Kay and I have been in our flat for nearly two years now and have yet to have washed the windows and shutters that face the street. We cannot just set up a ladder outside on the balcony like we do for the other windows, so I was putting these off for, well, about a year to be honest. But look how dirty they were!Bleach!

It was easier to maneuver in the bedroom and bathroom to get to the windows, but for the office, I had to squeeze the ladder in and out between the desks. We can open the windows easily, but they don’t exactly have a lot of room around them for bulky, heavy ladders that I do not care for at all. (Somebody wants a new step ladder, can you tell?)

For the windows and shutters I cleaned them in phases.First I wiped them down with damp rags, then I soaped them up, then I washed them off with water. Then for the windows, I cleaned them with glass cleaner and a towel and then another round with my special glass-cleaning cloth that has two sides.

After six rounds of wiping split in two sections for the ladder portion, these babies were as “done” as I felt like doing. I mean, let’s be honest here, it’s going to rain and continue dropping pollen down for awhile, but I’m not going to eat off these windows.

They look nice enough now that I don’t feel ashamed to open the curtains and I’m not so worried about the curtains getting dirty if we leave the window open and they blow against the banister.

What’s your big spring cleaning project that you avoid?