With so many commercially made window cleaning products on the market, you might wonder why I am writing about how to clean windows with vinegar. Isn’t vinegar supposed to be used for pickling vegetables or sprinkling over your fish and chips?

Well, ordinary white vinegar, also known as distilled vinegar, is a perfectly normal household product and it is very good to use as a cleaning product, explains Window Washing, who provides professional window cleaning in Somerset west. It is totally natural and so you don’t need to worry about nasty chemicals entering the water system. Another big plus is that it is very cheap!

Distilled vinegar is particularly good for cleaning glass – especially windows.

What is vinegar?

Vinegar is made using any natural ingredient that contains sugar. For instance, it can be made from rice, fruit, potatoes, etc. Yeast is added to the sugar and this causes it to ferment turning it into alcohol. After that bacteria (Acetobacter) multiply in the alcohol and produce a by-product, called acetic acid. This is why vinegar has such a sour taste.

There are many different types of vinegar in the world, but they are not all good for cleaning jobs. Also, you definitely would not want to use the most expensive Balsamic vinegar in the world, to clean your windows. Would you?

Why is vinegar so good for cleaning windows?

It is this acetic acid that makes vinegar a good cleaner. It can dissolve things like soap scum, greasy grime, and glue, and your windows are usually the places where these types of dirt gather. Distilled vinegar is super acidic because it is produced in a laboratory. For some jobs, white vinegar may be too strong, so it is a good idea to dilute it with water. This makes it even more economical.

So where do I get this distilled vinegar?

You can find white vinegar in most general stores, supermarkets, and DIY stores. Take a look at the extensive range on Amazon at www.amazon.com

So now that you have obtained your bottle of white vinegar, how do you use it to clean windows? The amounts suggested here should be enough to clean a number of small windows.

You will need:

2 cups of water

¼ cup of white vinegar

½ teaspoon of dishwashing detergent (this ingredient needs to be added only if the windows have a thick build-up of grease and grime)

A spray bottle

Paper towel

Lint-free microfiber cloth check Amazon here www.amazon.com for some examples of the best cloths

Step 1: The vinegar solution

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl. This will ensure that you have enough solution to do quite a bit of cleaning.

Step 2: Pre-clean

Clear the windowsill of any objects and place a towel down to protect the sill from any vinegar spills. Some materials will be spoilt if they come into contact with the vinegar.

Wipe the windows with the paper towel to remove any dust. This should be sufficient if your windows are cleaned regularly. If not, give them a wash with soapy water. For stubborn stains, you could give the window a wipe with undiluted white vinegar first. 

Step 3: Apply the vinegar solution

Spray small jets of the solution around the surface of the window. Do one window at a time and rub quickly in a circular motion to avoid streaks forming. Do one side of the window first and dry in one direction. After that, clean the other side of the window and rub in the opposite direction.

If you need to clean large, outside windows, then you can use the same proportion of vinegar to water, but mix it in a large bucket.

Using a large sponge, you can rub the surface area of the window and clear any tough or stubborn dirt off first. Then rinse the vinegar solution off with a hose and cold water.

It is a good idea to dry the windows with a squeegee first because this has to be done very quickly to stop streaks from forming. You can then use a clean microfiber cloth to polish the inside and outside glass.

You can find step-by-step useful instructions and pictures on this site www.wikihow.life 

or watch a YouTube video on How to Clean Your Windows Using Vinegar at www.youtube.com

So, now you know how to make a window cleaner that is environmentally-friendly and cheap. Clean windows make an enormous difference to the ambiance of your home. No matter what the season, sparkling windows announce to the world that you are incredibly house proud.

In the long winter, it will definitely cheer you up to be able to see any sunshine that might poke through the clouds. Or at this time of year, that relatively rare sight of snow falling on Christmas day.

Happy window cleaning!