Day 17. Wash Your Curtains

Day 17 of “A 30 Day Guide to Spring Cleaning“.

---

Do you know what’s hiding in your curtains? How do you wash your curtains?

Washing your curtains may not be something that you think about often. Once you put them up, they are just there, and are a standing decoration in your home that kind of get ignored, unless you open and close them frequently.

Because we don’t think of this as a normal cleaning activity, they kind of become neglected. And like anything that become neglected in your home, they start to collect things. Although we may not think about washing our curtains, we really should! I can’t really provide a good before and after for this, so sorry to disappoint guys!

Our curtains collect things like dust, dirt, moisture from the window temperature changes or from mopping underneath them, pet hair, and can also collect stains or grime from being touched by dirty little kid hands or pets rubbing up against them. Even if it doesn’t seem like it, they could probably use some TLC!

---

---

What to clean:

• Curtains/drapes
• Blinds (if you didn’t when you cleaned your windows)
• Curtain rods

---

Supplies needed:

• Any tools needed to remove your curtains (most of the time this isn’t necessary)
• Washer & Dryer
• Laundry Soap
• Recommended:
  • Dusting Mitt
• Alternative:
  • Duster or wet rag
• Optional:
  • Baking soda and vinegar, steamer or iron

---

Washing Your Curtains

Before you start going crazy washing all your curtains in your house, you will want to take a couple things into consideration. Check your curtains for care instructions or cleaning instructions. There are curtains/drapes out there that do not recommend washing in the washer, and this is for a reason! You don’t want to damage, shrink, or ruin your curtains by washing them. Satin, suede, velvet, certain fine linens, beading, and complicated embellishments or pleating’s will likely require to be dry cleaned. If you are not able to get your curtains professionally dry cleaned, you can at least hang them outside and use a broom or some type of item (a tennis racket works great) to swat the dust and dirt out of your curtains. I have provided some easy steps below for curtains that are able to be washed.

Step 1: Prep for cleaning your curtains. Be sure to check the care instructions on the tag of your curtains. If you cannot find care instructions, please take my notes above into consideration when deciding if your curtains are okay to wash. Determine if you will need any type of tools to take your curtains down, usually if any tool is required it would be a screw driver. I have provided an example of an odd curtain rod removal, where there was a pin holding the curtain rod to it’s wall mount.

Step 2: Take your curtains down from the curtain rod. Take them outside and shake out as much dust or dirt as possible before washing, to prevent these debris from sticking inside your curtains.

Step 3: Wash your curtains with a mild laundry detergent on the delicates cycle in cool/cold water. You won’t want to use hot water or heavy duty cycles as the water and agitation can cause wear and shrinkage.

Step 4: Dry your curtains on a low heat setting (if care instructions allow). For best results you can dry them until mildly damp, and then hang them back up to dry the rest of the way to prevent any shrinkage or wrinkles.

Step 5 (optional): Iron or steam your curtains while they are still mildly damp to steam any wrinkles out and give a nice, smooth, clean finish when putting them back up. It’s also helpful to put your dryer on the wrinkle prevention setting during the drying period.

Step 6: Hang your curtains back on their rod, and replace the rod back onto it’s wall mount.

**Note: If you have stains or yellowing to your curtains, add a 1/2 cup of baking soda and 1 cup of vinegar to your wash. This works best if you use the pre-soak option to allow the curtains to sit in this mixture with the water. You can also pre-treat tough stains before doing this with your preferred stain treatment.

If you really want to get the best results, soak these in a tub of water deep enough to just cover the curtains, add the baking soda, drizzle dish soap over top, and add the vinegar. Mix these together gently in the tub, and allow to soak for a few hours.

---

Cleaning Your Blinds and Curtain Rods

While your curtains are washing, you will want to take this time to clean your blinds and curtain rods. These items can collect so much dust, you would be amazed! Take your dusting mitt and wipe off the dust from your curtain rods. Just simply put the mitt on your hand, grab around the rod, and wipe it from one end to the other.

To clean your blinds, you will also use the dusting mitt. With this being placed on your hand you can easily maneuver into the cracks between all the sections of your blinds. Just wipe across from one side to the other, clean off the dust, and then wipe from top to bottom.

---

If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments and I would be happy to get back with you.

Check out Day 16. Clean Air Vents and Change Furnace Filter here.

Check out Day 18. Cleaning Under Beds and Furniture here.

If you would like to see the remainder of this 30 day cleaning guide posts, please enter your email below and you will receive email notifications for future posts.