Summer holidays at my grandparents’ house are fixed in my memory: my twin sister and I sharing a double bed, with neither of us allowed to cross the invisible center line. We were undoubtedly a handful, but those getaways were pure magic.
My grandma wasn’t a master in the kitchen — you only needed to see her thick pastry crusts to know why — but what she lacked in cooking skills, she made up for in household wisdom. Decades later, her no-nonsense cleaning tips are still the ones I rely on today.
Keeping cleaning simple
What stands out in my memory is that she didn’t have a cupboard overflowing with cleaning potions. She relied on a few essentials to keep her house clean from top to bottom. I think she’d be horrified if she could see my cleaning stash of products to remove stains, blitz mold and keep my windows shiny.
But, I’m slowly changing the way I clean, and beginning to introduce more natural methods into my routine. I often use baking soda and vinegar to clean my sink drain, and it’s surprising how useful lemons can be for cleaning limescale and deterring pests from your home.
The old-fashioned cleaning hack I remember the most is how my grandma used old newspaper. After my grandparents finished reading the morning paper over their toast and marmalade, my grandma never threw it away — she set it aside as her secret weapon for spotless glass and surfaces.
Getting hold of a physical newspaper is a bit trickier these days, given how many of us read the news online. But while I don’t have a daily delivery like my grandparents, I still buy a weekend paper — and I hang on to it rather than putting it straight in the recycling.
Apart from being handy with my grandma’s cleaning routine, newspaper is also useful outside, and it works as an excellent barrier to stop weeds growing in your yard.
How my grandma used newspaper to clean her windows
Back in the day, my grandma gathered a newspaper, a spray bottle and some white vinegar before cleaning her windows.
She started by mixing up a solution of one part white vinegar to three parts water and pouring it into the spray bottle. Then, once she’d given the bottle a gentle swish to mix the solution, she sprayed it directly onto the glass.
Next, she took sections of her newspaper and crumbled them up into balls, using them in circular motions on her windows, and buffing until the solution disappeared.
Top tip
To stop the cleaning solution drying out before she reached it, she’d work on small areas at a time.
However, I have one word of caution. My grandma used simple black-and-white newspaper. Today’s papers are full of color pages and glossy ink that can leave behind dark smudges. So, for the best result, stick to using plain black-and-white pages, if you can.
The benefit of using newspaper to clean your windows
The combination of white vinegar and newspaper is an inexpensive way to clean glass surfaces; the newspaper is free, and white vinegar is far cheaper than off-the-shelf cleaning solutions.
Newspaper is also super absorbent, and it helps to remove both the cleaning spray and smudges for a streak-free finish.
You might think that you'll need to use a whole stack of newspaper for this cleaning hack, but in reality you only need a few sheets, as the paper will absorb a fair amount of liquid before it starts to tear and fall apart.
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