How to Clean Vinyl Blinds With Vinegar

The vinyl blinds on your windows are helpful and necessary to keep out the bright light and heat of the sun and to ensure privacy. However, these same blinds accumulate dust and grime for months or years before you realize they need to be cleaned. You can easily restore your vinyl blinds by cleaning them with vinegar using the following steps.

Things You'll Need

• Vinegar Old sock or glove

Instructions

Cleaning Attached Blinds

1. Put your hand into the sock or glove and lightly dampen the end or tips with water.

2. 

   Dip the end or tips of your sock or glove into pure vinegar.

3. 

   Wipe your blind slats from one edge to the other edge, keeping your thumb on the bottom and your other fingers on top of the slat. You may have to repeat a few times as needed to remove all of the dust and grime from each blind slat.

4. Rinse your sock or glove as needed to remove the dirt and continue cleaning your vinyl blinds with vinegar.

5. Allow the vinyl blinds to dry naturally where they hang, unless it is extremely damp and humid, then you can dry each slat with a hair dryer.

Cleaning Blinds in a Bathtub (for extremely dirty blinds)

1. Remove your vinyl blinds from the window attachment. Your blind slats should be three-quarters closed before removing.

2. Lower your vinyl blinds into the bathtub so that they are spread out flat and evenly from the faucet end of the tub to the back end.

3. Fill your bathtub with just enough warm water to cover the vinyl blinds completely and add approximately two quarts of vinegar. Mix the vinegar and water together with a plastic spoon or similar tool.

4. Let the vinyl blinds soak in the water/vinegar solution for at least three hours, then drain the tub.

5. Spray the blinds down with a spray attachment (or your shower head), or wipe each slat down with a clean wash cloth or soft-bristle brush. Then refill the tub with fresh water to soak for 15 minutes.

6. Remove the vinyl blinds from the tub and either hang on a line to dry or lay on a towel and turn a fan on to dry them. You may have to turn the blinds over after 30 minutes to dry the reverse side of the slats.

Tips & Warnings

• Dust your blinds off frequently to prevent grime buildup.

References

• Householder's Survival Manual; Reader's Digest; 1999