Pin Busters! D-I-Y Window Cleaner

What I used:

1 TBSP. white ammonia

2 TBSP. isopropyl rubbing alcohol

1 drop Dawn dish soap

about 6 oz. water

While I was on the Fake It Frugal blog, I read some of the comments, and saw that one person (they posted anonymously, so I can't give them credit) said they used 1 part vinegar, 1 part water, with a few drops of Dawn dish soap. They implied the Windex-like solution was too harsh and full of chemicals, and the vinegar solution worked just as well. So I thought in the interest of fairness, I would test her solution side-by-side with the Windex-like solution.


I decided to test the solutions on a couple of hand mirrors. The blue one is Lulu's. As you can see, it's pretty dirty, and a lot of that is hairspray.


One application of the Windex-like cleaner, cleaned the mirror perfectly. But as you can see feom the pictures, even two applications of the vinegar cleaner barely touched the residue. Once I cleaned the right-hand side with the Windex-like cleaner, it was perfect as well.

This purple mirror is mine. It's not nearly as dirty as Lulu's so I wanted to see if that made a difference with the cleaners.


For this mirror, both solutions seemed to work well. Honestly, I liked the Windex-like one better, but I understand that not everyone wants to use a cleaner that contains ammonia and alcohol.

The verdict: Pin-worthy! The Windex-like cleaner worked on everything. The vinegar solution only worked on very light build-up. Of course, most windows aren't covered with hairspray, so the vinegar solution may be perfectly adequate for that, but I think for bathroom mirrors, you'll need something a bit stronger. I love the alcohol-based floor cleaner that I made (I use it for just about everything - not just the floor!), so I think this window cleaner is going into my list of favorites as well.