Last year, I tried to make my own glass cleaner with black tea and vinegar. It was disastrous.

A black film clung to my bathroom mirror for weeks. It looked like you were brushing your teeth in an old Bela Lugosi film.

Finally, when I got tired of pretending I was a vampire, I scrubbed it down with some old dry newspaper (paper towels were like, “Um, no. You made this mess. YOU clean it up”) and things got back to normal.

Tip time: For extra-shiny, streak-free mirrors, do a final wipe with (black and white) newspaper. It’s kinda awesome.

In any case, I haven’t had the courage to venture back into the realm of homemade glass cleaners until this moment – when I happen to be out of my 7th Generation. Remember how running out of store-bought things works when you want the impetus to try making something at home?

In all the searching I did for glass cleaners, I found three options I wanted to try. And then I came up with an award-winning fourth.