STORM2K

We have 17 yr old ready made Levelor mini-blinds still (18 in all). I've washed them once or twice in the past, if that. Mostly we raise them when we have company over, since our windows are stained wood. That said, these blinds look really really bad!

I've heard you can clean them while hanging. Just open them, put on an old cotton sock and wipe them that way. One by one. But with what? Does anyone have a good concoction they use? Water and white vinegar? Or vinegar and amonia? Or a strong dish soap diluted in hot water, such as Dawn or Ajax (my personal favorite, it makes glass ceiling fan shades and wine glasses sparkle).

Thanks! I plan on raising them probably but if someone drops them late at night, in case it gets very cold at Thanksgiving, they will see all the grime.

Mary

Try borax and the dawn that cleans plastic squeeky clean, that is awesome! But I never tried it with them hanging, always put them in the tub and when we both used to smoke in the apt, you want to talk about some really crappy gunk coming off, ack! This concoction works, we have a bearded dragon so we try to use stuff that don't give off fumes and this so far has been the best!

The brackets holding all of these in place are bent up too. That's one reason why I wanted to do one room at a time, not taking them down. They are alum. also. I only have one plastic mini-blind that is a large window over our soaking tub. That does wipe clean easily, I've done that one many times. These alum. ones show streaks. I wanted to avoid that.

Thanks, I think I'll remember the Borax and Dawn. We use Dawn at work, we have stainless everywhere in a school cafeteria. I never realized how good Dawn was until I took this job. And I call myself a Cincinnatian (Dawn is made by local co. P & G)!

What the hubby does (since he cleans as I'm only home about 4 hours a day, lol)is to 1 gallon of water, a half cup of borax and a half teaspoon of Dawn and you have to rinse well but man what a shine! And it's a ton cheaper than some of that crap they sell in the stores!!!

Buy new ones?

Miss Mary wrote: We use Dawn at work, we have stainless everywhere in a school cafeteria. I never realized how good Dawn was until I took this job. And I call myself a Cincinnatian (Dawn is made by local co. P & G)!

Hey there Cincinnatian! Just another quick blurb about Dawn. I've used it ever since the Exxon Valdez spilled all that oil in Prince William Sound, and they used Dawn to scrub as many animals and birds as they could. When the makers of Dawn (I guess P&G) were asked why they weren't advertising how well it worked to clean off the oil, they said they didn't want to exploit the tragedy for marketing purposes. I've been a loyal customer since!

Sorry I don't have any suggestions about the blinds other than echoing CajunMama. 17 years is a good long time in my book.

While I am dusting, I have them hanging down and closed and wipe over them with Pledge and a dusting cloth. I also use the Pledge pre-treated cloths. I haven't taken mine down in a while to scrub them in a tub and I probably should, but I make due cleaning them this way.

I have the metal blinds, BTW.

CM - I've wanted to replace them, honestly. Just each month, buy 3 more (each room seems to have 3 in many of our areas), and they're only around $17 each and oddly enough, 17 years old. Well, that is easier said than done - we're paying college tuition now! So up they go when company is here. They have no idea how grimey my blinds are! And besides, they are dinged up, bent in places too. So all I want to do is spiff them up for the holidays. But not get all crazy like Martha Stewart would here......LOL

Thanks for all your replies everyone!

One more question and this is gonna sound really, really dumb......what is Borax? And where do I find it at the grocery (cleaning products or laundry)? Oops, 2 dumb questions.....

Mary

22 Mule Team Borax, in the laundry detergent aisle, been around longer than I've been alive, lol! (now if I can only find fels napta sopa I'd be happy!)

CajunMama wrote:Buy new ones?

lol. Thats what we just did. We buy the cheapies so we can do just that. They are like 6 bucks for brand new ones, and come in a an aray of colors at Home Depot. The last ones lasted us 6 years!!!!! So it was well worth the 6 bucks, and well worth another 6 bucks a piece not to have to clean them. What a pain in the butt, I used to have verticals that I would take off one by one and put in the tub and scrub. I found that laudry soap and bleach worked wonders, but I am over spending a half day or more on cleaning blinds.

Good luck Mary, I have to hand it to you. I gave up on that chore years ago.

$6 bucks? Are they aluminum? Hey if they are and are generic, maybe I should go that route. I can just hear the hubby now though.....save our money (xmas and college). Reason I needed advice is I've hardly ever cleaned mine! That's how bad they are....and now you know what a slob I am. Well, in this area (and junk drawers, bulging closets, etc.). LOL

Mary - I thought I might find borax in the laundry detergent aisle. I've just never bought it. And I'm pretty old....he he

Mary

Ronald Reagan and Death Valley Days - 20 Mule Team Borax!!!

Here's what my anal-retentive neighbor does with his twice a year. He removes them and takes them outside and hangs from hooks off the patio cover. Fill the garden hose-end spayer with cleaning solution of choice. Blast those babies with a good hard spray, and dry with the leaf blower. Seems to work well and he's got the aluminum mini blinds. Leave it to a man to figure that one out.

For dusting, I like to use those electrostatic dusters - what the heck did they call those when they first came out - the Dust Weasel or something?! They come in a variety of sizes, and some even have extending poles for ceiling fans. I bought a couple several years ago and they're still doing great. Just dust and beat the crap out of them outside to get rid of all the dust they hold. And they really do hold on to the dust instead of just spreading it around. No spraying of cleaners needed.

Mary

Fill your bathtub with hot water. Put the liquid Cascade in and soak the blinds in the tub. Wait about 30 minutes, pull them out and let them dry.(They can hang dry in their brackets). No scrubbing, no rinsing, nothing. You have nice clean blinds again.

I also use Cascade to clean the burners on my gas range. And I use the Cascade to strip the wax from my floor. The wax just peels right off, even buildup.

Miss Mary wrote:$6 bucks? Are they aluminum? Hey if they are and are generic, maybe I should go that route. I can just hear the hubby now though.....save our money (xmas and college). Reason I needed advice is I've hardly ever cleaned mine! That's how bad they are....and now you know what a slob I am. Well, in this area (and junk drawers, bulging closets, etc.). LOL

Mary - I thought I might find borax in the laundry detergent aisle. I've just never bought it. And I'm pretty old....he he

Mary

No they aren't aluminum, they are vinyl. But hey I just looked at the Home Depot site and they do have aluminum ones for 7.69 and 9.27. Not to bad either. I tried to give you the link but it keeps sending me to the home page instead of the page with the blinds. Home Depots site bites.


I just bought Borax a few months ago to do a science project and they had it at my grocery store on the laundry aisle by the fabric softeners. I havent tried to use it to clean anything yet, but I hear its great for certain things. I may give it a whirl.

I've soaked our stainless kitchen sink in DW detergent before and it shines afterwards. That does make sense Linda. I just hope I have time for that.

I did clean one already - one slat that is, to see how good Dawn would be. It cleaned it very well.

We had a very long day, this was my youngest daughter's first experience with that college board ACT test. Because of her ADD she qualified for extended test time, up to 5 hours. The test in itself didn't start until 1 hour and 15 minutes after it was supposed to. The school lost power at one point (we are having a high wind advisory today, that might be it). It was one thing after another and once again, I was the chauffeur. I wanted to clean today in the worst way! I think I'm gonna have to pull some late nighters to get this house thoroughly cleaned for Thanksgiving! I'm just so tired by that time of the day (after dinner). Anywho, I do want to clean these blinds. Now I just have to find the time! Tomorrow we have church and a piano recital! Yikes!

Thanks the info Kelly. My windows are standard sizes, so I shoudl be able to find them in stock. I remember we paid $20 for these Levelor blinds originally - that was in 1989. A good deal at the time I thought.

Mary

Let's see, I work full time and have a very busy teen. But, I can still manage to clean. That makes me gifted. lol. Oh and all the animals I have to tend to.

Can you send some of your energy my way Linda?

lol Jen. I have got to be doing something. I cannot stand for something to be dirty either. I clean what you do not see too. lol.

Linda you sound like my hubby, he's been doing all the cleaning since I'm only home to sleep for about 3 hours and gone again and whenever I get home SOMETHING is always pulled apart, last night I found the medicine cabinet from the bathroom and the vent and fan in the living room, he was cleaning the walls and was trying to get all the gunk out of the vent! I told him that one of these nights I'm going to find him stuck in the wall trying to crawl thru the ductwork in the walls in the apartment!