How often should you clean your blinds?

Why bother

Slats hoard dust until the room sneezes. A thorough-tier job. Skippable when life's busy, worth it when it isn't.

Why it's a range

The room's the whole story. A kitchen blind catching grease and steam, or a house with pets or a smoker, wants a wipe monthly and a proper clean twice a year. A quiet bedroom blind can coast on a yearly going-over and a dust now and then. Every six months suits most.

What the job involves

1. Run a microfiber cloth, an old clean sock over your hand, or a vacuum with the soft brush on low down each slat, top to bottom.
2. For grime, wipe each slat with a cloth dampened in equal parts white vinegar and water, or mild dish soap and warm water, then dry it.
3. For badly soiled vinyl or aluminum, take the blind down and soak it flat in a tub of warm soapy water, then rinse and dry before rehanging.
4. Wipe the headrail and clear the dust out of the tilt and lift mechanism so it moves freely. Never soak wood or faux-wood (it warps), and skip steam cleaners.

Do it yourself, or pay someone?

Yourself, for almost everyone. It's a cloth, a vacuum brush, and time. A pro earns the call only for delicate, oversized, or out-of-reach blinds, or an ultrasonic clean of the whole house at once. That runs about $10 to $50 a blind (median near $30), roughly $10 to $34 for aluminum, $15 to $45 for wood, $25 to $45 for Roman, and about $180 for a whole home, plus $35 to $55 a set if they take them down and rehang.

Signs it's overdue

• Dust or fuzz sitting on the slats, or more sneezing and itchy eyes near the windows.
• Slats feel sticky or greasy (the kitchen ones always), or look dull and yellowed.
• The blind sticks when you tilt or raise it, dust working into the mechanism.

When to start thinking about it

A few days' warning does it. Grumpty grumbles 3 days out, then leaves you alone. Mark it done and Grumpty sets the next one, every 6 months, so you can go back to forgetting it exists.

Questions people ask