How to make a streak-free glass and window cleaner

The simplest published glass cleaner is equal parts distilled vinegar and water in a spray bottle, wiped dry with a paper towel or clean cloth (NMSU). For more cutting power, UF/IFAS adds rubbing alcohol and a spoonful of cornstarch; Georgia's no-streak version uses vinegar and cornstarch in warm water and a crumpled-newspaper finish. Six published recipes are set out below exactly as printed, with which ones use alcohol (only one does, and it names no strength), how to wipe for fewer streaks, how NMSU says to store the leftovers, and the one rule that changes if you ever sell an alcohol glass cleaner in California.

Six published glass recipes compared

A seventh, from a Penn State IPM handout, is a plain vinegar spray: "1/2 to 1 cup white vinegar" in "4 cups cool water," with directions to "Label the bottle" and rub "with newspaper or white paper towel until dry" [4].

Each glass recipe as printed

NMSU, three window and glass cleaners [1]:

In a spray bottle, mix 1 cup distilled vinegar with 1 cup water. Spray on window or glass. Dry using a paper towel or clean cloth. Mix 1/4 cup cornstarch with 1/4 cup distilled vinegar. Mix well. Quickly dab onto windows or glass. Let dry. Rub off with a clean cloth. Combine 1/2 teaspoon liquid dish soap, 1/4 cup distilled vinegar, and 2 cups of water. Soak a sponge or small cloth in the mixture. Wring out excess liquid. Wipe spots and smears from windows or glass with a paper towel or clean cloth. Store any excess window cleaner in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. For hard stains, try washing first with soapy water.

UF/IFAS, Window Cleaner [2]:

- 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol - 1/4 cup white vinegar - 1 tablespoon cornstarch - 2 cups warm water Combine all ingredients together in an empty spray bottle and shake well. You will need to shake it a little with each use if you see cornstarch accumulating at the bottom of the bottle. Use crumpled-up newspaper to shine the windows.

UF/IFAS, Window and Glass Cleaner [2]:

- 1 tablespoon lemon juice - 1 quart water Apply to surface and wipe dry. To get a nice shine, use a natural linen or soft cloth. Newspaper also works.

Georgia, No-Streak Glass Cleaner (also on the Kentucky and Missouri cards) [3][5][6]:

- ¼ cup white vinegar - 1 tbsp. cornstarch - 1 quart (4 cups) warm water Mix the ingredients and apply with a sponge or pour into spray bottle and spray on. For lint-free results, wipe dry with crumpled newspaper, buff to a shine.

Kentucky's card reads "1 quart warm water," without the cup conversion [5].

Georgia also publishes a Mirror & Window Polish, "For sparkling glass": "Mix together cornstarch and water to make a paste. Use a soft cloth to apply the paste to the mirror. Rub gently then wipe clean with a soft cloth" [3]. It gives no quantities.

Which strength of rubbing alcohol to use

Only the UF/IFAS Window Cleaner calls for alcohol, and it says "rubbing alcohol" with no percentage [2]. Drugstore rubbing alcohol comes in more than one strength, and UF/IFAS does not say which it used, so there is no published answer to "70 or 91 percent" for this recipe. Whichever you use, it is flammable: keep the bottle away from flame and heat, and never mix it with bleach, a pairing UF/IFAS lists among its never-mix warnings [2]. Rubbing alcohol compares the strengths, and bleach and rubbing alcohol explains that reaction.

Getting glass to dry without streaks

The sources agree on a few things and are silent on others.

1. Start clean. NMSU: "For hard stains, try washing first with soapy water" [1]. A vinegar spray moves light film and fingerprints; it is a poor tool for caked dirt.
2. Shake the cornstarch versions. Cornstarch settles; UF/IFAS tells you to shake "a little with each use" if you see it "accumulating at the bottom of the bottle" [2].
3. Wipe until dry. Every source ends with a dry wipe: paper towel, clean cloth, natural linen or crumpled newspaper [1][2][3]. Georgia recommends newspaper "For lint-free results" [3].
4. Use less soap. NMSU's soap version uses only 1/2 teaspoon in more than 2 cups of liquid [1]. Adding more is a change to the recipe that no source tested.

None of these publications mentions squeegees or working out of direct sun. Both are common window-washing practice, but no source quoted here tested them, so treat them as your own choice. If your glass still streaks, the cause is often the water rather than the recipe: in hard water, spots and film on glassware are one of the most common effects the U.S. Geological Survey describes [7]. When a homemade cleaner streaks, clogs or leaves film goes through each cause.

Store-bought glass cleaner and bleach

NMSU warns: "Be aware that cleaning products may contain ammonia," and gives glass cleaners as an example [1]. If you switch between a commercial blue glass cleaner and your homemade vinegar spray, that does not matter on its own. It matters if bleach is anywhere nearby: NMSU says to "NEVER mix chlorine bleach and ammonia because this creates a deadly gas" [1]. Keep commercial glass cleaners and bleach on different shelves, and read the label of any product before you use it on the same surface. Bleach and ammonia has the details.

Storing what is left

NMSU's instruction is the only storage direction among these sources: "Store any excess window cleaner in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid" [1]. Label it with what is inside and the date, and keep it out of children's reach; NMSU says to "Label mixed solutions and keep them out of reach of children" and "Do not use food containers for storing cleaning products" [1]. That rules out a rinsed pasta sauce jar, and a canning jar too, since it is a food container; use a glass storage jar that has never held food, labeled as a cleaner. The bottles and labels page explains why the rule is strict. Lemon juice versions are perishable, and the Penn State handout says to "Make only enough for immediate use if recipe includes perishable items such as lemon juice" [4].

If you plan to sell an alcohol glass cleaner

California caps volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in nonaerosol glass cleaner at 3 percent by weight, effective December 31, 2012, under 17 CCR 94509 (as read October 2026) [8]. Worked through on the VOC page, a homemade-style glass cleaner with a quarter cup of rubbing alcohol per two and a half cups of liquid comes out near 8 percent by weight, so the alcohol would have to come down before a recipe like the UF/IFAS Window Cleaner could be sold there. VOC limits on cleaning products shows the calculation and the exemptions to check.

From windows to the rest of the house

The same vinegar-and-water logic carries over to hard floors, with a different dilution for each floor type and an important disagreement over finished wood. Floor cleaners by floor type sets them out.

References

1. New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service (revised by Rick Griffiths and Sonja Koukel), *Green Alternatives to Toxic Household Products and Hazardous Waste*, G-313, revised February 2019. https://pubs.nmsu.edu/_g/G313/index.html
2. UF/IFAS Extension (Amanda Griffin and Randall A. Cantrell), *Homemade Household Cleaners*, FCS3319, Release Date October 7, 2025. https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FY1449
3. University of Georgia Cooperative Extension (Pamela R. Turner and Sharon M. S. Gibson), *Green Cleaning: Recipes for a Healthy Home*, HACE-E-73-1 (Green Clean Booklet), revised October 2018. https://site.extension.uga.edu/greenway/files/2024/09/10.18_Green-Clean-Booklet_update.pdf
4. Pennsylvania Integrated Pest Management Program (Penn State), *Greener Cleaner Recipes*, undated handout hosted by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Entomology. https://extensionentomology.tamu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2011/05/Green-cleaning.pdf
5. University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension (Connee Wheeler, adapted from Gibson and Turner, UGA), *Green Cleaning: Recipes for a Healthy Home*, HHF-CRW.175, January 2010. https://fcs.mgcafe.uky.edu/sites/fcs.mgcafe.uky.edu/files/green-cleaning-recipe-cards.pdf
6. University of Missouri Extension (Pamela R. Turner and Sharon M. S. Gibson, adapted by Kandace Fisher-McLean), *Green Cleaning: Recipes for a Healthy Home*, GH201, 2019 (GH-0201-2019 in the MU MOspace record), adaptation of the 2015 UGA edition. https://extension.missouri.edu/media/wysiwyg/Extensiondata/Pub/pdf/hesguide/foodnut/gh201.pdf
7. U.S. Geological Survey, *Hardness of Water*, August 24, 2026. https://www.usgs.gov/water-science-school/science/hardness-water
8. 17 CCR 94509, Standards for Consumer Products, via Cornell Legal Information Institute, read October 2026. https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/17-CCR-94509