Challenge #34: Get a Clear View

This week's challenge is inspired by all the cleaning and rearranging going on lately at this little place here in preparation for DS1 and crew's arrival with a household worth of stuff.

Get a clear view. . . In other words: wash your windows!  I've been giving mine a good cleaning, inside and out.  I have tilt-wash double-hungs, but I confess to very rarely actually using the tilt feature when cleaning them.  Normally it's just the insides that get sprayed and wiped clean.

This time, however, I'm remembering how to slide them down, tilt them in, and make the outside panes as sparkly clean as the inside ones.  Well, in the interest of full disclosure, I did have to read the sticker on the upper part of the frame to refresh my memory exactly how the tilt-wash works.  Thank goodness I didn't give in to DH's desire to peel off those stickers once the windows were installed nearly 13 years ago!

Hopefully you have tilt-wash or easily accessible windows too.  If so, this challenge will be so much easier.  If not, well, I challenge you to find a ladder, and a bucket, and some rags, a hose, and maybe a squee-gee too.  Wash those windows!  Wash 'em good!  You'll be amazed at what a difference washing the outside, and not just the inside, makes.

One caveat:  this may be dangerous for birds.  I had one fly into the window yesterday.  That hasn't happened in years (which tells you how long it's probably been since I washed the outsides of the windows).  Poor bird.  At least it didn't seem to be hurt much; it hopped up and flew right away.

I like to use a 50/50 vinegar and water solution when I wash windows.  I have a spray bottle with vinegar water in it that I use for cleaning just about everything.  So, when I want to clean the windows, I just grab that bottle and a couple of old newspapers.  Newsprint is hands down, the best for streak-free, lint-free windows.