How to Clean Your Windows With Vinegar: Our Method

Clean, streak- and dust-free windows provide your home with much-needed sunlight. Natural light has been shown to improve mood, is an excellent source of Vitamin D, and is necessary for indoor plants to photosynthesize properly. Not to mention, glistening windows add to the aesthetic and beauty of the home inside and out. 

But if you’ve been struggling to find a natural, safe, and effective window cleaner, we have a solution - vinegar!

White vinegar acts as a natural degreaser, cleaning agent, and sanitizer, making it an excellent natural DIY window cleaner. Because of its natural acidic composition, vinegar cuts through dirt and grime, leaving your windows naturally clean and streak free. 

Use alone with water or pair with Branch Basics Streak Free – a human-safe option that effectively and naturally cleans your windows without the toxicity of ammonia-based cleaners.

In this article, we’ll show you everything you need to know about how to clean windows - both inside and out -  with vinegar.

Our Method for Cleaning Windows With Vinegar

To get started, gather all of your supplies. Here’s what you’ll need:

• Distilled white vinegar
• Water (we recommend distilled or filtered water for streak free glass)
• Bowl or spray bottle*
• Microfiber cloths and/or squeegee
• Rubber cleaning gloves
• HEPA vacuum with brush attachment (optional)

*Note: The acetic acid found in vinegar can be a lung irritant when used as a spray. Care must be taken to avoid inhaling aerosolized vinegar. Open the windows while cleaning, use fans, and/or good ventilation until the vinegar smell is cleared. Avoid using vinegar as a spray in the presence of someone with asthma or chronic illness.

Step 1: Clean Your Windows at the Right Time

It’s best to clean your windows with vinegar when the sunlight is not directly shining on them.

Why? Because the hot sunlight can dry the vinegar, or other natural window cleaner, too quickly. This will result in streaks and water spots.

Choose a time that is cool, either in the morning, at dusk, or on a cloudy day. 

Also, the time of year makes a big difference. Spring and fall are good seasons for cleaning the exterior of your windows, as the temperatures are lower (but not too cold, either!).

Step 2: Dust Your Windows

An often overlooked step in cleaning windows is dusting, or vacuuming, them. To avoid spreading dust around your windows and home, clean out the window tracks, dust frames, ledges, and even on the actual glass.

Here’s how:

• First, remove any window screens and lay them flat on the grass (more on how to clean them below).
  
• There are two ways to dust your windows before cleaning them:
  
• Use a HEPA vacuum cleaner. This is the fastest, most efficient way of dusting your windows. Use the brush attachment to suck up dust, dirt and grime.
• Run a dry or damp microfiber cloth over the window to grab up dust and dirt. Set this cloth aside as you won’t want to reuse a dirty cloth while you clean.

Step 3: Make a DIY Vinegar Window Cleaning Solution

Now it’s time to make your DIY vinegar window cleaning solution.

For best results, combine 1 part distilled white vinegar with 2 parts distilled or filtered water (this helps prevent any mineral buildup from hard water). 

For tough cleaning jobs, use hot water and add a few drops of a natural, human-safe dish soap, like Branch Basics Concentrate, to help dissolve stuck-on dirt and grime.

You have two options for making a DIY vinegar window cleaning solution:

1. Bowl Method - combine the ingredients into a large bowl or bucket
2. Spray Bottle Method - combine the ingredients into a spray bottle

Step 4: Clean Top to Bottom, Inside and Out

To ensure your windows are clean and streak free, always wipe from top to bottom in a zig-zag pattern. This reduces the chance of any water spots and streaks from vinegar running down the glass.

Here’s how:

Bowl Method

• Dip a microfiber cloth into the solution, wring out, and wipe onto the windows working from top to bottom in a zig-zag like pattern. 
• Let dry.

Spray Bottle Method

• Make sure the room is well-ventilated before spraying the vinegar solution.
• Lightly spritz the window glass and wipe off with a microfiber cloth or squeegee. Again, work from top to bottom in a zig-zag like pattern.
• Let dry.

Repeat as needed.

Next, clean any window screens. If you haven’t already, remove the screens from the windows and lay them on a grassy area. Gently rinse them off with a hose, then spray the vinegar solution and gently scrub with a microfiber cloth. Rinse, then allow to dry before putting them back.

Did you know that vinegar is an excellent versatile cleaner for the home? Discover more in 12 Ways to Use Vinegar in Your Home.

Step 5: Buff Streaks Away

After the windows have dried, use a clean and dry microfiber cloth to buff away any streaks, water spots, or remaining dirt and grime.

And that’s it! That’s how to clean windows with vinegar - our method. 

Now let’s look at some best practices.

How to Avoid Streaks While Cleaning With Vinegar

After cleaning your windows, there’s just nothing more frustrating than to see unsightly streaks wiped across the glass. 

Luckily, there a few things you can do to avoid streaks while cleaning your windows with vinegar:

• Clean at the right time. As mentioned above, it’s important to clean your windows at the right time of day, and during the right seasons of the year to avoid streaks. For best results, clean in the morning, or at dusk, when the sunlight isn’t hot and direct.
• Dust or vacuum first, then clean. Dusting is an important step, as it removes dirt and grime that will only be smudged around as you clean, causing streaks.
• Don’t overuse vinegar (or any other natural cleaning product for that matter!). A little goes a long way. Overspraying or overapplying cleaning solutions can cause streaking. Start small - you can always add more later.
• Work from top to bottom. Not only is this more efficient, it also reduces streaking and spots from the vinegar running down the windows.
• If you’re using a microfiber cloth to wipe with, use one side for applying and wiping the vinegar solution. Then, turn it over to buff away any streaks.

If this is your first time using vinegar to clean your windows, then you may notice streaking despite following our method to a T. If this happens, repeat the process above using a natural, human-safe window cleaning product, like Branch Basics Streak Free, and a clean microfiber cloth for a streak-free, glistening finish.

Learn more on how to use our Streak Free spray here!

How Often Should You Clean Your Windows? 

The answer is - it depends! It depends on the indoor and outdoor environments, current weather conditions, and your personal preference.

As a general rule of thumb, we recommend cleaning the window’s exterior at least twice a year, and the interior bi-weekly or monthly (at a minimum). Again, this depends on your personal preference and how dirty your windows get with time.

For best results, we recommend cleaning your window’s interior at least once a week. This will help reduce buildup of dust and improve and maintain healthy indoor air quality.

Find Streak Free Window Cleaning Options With Branch Basics

That’s it! Now you know how to clean windows with vinegar - the natural, safe, and effective way!

While cleaning, don’t forget:

• To avoid hot, direct sunlight to avoid streaks,
• Dust your windows before you clean, and,
• Work from top to bottom for best results.

For another effective, economical, and human-safe option for natural window cleaning, give Branch Basics Streak Free a try.

All it takes to make is 1 drop of Branch Basics Concentrate in a refillable spray bottle of water (we recommend using distilled water for best results).

Yes, you read right! You only need 1 drop of our all-in-one, human-safe Concentrate and a large spray bottle of water to make enough Streak Free to last you for months. 

This simple solution, plus a microfiber cloth, should leave you with streak-free windows (that’s why we call it Streak Free, after all!). If streaks occur, then it means you have used too much!

Explore our Starter Kits (available in refillable plastic or glass) to learn more about our human-safe cleaning system.

Want to dig deeper into natural and human-safe cleaning? Check out our Ultimate Spring Cleaning Checklist: Human-Safe Home Cleaning Guide, and How to Clean Windows Naturally for more!