I had been cleaning blinds one slat at a time with a cloth, which takes an hour and leaves streaks. Then someone showed me the sock.
An old sock on your hand, tongs, and ten minutes. The whole window.
How to Do It
Take a pair of kitchen tongs and an old cotton sock. Slide the sock over one arm of the tongs, or use two socks and cover both arms.
Secure it with a rubber band if it slips.
Dampen the sock slightly. Water with a splash of white vinegar is enough. It should be damp, not wet — dripping water on a blind leaves marks and runs down the wall.
Close the blinds flat. Both sides in turn.
Clamp the tongs over one slat and pull along its length. Both surfaces of the slat get wiped in one pass, which is the whole point. Doing it with a cloth means two passes per slat.
Rinse the sock in the bucket when it gets grimy. Usually about halfway.
Work top to bottom so anything you dislodge falls onto slats you have not done yet.
Why It Works Better Than a Cloth
A cloth only touches one face of the slat and needs your fingers behind it, so you press unevenly and bend the slat. The tongs hold even pressure on both sides at once and keep the slat straight.
Cotton also grabs dust instead of pushing it. A paper towel or a damp sponge smears it into a gray film, which is why blinds often look worse after cleaning than before.
For Blinds That Are Really Bad
If the dust has gone greasy — which it does in a kitchen — plain water will not lift it.
Use warm water with a drop of dish soap instead of vinegar, then go over it a second time with a clean damp sock to take the soap off.
For vinyl or aluminum blinds you can also take the whole thing down and lay it in the bathtub with warm soapy water for twenty minutes. Only do this with vinyl or metal.
Do Not Do This To
Wooden blinds. Water warps and stains real wood. Dust them dry, or use a barely damp cloth and dry them immediately.
Fabric or honeycomb blinds. Water leaves a permanent tidemark. Use a vacuum with a brush attachment on low.
How to Keep Them Clean Longer
Run a dryer sheet along the slats once they are clean and dry. It leaves a small antistatic charge, and dust settles much less on a surface that is not statically charged.
After that a quick dry pass with the sock every few weeks keeps them from ever getting bad again.
Try It on One Window
Find an odd sock and the tongs you never use.
Ten minutes, and you will wonder why you spent an hour on it before.
