What she uses
The blinds Lynn is cleaning are a vinyl that looks like wood, and that is the only kind she can speak to. She says she does not know whether this works on the thin plastic blinds, because she does not have one to try it on. She had already done one of her own blinds this way before filming, and says it does work on hers.
The can is Scrubbing Bubbles, and she says this one was $3.27 at Walmart. Down at her feet she keeps a bucket of water with a washcloth in it, plus some paper towels. If the blinds are real bad and carrying a lot of dust, she says to run the vacuum cleaner over them first and get some of that dust off before you spray.
How Lynn cleans them
She works with the blind still hanging in the window. She moves the curtain all the way over and takes the wand down so it is not moving around everywhere, gives the can a little shake, and sprays the Scrubbing Bubbles right onto the blind, where you can watch it foam up.
Then she waits. She lets it sit and soak about 10 to 15 minutes, and while it sits she points out that the drips running off the bottom have already turned brown from the dirt. She wipes with a paper towel first, starting at the top and working her way down, and says this part does take some time but is a lot faster than taking the whole blind down for the bathtub soak.
The last pass is plain water. She goes back over the blind with a washcloth carrying nothing but hot water to make sure all of the Scrubbing Bubbles solution comes off. While she is there, she also takes a paper towel and runs it all the way down the drawstring, which she says helps clean the drawstring too.
Holding the slat while you wipe
A blind that is still hanging flops around while you wipe it. The way Lynn figured out to handle that is to hold the end and start on the inside, wiping as she holds it. She says it still moves a little, but not near as bad once you put your hand on it and put some pressure on it.
To reach the far end she moves her hand down to that end and then rotates the slat over; she says you can turn the wand to do it, but she is just using her hand. On the back side she puts on a light coat, and adds that if your blinds are not as bad as hers, you probably would not have to do the outside at all. Hers are worse on the front than the back.
What to expect while you work
It drips, and she plans for that. She is working over a hardwood floor so she can wipe up whatever runs down, and she says if your blind is in a room with carpet you should lay a towel down before you start. She also says you may have to wipe your window off a little if any of it gets on the glass.
Where it dripped on her hardwood and she wiped it up, she noticed how shiny it left the floor and called that a possible next project, though she does not test it on the floor here. She mentions she has also cleaned blinds outside on the fence line with the water hose in the past, and she is upfront that using a store can is cheating a little bit on a channel full of homemade products.
Follow the labels on every product you mix, and test any cleaner on a small hidden spot first.