Best Homemade Window Cleaner (Streak-Free Glass Cleaner)
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This No Streak Homemade Window Cleaner (known on the internet as Alvin Corn) is super easy to make, is much safer than a lot of the store-bought options, and leaves your windows and mirrors streak-free.
Plus it costs almost nothing to make, so it's easy on the budget too.
I personally think that it is so important to get Home Care and Personal Care Products that are toxin-free so that we, our families, and our world can be a lot more healthy.
Plus, you can save a TON of money by making these things yourself.
And it doesn't have to take a TON of time.
Benefits of Making Your Own Homemade Glass Cleaner:
1. Reduce Toxins In Your Home
Do you really want these things in your home?
propylene glycol
2 Hexoxyethanol
Ammonium Hydroxide
Mirapol Surf S-210
Viden EGM
Sodium C14-17 Sec-Alkyl Sulfonat
Fragrance Palette (The term fragrance can hide artificial fragrances are not healthy)
Liquitint Sky Blue Dye
Ick.
Yes, those are the ingredients in one of the more popular glass cleaners on the market.
Even if those chemicals don't make you feel bad, there's a lot of evidence that they aren't healthy, so it's a good idea to do what you can to remove toxins from your environment as much as possible.
2. Save Money
You can make your own cleaner for way less money than you'd spend on a commercial cleaner. Even if it's not cheaper, I'd still prefer to make my own for the other benefits.
3. Clean Up the Environment
Do you really want to add these toxins to our already toxically overloaded environment? I am convinced that one of the main problems regarding the onslaught of autism, auto-immune disorders, and cancer is the prevalence of toxins in our world. Every time you can use a toxin-free product over a toxin-laden one, you help the environment.
I used to use just plain vinegar to clean our mirrors and glass. Truth be told, we didn't really clean our windows often. Just didn't really think about it.
We'd put some plain vinegar on a piece of newspaper and wipe it all over the mirror.
It worked OK, but it did leave some streaks that were a little hard to get off.
This cleaner, however, is great. I found it on a number of sites all over the internet (not sure who created it, but it's called Alvin Corn) and I must say, it's a real winner.
This cleaner does contain isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol, which some people may wish to avoid, but you can use vodka instead. It'll just cost more that way.
What's the Purpose of the Cornstarch?
One of the things you'll notice in this formula is that it has cornstarch in it.
Wondering what it's doing in there? Me too…
Here's what one reader shared with me:
On a microscopic level, glass is not perfectly smooth. When you spray water on it, the water molecules get caught in the pits on the glass surface. Water also clings to itself through hydrogen bonding – the hydrogen atoms from two molecules cling together. Water stuck in the glass + water stuck to more water = streaking. Cornstarch (or dish soap or oil-even a couple drops of essential oil) disrupts the hydrogen bonding, thus preventing streaks!
Cool beans! A DIY house cleaning recipe and science lesson in one!
How Much Can You Save?
A ton.
Vinegar: costs about $.59 for 32 ounces at Aldi. So even if we double the price, let's say it costs $.04
Rubbing Alcohol: Based on current Rite Aid pricing – $.25 for 1/4 cup
Cornstarch: A local Midwest grocery chain has it for $1.39 right now. If the tablespoon per pound info I got is correct, then the cost for 1 tablespoon is about $.04.
Water: I am just going to call this $0.00. The current approximate cost per gallon in my city is $.002 per gallon :-).
So – it costs a total of $.33 to make 2 1/2 cups of Glass Cleaner.
How To Use
- Windows
- Mirrors
- Glass Appliances
- Stainless Steel
- Chrome
- Aluminum
- Ceramic
- Plastic
- Do NOT use this on marble or coated eyeglasses, however!
Recipe Notes
- Shake: The spray needs to be shaken well each time you use it since the cornstarch might settle to the bottom or clog up your spray nozzle otherwise.
- Corn Alternatives: Though you're not eating this (please don't), if you need to avoid corn, other starches like tapioca or arrowroot should work as well.
- Cloth Options: You can use microfiber cloths or rags to wipe your surfaces clean. I prefer these options or newspaper to paper towels since paper towels leave lint and are more wasteful.
(Note – microfiber is plastic so I'm not really a fan, though it does tend to clean pretty well. A helpful reader commented that rags work pretty well as long as you don't use fabric softener on them (which, by the way, typically has lots of toxins in it like artificial fragrance, so here's another reason not to use it!) - Label Recommendation: As you make more and more non-toxic home cleaners you will know what is what. This handy dandy Chalkboard Contact Paper is great for label-making.
- Color It: Add natural food coloring to the bottle so kids will know it's not water. Beet juice (from canned beets) is one inexpensive natural color or you could drop a bit of powdered beet juice in as well but just a bit so it doesn't cause clogging.
- Prevent Streaking: Some readers have had streaking issues. This may be from impure essential oils or hard water. If you have streaking issues, please share in the comments what brand of essential oils you used and if you have hard water. I recommend only using pure essential oils even for house cleaning because even though it's “just” for cleaning, you still are breathing in oils (and whatever “else” might be in the oils. Another option is to leave out the cornstarch and see how that works.
- Use Two Cloths: To avoid streaking, use two cloths: one to wash and one dry cloth for drying.
- Eyeglass Warning: You can use this Homemade Glass Cleaner on your eyeglasses, but only if they are plain glass. If they are coated, avoid using this since alcohol will cause crazing (small surface cracks) in polycarbonate plastic. It can also cause the lens coating to deteriorate, resulting in less durable glasses that are easily scratched.
- Avoid Marble: Do not use this cleaner on marble as it might cause damage.
- The key to making this mixture perfect is to be sure the water is warm enough to dissolve the cornstarch, but not boiling or super hot. Also, don’t add the cornstarch to the water, add the water to the cornstarch in the bottle. If you don’t do that you’ll end up with film over your glass.
After “perfecting” Alvin Corn, I added 2 extra tablespoons of alcohol (totaling 1/4 cup alcohol) to make Alvin Corn dry quicker (for less streaking) and make it easier for it to pick up gunk.
Homemade Window Cleaner
Ingredients
- 1/8 cup white vinegar (apple cider vinegar will work as well)
- 1/4 cup isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol (vodka is a safer choice)
- 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch (reduces streaking)
- 1 cup water
- 4-5 drops essential oil of choice (optional. Lemon, orange, or another citrus would be my choice here, but lavender or others would be nice as well.
- A good glass spray bottle
or quality BPA-free plastic spray bottle.
Instructions
- Boil the water. Let it cool a little bit.
- Add the cornstarch to the bottle. Then add the water to the bottle. Shake well to dissolve.
- Add the rubbing alcohol and vinegar. Shake again to dissolve.
- Shake well before each use to prevent the cornstarch from clogging the nozzle.
- Spray onto glass surface and wipe clean.
Notes
- Shake: The spray needs to be shaken well each time you use it since the cornstarch might settle to the bottom or clog up your spray nozzle otherwise.
- Corn Alternatives: Other starches like tapioca or arrowroot should work as well.
- Best Cloth to Use: You can use microfiber cloths or rags to wipe your surfaces clean. I prefer these options or newspaper to paper towels since paper towels leave lint and are more wasteful. (Note – microfiber is plastic so I'm not really a complete fan, though it does tend to clean pretty well. A helpful reader commented that rags work pretty well as long as you don't use fabric softener on them (which, by the way, typically has lots of toxins in it like artificial fragrance, so here's another reason not to use it!)
- Label your bottle: So as you make more and more non-toxic home cleaners you will know what is what :-). This handy dandy Chalkboard Contact Paper is great for label making.
- Color It: Add natural food coloring to the bottle so kids will know it's not water. Beet juice (from canned beets) is one inexpensive natural color or you could drop a bit of powdered beet juice in as well.
- Prevent Streaking: Some readers have had streaking issues. It's possible this is from impure essential oils or hard water. If you have streaking issues, please do share in the comments what brand of essential oils you used and if you have hard water. I recommend only using pure essential oils even for house cleaning because even though it's “just” for cleaning, you still are breathing in oils (and whatever “else” might be in the oils. Another option is to leave out the cornstarch and see how that works.
- Use Two Cloths To avoid streaking, use two cloths–one to wash and one very dry cloth to dry.
- Eyeglass Warning: You can use this Homemade Glass Cleaner on your eyeglasses, but only if they are plain glass. If they are coated, avoid using this since alcohol will cause crazing (small surface cracks) in polycarbonate plastic. It can also cause the lens coating to deteriorate, resulting in less durable glasses that are easily scratched.
- Avoid Marble: Do not use this cleaner on marble as it might damage it.
More DIY Healthy Home Recipes
Are you an avid frugal DIYer like me? Here are some more ideas of simple things you can make for your home to reduce your exposure to toxins and save money while you're at it!
Homemade Natural Cleaning Products
Natural Dishwasher Rinse Aid
Homemade Foaming Soap
DIY Scrubbing Cleaner (like Soft Scrub)
Best DIY Fruit Fly Trap
Easiest DIY Weed Killer
Homemade Cleaning Paste
Homemade Laundry Detergent
The images in this post were updated in Jan 2020. For reference, here's one of the original images.
What do you use to clean your mirrors and windows?
Using vinegar while cleaning a mirror near a granite counter, the spray will ruin the finish of the granite, so I simply use the water and glass rag. It’s the best!
Thanks for this recipe, and for all of the other useful information. Please allow me to add: to avoid mineral deposits, use distilled water in this recipe. You can make your own by boiling tap water for a few minutes. Also, don’t use towels or cleaning cloths that have been dried with fabric softener sheets. It leaves an oily residue on the fabric, which is often the culprit responsible for streaking up your windows and mirrors.
I don’t think that boiling water makes distilled water. It’s more complicated than that which is why you need a distiller to do it. Nice tip on the fabric sheets. Thanks.
Thanks for your info. But can ammonia be replaced with vinegar?
I think you could try it. Please share if it works. Thanks!
I just made a batch of this up for the first time and cleaned my bathroom mirror and two storm doors that the grandkids really do a number on and it works beautifully. This going to be my glass and mirror cleaner from now on.
So glad to hear it!!!
I am all for DYI, but I do it for saving money — not for imaginary environmental benefits. I thought most of these people — these sad cases who think anything with a technical sounding name must be poison — died out with the hippies and their “organic” LSD! The concoction this person mixed up above is probably an effective window cleaner, but is probably much more toxic than the stock window cleaner ingredients listed at the first. Those commercial window cleaner ingredients are all fairly innocuous things (although they have technical names), and they are all probably less toxic overall than iso-propyl alcohol (also known as IPA or 2-propanol or secondary hydroxypropane — I bet the last one scares the devil out this person! Tell her to put some 2-hydroxypropane on a cut before bandaging it and watch her howl! Poison! But not good old iso-propyl alcohol — the same thing!). This person must think IPA is “natural” because they have always been around it at home. They should know it is actually a fairly toxic juice. Chronic exposure is not a good idea.
Hi there. So the truth is that I plan to redo this recipe BUT isopropyl alcohol is not more toxic than what is on the shelf. Go and look at the MSDS info of the ingredients in common window cleaner. 2-Hexoxyethanol and Fragrance are rated as much more toxic. I agree with you that there are some bad DIY recipes but this is not one of them. I will, however, be adding another option. Thanks for reading. If you have another comment in the future that disagrees with what you see here, I would appreciate your not being rude about it. Thank you.
Love the recipe…thank you! However I’ve jammed up three spray bottles trying to use it. Any suggestions? What kind do you use? Pretty clear it’s the cornstarch jamming them. So sad as I really have a TON of windows to clean. Thank you!
You are so welcome. Sorry you are having that problem. I use a dollar store plastic bottle. Maybe use less cornstarch? Another idea would be a quality microfiber and only water. I just started working w/ Ava Anderson and they have nice microfibers (and other things too). Let me know how it goes. https://wholenewmom.com/ava-anderson-non-toxic/
Well I feel silly! I just realized that I used corn meal instead of corn starch. Giving it another go as it really did work so well despite the error. You are the second person to mention Ava Anderson in as many days. I love the pure ingredients down to using non-GMO corn products. Best to you in that venture!
Glad you figured that out :)! Well, I made my flax bread the other day and forgot the baking powder :).
If you end up wanting to try anything from Ava I would love to help in any way I can. Very pleased.
Felt like saying thanks for your site.
So many expensive superfluous toxins, just are not needed right now by our lovely planet.
Have a nice day.
Thank you!
I used this glass cleaner on the windshield (inside) and it worked great – no streaks, HOWEVER, after the solution that misted over the dash dried, there were white specks all over the dash, doors, and steering wheel. I hadn’t sprayed the cleaner on these areas, it was just overspray. So I wouldn’t recommend it for the inside of cars.
Oh odd. Thanks. I wonder why that happened?
I read do not use vinegar on granite counter tops either.
I ran out of my Vinegar Windex, so I Googled Homemade Window Cleaner. Yours was the first to pop up. I didn’t even think to use warm water, but I did not have any problems with streaking. My sliding door looks like the glass has been taken out, it’s so clear! Also, my husband dripped caulking on my glass top table, and this cleaner totally ate it away. I wasn’t expecting it to ever come off, because I tried several other cleaners without budging it. I am a convert! Thank you so much!
So glad to hear it!!!