3 of the Best Ways to Clean Blinds (Without Taking Them Down)

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Many people like to use blinds instead of using curtains. Blinds are nice because you can get many different styles and they’re easy to swap out when necessary.

If you have blinds that you really love, then you might just want to keep them up all the time. Cleaning your blinds might be easier if you take the blinds down, but this doesn’t mean that you have to do things that way.

There are some ways that you could go about cleaning your blinds without taking them down. You should still be able to get the blinds really clean and be happy with the results.

Read on to learn about the best ways to clean blinds without taking them down. Once you know about all your options, it’ll be easy to decide which approach is best for you.

1 – Get on a Ladder and Clean the Blinds by Hand

Honestly, one of the most practical ways to clean your blinds without taking them down is to just grab a step ladder. This will allow you to easily reach the blinds even if your windows are a little bit high.

Once you’re on the ladder, you can start wiping the blinds down with a clean towel and a bit of water. Depending on how dirty the blinds are, you might wish to use soapy water to clean them.

You should be able to get between the slats to clean everything thoroughly even without taking the blinds down. You’ll likely want to be sure to clean the spots behind the blinds thoroughly as well since those can accumulate dust.

It shouldn’t take a long time to clean your blinds this way, and you can just keep moving your step ladder to go to different spots and clean the other blinds in your home. This should be done every so often if you wish to keep your blinds spotless.

2 – Use a Simple Feather Duster

If you don’t want to have to climb a ladder, then it might be more practical for you to clean the blinds using a simple feather duster. You can buy feather dusters that have long handles that will allow you to reach high spots.

It should be simple to run the feather duster along the blinds and eliminate any dust that might be present. You should try to be as thorough as possible when doing this or else you might miss some spots, though.

Those who don’t mind getting on ladders can also use feather dusters while on ladders. You could use this to get a better vantage point when you want to be sure that you get every single spot clean.

The only real issue with using a feather duster is that it’ll mostly just help you to clean up the dust. If you have more dirt and grime present on the blinds, then using the hand washing method described above is going to be a better option.

3 – Using a Vacuum Cleaner

This idea might sound weird to some people, but it can actually work great to eliminate dust. If you have a vacuum cleaner with a hose attachment, then you could use it to clean off your blinds pretty easily.

The idea is just to run the hose along the blinds and suck up all of the dust. You do this as thoroughly as you can and the blinds should come out looking rather clean.

For some people, this is going to go a lot faster than trying to wash the blinds by hand. You might find it to be slightly more effective than using a feather duster depending on the situation.

One advantage of vacuuming up dust over using a feather duster is that you won’t be knocking dust on the floor. You’ll be vacuuming it right up, and it saves you from having to sweep or vacuum underneath the blinds right away.

What About Heavily Soiled Blinds?

There’s a chance that your blinds might not be in good shape if you haven’t cleaned them for a while. In this situation, it’s going to be important to use methods that will clean more deeply than normal.

You might not be able to get away with using a feather duster or a hose vacuum attachment if the blinds are caked with dirt and grime. Thankfully, you can still clean the blinds without having to take them down.

You’re just going to have to use your hands to get this job done, and you’ll need to wipe the blinds a bit more meticulously. If you want to get the best results, then you should use certain types of cleaning methods that can get rid of dirt and grime properly.

Are you finding that standard soap and water aren’t cutting it? Well, there might be some other good things that will work well to get your blinds looking nice and clean again.

Make a Baking Soda Cleaning Solution

You could use baking soda to create a powerful cleaning solution that will cut through dirt and grime. This isn’t going to be tough to accomplish, and it’s going to ensure that you get the results that you’re looking for.

You’ll need to get a small bucket and fill it with water so that you’ll be able to mix the solution. Next, you’re going to be putting in a little bit of laundry soap.

When that’s done, you can add one tablespoon of baking soda and mix things up. This should create a cleaning mixture that will work well to get that dirt and grime off of your blinds.

Take a clean rag and soak it in the bucket of water so that you can use it on the blinds. Wring the rag out a bit so that you don’t wind up slinging water everywhere before proceeding.

Go up and down the blinds trying to clean them as well as you possibly can. You might need to put pressure on the blinds to be able to wipe the dirt and grime off of them, and this means that you should try to hold the blinds in a specific way.

You could use the rag to pinch the blind slat with your fingers and then run the rag up and down. This should work well to eliminate the dirt, but you do want to be careful not to be too rough or you could harm your blinds.

Some blinds are sturdier than others, but do be mindful of the amount of pressure that you’re putting on the blinds. When dirt and grime are stuck on the blinds, it’s sometimes necessary to wipe them down a bit more aggressively this way, but you can still be careful.

After you’re done with this, it might be necessary to wipe the blinds down with a dry rag. There’s a good chance that the blinds will be a bit wet, and you don’t want to leave them that way.

Keep a dry rag handy and be sure to dry the blinds off before walking away. Admire your work and try to make sure that you didn’t miss any spots.

Try to Clean Your Blinds More Regularly

Cleaning your blinds more regularly will prevent them from getting worse. You should try to dust your blinds each week so that dirt doesn’t build up on the individual slats.

Many people neglect to do this because cleaning the blinds is a bit of a time-consuming process. If you have many windows in your home, then doing this might take a significant chunk of time.

You really should try to get good at sticking to a cleaning schedule, though. When you don’t clean the blinds regularly, it creates more work for you down the line.

It’d be simpler to dust the blinds with a feather duster once per week than it would to have to give the blinds a thorough washing once they have become disgusting.

Final Thoughts

Now that you know there are many good methods for cleaning blinds without taking them down, it should be simple to figure out how you want to approach things. If your blinds aren’t super dirty, then using methods such as dusting the blinds with a feather duster will be perfect.

You can even take a vacuum cleaner and use the hose attachment to dust off your blinds very nicely. Things such as this don’t work so well when your blinds are filthy and haven’t been cleaned in many months, though.

It might be easiest to just grab your step ladder and clean the blinds with soap and water. If you need extra cleaning power to cut through grime, then making a bucket of soapy water that also contains baking soda is smart.

You’ll be able to get the blinds clean if you take the right steps. It’s just going to be necessary to do the appropriate actions based on how dirty your blinds are.

Moving forward, you’ll have a much better idea of what you should be doing. If you follow a good cleaning plan, then you shouldn’t ever have to take the blinds down to clean them.

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