A dirty window can raise a homeowner’s energy bills. Why is this? It’s because grime blocks the sunlight and heat that a clean window allows to come into the home in the winter. Because of this, the homeowner needs to crank up the thermostat unnecessarily. It’s best for windows to be cleaned right before spring to get rid of the grime that’s accumulated during the winter.

Making Windows Sparkle and Shine!

The secret to cleaning windows is to start and end on a dry surface to cut down on streaking. The homeowner can use a commercial window cleaner or make up his or her own by adding four tablespoons of lemon juice to a gallon of water. If the window is really grimy, the homeowner can mix a half a cup of sudsy ammonia, a pint of wood alcohol, a teaspoon of dishwashing liquid and enough water to add up to a gallon. The homeowner can spray the solution on the window pane, and then, taking a paper towel, wipe away about a half an inch of liquid from the very edges of the window pane. Then, taking a squeegee or a paper towel, the homeowner should begin at the dry margin and wipe all the way to the other dry margin. Continue from top to bottom until the window is clean.

A paper towel, by the way, is much preferred over newspaper, which can leave ink behind on the glass.