Helpful Window Cleaning Supplies

Not just for the gas station anymore, home squeegees are a great way to clean the windows in your house or apartment. Available fairly inexpensively at most home stores and online, these make scraping your windows – interior and exterior – a lot easier. Many come with extensions to help you reach higher windows, and you can buy replacement rubber blades so your squeegee is always ready to go.

If you have many large panes of glass, a scrubber you can attach to your squeegee is worth the extra money. If your home has divided or smaller windows (inside or out), you’ll do just fine with a porous handheld sponge for scrubbing. For higher outside windows, you can even use a clean, new rope mop – just don’t use one you’ve used on your floors, unless you want to double your work.

For larger cleaning jobs, you’ll need a big bucket to hold your cleaning solution (try two teaspoons of dishwashing liquid to every two gallons of water). Just dip your sponge or scrubber into the mix and wipe the windows; then take your squeegee and scrape the water and solution off.

For everyday cleaning, keep old newspapers under the kitchen sink or in a stack in the mudroom. You can use them instead of paper towels to wipe off spray cleaner for a quick clean-up. You’ll see a lot less streaking than you would with paper towels (this tip also works on mirrors!).

For quick clean-ups, it’s helpful to keep a spray bottle of cleaning solution -- either store bought or homemade -- that you can spray on smudges and smears. Wipe down immediately with your newspaper, and you won’t need to rinse with water.