Aloha, friend units! Now that winter is nearly upon us, it’s time to bust out those storm windows. Now, you should’ve cleaned the storm windows before you took them out, but we all know that the basement can get all dusty and dirty. And if you’ve – gasp – left your storm windows in all summer then you’ll either have to pop them out or clean them with them still installed. Removing your storm windows to clean them is the best way to get the job done right (and it’s safer) but if you’re a lazy daredevil, then you can leave them in to clean them.

There’s really not much to cleaning storm windows when they are removed that is any different than normal windows. Me, though, I don’t like to use that store bought blue window cleaner stuff. The smell gives me a headache and makes me think of my days as  a bus driver :-/. So, here’s what I use to wash my windows:

Cleaning Frenzy’s Homemade Window Washing Fluid

• For light cleaning: 1 gallon of warm water and 1/2 a cup of white vinegar.
• For heavy cleaning: 1 gallon of warm water, 1/2 a cup of white vinegar, 1/2 cup of ammonia and 2 tablespoons of corn starch

For medium cleaning, you can also toss a teaspoon of mild dish detergent into the light mix (though you might want to add a little less vinegar in that case).

Now, when cleaning my storm windows that are removed, I do the following:

• Prop the window diagnolly against the wall so it’s at an angle. But be careful. If you push too hard, it’ll bow the glass and BREAK IT.
• Use crumpled up newspaper instead of paper towels. First of all, you’re reusing (which is like 10 times better than recycling) and it reduces streaks. See, those homeless guys don’t just use the USA Today because they can’t afford a roll of Bounty – it’s actually how experts do it.
• On one side, I wash horizontally and on the other side I wipe vertically. That way, if there are streaks, you immediately know which side it’s on.

If you want to clean your storm windows without removing them, you can:

1. Use a longhandled broom to wipe away dirt, leaves, debris and cobwebs.
2. Wrap a towel around the broom and continue cleaning the window without any liquid.
3. Now, you can use the hose to spray the window. Some people say that there are hose attachments that help you spray window cleaning fluid up there, but I haven’t found one, nor do I think they’d really work. If you need to buy a gadget, why not just get a Mr. Long Arm and a Window Washing Set? That’ll get things done the right way.
4. If you don’t want to invest in gadgets and don’t want to climb a ladder, you’ll just have to suffice with a hose off.

That’s really all there is to it. Oh, by the way, the photo is by Clearly Ambigous.