Freshen your home on the cheap

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I posted this on associated content a while back, but I felt the need to share it here, as well. It's spring, and we are opening our windows and packing away all the trappings of winter. Our drapes are dusty, our windows are grimy, and with the cost of living rising every day, how can we take care of these problems without spending an arm and a leg? We could spend hundreds on special products to clean and freshen, but for years I have handled spring cleaning like this: I start by mixing a cup of fabric softener in as gallon of water. I wet a towel in this mixture, and I throw that in my dryer. Then I add a few blankets, coats or drapes, set the heat to low, and turn on the dryer. When the towel is dry, I remove the articles, re-wet the towel, and repeat until all the coats, sweaters, blankets and drapes are freshened. As I remove items from the dryer, they are folded and packed into plastic trash bags. When these are full, I seal them and pack them into the boxes that held my summer items. Each box is labeled, bedding, clothing, etc, for easy storage. I rehang my drapes, and leave the windows open to allow the breeze to circulate and freshen my home. cleaning the windows has turned into a family project. I fill a 5 gallon bucket with water, add about 2 cups of windshield washer fluid, and go to town with my sponge mop. Our family is split into two teams, one to wash the windows, and the other to spray the windows down to rinse them. We are usually drenched, but finished after a few hours.