Y’all, the most amazing thing happened in our house yesterday, and it involves the Internet, a few basic household supplies and some veryyyy dirty, slimy, grimy windows.
When we first moved in our townhome about a year ago, the window in the den that faces out onto the street was all smudged and smeared. So I casually grabbed a bottle of Windex and gave that grime a few spritzes. La de da, nothing out of the ordinary. Grabbed some paper towels and started wiping away. And then I wiped some more. And then I put some muscle in it and wiped some more. And then I scrubbed. And scraped. And yelled. And nothing worked. So frustrating!
After a few weeks, I noticed that it was getting worse and that’s when I realized the grime is actually dried doggy slobber from when Bentleigh (and the two adorable golden retrievers that lived here before us) likes to sit at the window (for hours at a time, literally) and stare out into the street.
So for anyone out there who is struggling with windows that are coated in years worth of dried doggy slobber, look no further! I have your solution!
I started getting into the homemade, all-natural cleaner trend back when Pinterest became all the rage and I realized that there were better, cheaper, healthier options out there for our house. Cleaning solutions are expensive, y’all. It’s crazy. And half the time you don’t even know if what you end up buying is actually going to work.
I didn’t even know how dirty and grimey our bathtub/shower was until I used this recipe for homemade shower cleaner. Get ready, it’s real tough. Have you cleared enough space in your brain? Ok.
Homemade shower cleaner: 1/2 part Dawn dishsoap, 1/2 part white vinegar. Pour into spray bottle, shake gently. Spray on grimey-ness, let it sit and then scrub it off. I often spray this stuff on about 15 mins before I’m about to take a shower. I just bring my little scrub brush in the shower with me and take about 5 minutes to scrub-a-dub my bathtub. Easy peasy.
So, back to my windows. I was in the middle of my Spring Cleaning yesterday, that grimey, opaque window was glaring at me the whole time just daring me to try to find a solution to it. I’m not sure why it took me this long to think of it, but I just decided to sit down and Google homemade glass cleaner. Well along comes this same list.
Homemade glass/window cleaner: 1/4 cup white vinegar, 1/4 cup alcohol, 1 TBSP corn starch, 2 cups warm water. Pour into spray bottle and shake gently.
Now, my spray bottle wasn’t big enough for these measurements, so I did a little adjusting. Also, I didn’t have any rubbing alcohol so I just omitted that and doubled the amount of vinegar I used.
Y’all. THIS STUFF IS A GIFT FROM THE GOOD LORD HIMSELF! Take a look at our window before:
And here is literally 3 minutes later after I sprayed that beautiful nectar from the gods onto that grime and used the smallest amount of muscle to wipe it off:
I wish you could have seen this transformation in person because these pictures are doing this miracle about 15% justice. I’m pretty sure if I’d had rubbing alcohol on hand, it probably would have taken one minute instead of three.
Matt came home and the only thing I said to him was, “Check out the front window” and as soon as he glanced at it, he was like, “OMG. I can see through it!”
Seriously, the only downside of this stuff is that I can no longer justify walking around our den in the buff because the window is no longer opaque. Dang it, Google! This is all your fault.
Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend. Matt and I will spend Good Friday doing a little relaxing, going to the Stations of the Cross and waiting for his family to arrive so we can celebrate Easter and also my fabulous Father-in-Law’s birthday!
xoxo, p
love, winniejane 