Glass is not as absorbent as your skin; in addition, the glass should not be full of oils as your skin is. Newsprint and the ink itself function as a very fine abrasive. It really does work.

I think newspapers are the best; no lint left behind like when using cloths. They do an even better job than microfiber "miracle" cloths. [Ducking for cover now...]

Some like it some don't. Personally I prefer a squeegie.

I had lived in Taiwan for a couple of years and was lucky enough at that time to have a cleaning woman. She always used newspaper to clean windows and mirrors and now I do it, too. I find that it really does work very well.

Well, I used newspapers for years, but it was messy and also soiled the white wood work around the windows.
I switched to non lint rags. I find old, cut up sheets or t-shirts do as well, without the mess.

I don't like using newspaper to clean windows, because the ink gets greasy and gets on my hands. I use tissue paper instead. I save tissue from gifts, and it's much cheaper to buy than paper towels. I also gave up using cleaners like Windex. I mix about one part ammonia with four parts water and put it in a spray bottle, incidentally it's a used Windex bottle.

Warm water with a little vinegar in it and a sponge does the job. Just squeegie it, wiping the squeegie with a cloth with each swipe. So easy, so quick and no streaks.

I use rubbing alcohol...straight...just spray it on, wipe it dry with newspaper!!! Works like a charm!!!! NO STREAKS!

The whole secret of "no streaks" is to get the windows *dry* as fast as possible. A damp cloth, damp newspapers or a wet squeegie will give you streaks. Alcohol evaporates quickly and is an ingredient of many cleaners for just that reason.

I just read in Good housekeepng that the newspapers of today are not like the ones when it was a good idea to use them on windows. Now the ink and paper are different and will cause streaking.

I find the vinegar and newspaper to be more effective than some of the cleaners. During my nesting days when I was pregnant with my last child. I went visit mil and decided to clean her house. Her living room is paneled in mirrors. She was using some glass and surface cleaner stuff that made the mirrors look worse after they were cleaned than before. I did the newspaper vinegar trick and cleaned all the greasy stuff off. Mil was impressed. She thought she needed to replace the mirrors.

I use old T-shirts/socks/etc and use a mixture of plain original Dawn dish soap & water (Go very easy on the dish soap, otherwise you'll have a mess). FWIW, many ice rinks & professional window cleaners use this mixture, which is where I got it from. You also want the plain soap, as all of those things that'll make your dish-pan-hands pretty & soft will cloud your glass/mirrors.

For streak-free windows, I use water with a little cornstarch in it. Wipe on with the sponge-end of a squeegee and remove with the rubber end. Any residual moisture, use a micro-fiber towel - they are much better than newspapers (which tend to get ink all over your hands and everything you touch) or linty rags/paper towels.

Grainlady

I've heard that some newspapers contribute to dirty minds.

o j

Try coffee filters for no streak windows.

bgreen72,

With or without the coffee?

Actually - I have a problem.

Had an environmental presentation at church, if we agreed to reduce pollution by one ton of emissions - they'd give us a compact fluorescent bulb.

I've been doing most of it now, so I don't know how I'm going to make such severe reductions.

The car that I just bought is much harder on fuel.

Walk, I guess - 14 km. (nearly 10 mi.) to the village library to talk to you guys? Actually, over 10 mi. to this library - and I'm restricted to 2 hours, so need to talk fast. Glad that the message loadings are rather rapid.

Guess I could hitch-hike (prefereably mainly in summer - sort of teeth-chattering exercise, in winter).

Enjoy the rest of the week - and the weekend - everyone.

o j

I work for a local newspaper. Most newspaper companies have left over rolls that have no ink on them. Many papers make them available to the public free or very very little. These work great and no ink to smudge the white woodwork.

eks6426,

Those ends of rolls work well if one wants to use a larger sheet than is ordinarily available, and doesn't mind newsprint.

Also works great to make sheets for a flip chart - again, if the use of newsprint doesn't bother you.

When I was making some flip charts a number of years ago (would you believe - over 40?) when I was making presentations about missionary and refugee work to various congregations, I bought a pack (500, I think) of 19" x 24" regular typewriter paper that I've used for that, and other purposes. I've often found it helpful to have larger than usual size paper - for example, to make a weekly record of a number of stocks, all on one sheet, for ease of tabulation and evaluation. as well. Also mutual funds.

I hope that you're having a useful week - with or without clean windows.

In this northern area we aren't enthusiastic about going outside to clean windows in this winter weather.

ole joyful

I find if you use very hot water and an old cotton kitchen towel works the best...but you have to dry it with paper towels right away. The drying is the key to the windows looking streak free.

If you have a quality, responsible, public-spirited newspaper available (and use it) ...

... it'll give you a window on the world.

Well, maybe not quite - that's a bit like spoon-feeding, which most of us won't abide after getting out of our high chair (until we reach second childhood) ...

... but it'll help you work toward finding/building one for yourself.

As you can learn by using other channels of obtaining information, as well.

Living in a room without windows isn't very enlightening ... or much fun.

Learn something new each day - it makes life more interesting.

And gives you a larger view of the world ... this global village.

ole joyful

I've found if you use a little cornstarch in a bottle of water just shake it good to mix up the cornstarch it is nearly impossible to streak a window. But the cornstarch really doesn't clean off that much dirt an grime so I usually use vinegar water 1st then follow up with the cornstarch it's worth the extra step to not have streaks.

Wash the inside of window with horizontal strokes and the outside with vertical an you can tell which side the streaks are on.

Spraying the rag rather than the window helps too.

I too tried the newspaper thing years ago not for me way to messy. I use a couple of of old wash cloths that I no longer use to bathe with one for washing the other for drying works well and the old terry cloth leaves very little lint behind even less than the new bounty towels.