Most experts recommend cleaning window blinds at least every two months to ensure they stay free of dust and grime. However, we’ve found that waiting that long can lead to buildup that’s hard and time-consuming to remove.
The tips below will help you clean your window blinds more efficiently and prevent them from getting to the point where cleaning one blind takes an hour.
Kitchen Tongs + A Microfiber Cloth = The Easiest and Most Efficient Way to Clean Blinds
The hard part about cleaning blinds is that wiping down one side rarely gets the edges and corners where the strings run. Fitting a cleaning cloth between each slat can also be awkward. An easier method? Use your kitchen tongs.
Attach a microfiber cloth to each side of the kitchen tongs and secure it with a rubber band. Then, place individual slats between the tongs and work from the left to right side to capture all the dust. Before doing this, you can spray your blinds with a gentle multipurpose cleaner, if desired.
Put Socks on Your Hands
Grab an old pair of socks large enough to fit on your hands and gently grab a blind slat, cleaning the top and bottom as you slide your hands from left to right. Switch out the sock when it becomes covered with dust, and repeat until all the slats are clean.
Use Your Vacuum Upholstery Attachment or a Feather Duster Biweekly
If you want to prevent your blinds from building up excess grime, a gentle dusting every other week will do the trick. You can do this by running your vacuum’s upholstery attachment over them or using a feather or Swiffer duster to capture dust.
Deep Clean with a Garden Hose
If your blinds haven’t been cleaned in months, using the above methods will take a lot of time and effort. An easier way to get them back to new is with your garden hose.
To do this, remove the blinds from the window and lay them outside. Wet them with a garden hose and spray Dawn Power Wash or another gentle cleaner on both sides. Let the cleaner sit for a minute, then rinse. Make sure to use a gentle rinse setting so that you don’t damage the slats. Allow the blinds to fully dry in the sun before reinstalling.
Dust with a Soft Paintbrush
You can improvise with a soft paintbrush if you don’t have a feather duster. Paintbrush bristles can dislodge dust in corners and edges.
Close your blinds and run the paintbrush over them, working from top to bottom. Flip the blinds and repeat on the other side.
Bleach Yellowed Blinds
Blinds that appear yellow even after cleaning have been affected by the sun’s UV rays. Bring them back to white by soaking them in a bathtub filled with bleach water.
Fill your bathtub with cold water and add 3-4 cups of liquid bleach. Remove the blinds and soak them for ten minutes. Drain the bathtub, thoroughly rinse, and rehang the blinds once dry.
Clean Greasy Kitchen Blinds with Dawn
Blinds in the kitchen deal with more than dust buildup—they’re also prone to grease. The best way to clean them is with a grease-fighting dish soap like Dawn.
First, dust the blinds with a duster, paintbrush, or vacuum. Then, add five drops of Dawn to a medium bowl and fill it with water. Dip a microfiber cloth into the bowl and wring out excess moisture. Start at the top and grab each slat, ensuring the microfiber cloth touches the top and bottom. Wipe from left to right and repeat until the blind is fully clean.
