  Suffice it to say, you would never realize how upset a lousy or malfunctioning spray bottle could make you, until you go to spray an enormous surface that small children have eaten pasta with red sauce all over and all you get are a few measly dribbles of bleach water.  It's a tension headache waiting to happen.)  So, please, save yourself the annoyance and re-purpose an old spray bottle with a reliable nozzle. (yes, I know I am fairly nuts.)

Combine all ingredients, and get to work spraying! I love my homemade window and glass cleaner...I actually think it works BETTER than Windex.  With this caveat: you will need to wipe it down a few more times than you would an ordinary window cleaner that you buy at the store.  Those are extremely thin and chemically designed not to streak.  This one doesn't streak either, but be aware that you will wipe the area you sprayed a couple more times than you're used to in order to remove all traces of the cleaner.  I tell you this only because I thought I made some horrible error in concocting it when I first sprayed it on our glass kitchen table.  After effectively wiping it away, though, I was thrilled with the results.  I never have any streaks, and I'm using all-natural ingredients.  How can you go wrong?

I remember reading "Girl with a Pearl Earring," a fictional book about a young cleaning girl in the Dutch home of the painter Vermeer.  She would clean the windows of Vermeer's house with vinegar and newspaper.  I distinctly remember being shocked by that, because, if it's so simple to clean a window using vinegar, why have we made it so enormously complicated and insisted on buying bottles with a trillion other ingredients in them? Why not try kicking it old school (like say hundreds of years ago in Holland) and revert back to a vinegar-based window cleaner? You won't be sorry!