Over the past few winters in my home, I’ve slowly worked to replace the broken, 100-year old windows in my house. This year, going into winter, join me on a journey to clean and prep windows for the season!

My first tip is that if you need to replace windows in your home, do a quick measure and make some calls. Using a tape measure to get the height and width of your window casing, call a few window shops to find out how much a replacement would be — you might be surprised!

(And yes, I know lots of folks in century homes are fans of renovating old, wooden windows but the cost is prohibitive for my budget!)

If you won’t be replacing windows before the winter weather arrives, there are a few things to do to keep your home warm.

First and most simple is to wash the interior window panes with some version of Windex and newspaper.

Second, if your windows open, open them up and clean the window tracks. You’ll find a lot of dust and it might be easiest to start with a vacuum cleaner brush attachment to get into all the crevasses.

Third is cleaning the exterior, which is a lot simpler if you have a one story home. My favorite tool here is a squeegee with a scrubber on the opposite end. You don’t need a lot of fancy equipment here, even Dawn dish spray on the window, scrubbing it with a microfiber towel and then cleaning it off with a squeegee (which can be found at the dollar store!).

One tip here, after each swipe of the squeegee, use a towel to dry the edge of the blade. If you keep a ‘dry edge’ then you won’t have that random streak in the middle of the window pane. If you can remove the screen to get to the lower window pane, you can hose off the screen and get rid of all the dust and pollen.

If you have interior or exterior storm windows, now is the time to install them! It can be tricky to time when the weather is still nice but I’d rather be a few weeks early than hauling a ladder through the snow and trying to secure a window with frozen fingers!

Post Cleaning Chores

If you’ve got drafty windows you can use plastic wrap, bubble wrap or window kits to create a seal around the window to block out the cold. In my old home, I once woke up to snow inside the window sill. While my windows needed complete replacements, you might be able to get by with a new layer of caulk. If you can, get to this asap as it’s easier to cure the caulk when the weather is warmer. Some folks use a weighted draft blocker – that looks like a long snake! – sitting on the window sill to block air coming in.

There are some other tips to keeping your home warm outside the window itself:

Thick, heavy curtains can also help keep your space warm and blackout curtains are great for the occasions when you can sleep in. If you have central heat, check your Of course, also reverse your ceiling fans to push the warm air that rises down into the room.