Cleaning blinds can be a time consuming chore, but worth the effort. You will be surprised at how much brighter your room looks with clean blinds. In general, blinds should be cleaned every six months to a year, depending on how much dust accumulates on them. Different cleaning techniques are required for wood and vinyl blinds. Some specialized cleaning tools have been developed to clean blinds, but these are generally expensive and do not work any better than the simple methods described here. You can use the techniques below to have very clean blinds without any special equipment.
The best way to thoroughly clean blinds made of vinyl is to extend and close blinds, as if you were closing them for the evening, then remove from the window, lay them down on a clean sheet (preferably outside) and wash with a mixture of warm water and mild detergent, rinse with clear water, and then leave to dry. To clean blinds made of wood, it is best to thoroughly dust with a feather duster while the blinds are hanging up, then close them, remove and wipe with a clean damp cloth. Depending on how dirty the blinds are, you may have to wipe them more than once.
If removing your blinds from the window is too much of an effort, there are other things you can do to clean blinds. The first is simply to dust them. Regular dusting of blinds can keep heavy cleaning to a minimum. Any clean cloth or feather duster works well for dusting blinds. Another tip is to use a damp cloth to wipe down any spots or dirty areas while the blinds are hanging up. If blinds are very dirty, however, this will only result in streaking the dirt, and removal and washing will be needed for vinyl blinds.
If you have a vacuum with a removable hose and attachments, you can use the upholstery brush to clean your blinds while they are hanging up. Extend the blinds and vacuum while blinds are open and closed to get as much dust as possible. Vacuuming works especially well with old-fashioned wide blinds that tend to be large and heavy to remove from the window.