Homemade Glass Cleaners You Probably Haven't Tried (2024)

Equipment / Tools

Materials

Basic Homemade Glass Cleaner

Mixing alcohol and white vinegar makes a quickly evaporating glass and mirror cleaner that can compete with the cleaning power of national brands. This same recipe can also be used to give a nice shine to ceramic, chrome, and other hard surfaces.

1. Combine Ingredients

   Carefully mix together your cleaning ingredients in a new, empty spray bottle.

   

   Warning

   Do not reuse a spray bottle that previously had another kind of cleaner in it. This eliminates the possibility of a dangerous chemical reaction between the new ingredients and the old cleaner.

2. Label and Store

   Label the spray bottle as "glass cleaner" and keep it safely stored where curious pets or children will not have access to it.

   

Homemade Glass Cleaner With Corn Starch

Yes, cornstarch. Why it helps is anyone's guess, but a lot of people with formerly filthy windows swear by it. There are a couple of tricks to using this formula.

1. Mix the Ingredients

   Combine ingredients in a clean, unused spray bottle. Label as glass cleaner. If you've made two different glass cleaning solutions, mark this one as having cornstarch.

   

2. Use With Care

   Shake the spray bottle well before spraying on the cleaner to mix up the solution. During use, continue wiping until the glass is clear; if you leave any cleaner on the surface, the cornstarch leaves a residue.

   

The Best Tool for Wiping Windows

You've probably heard this before, but the best homemade rag for windows is plain black-and-white newspaper. It's free, it's recyclable, and it leaves glass and mirrors without streaks and lint. Cotton rags and paper towels leave too much lint, and paper towels are a waste of paper.

An Exception to the Rule: Microfiber

Since you're interested in simple, homemade glass cleaners, it wouldn't be right not to mention the option of plain water. This is the exception to the previously mentioned advice about mixing ingredients for the best performance. Water is an excellent glass cleaner, but only if you also have a very high-quality microfiber glass-cleaning cloth.

The best microfiber cloths are made of 70 percent polyester and 30 percent polyamide. They also can cost upwards of $15 or $20 each. If you wash and dry them properly (without fabric softener) and keep them in good condition, they'll clean glass with plain water just as well as another homemade cleaner will. Cheap microfiber cloths don't have the same cleaning power and usually aren't worth the trouble. If you have a cheap cloth, you're probably better off with a blended solution and newspaper.