'I use one cheap item to keep my windows streak free year-round'

The blight of a grubby streak on your window is the last thing you want to see blurring your access to sunlight as the nights are getting darker and the threat of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) looms.

One easy way maximise how much sunlight you're seeing is to keep your windows streak-free and clean all year round so you can enjoy the benefits of sunlight pouring into your home.

This does not mean you need to spend hundreds on regular professional window cleaning. Instead, there is one thing you probably already have lying around your home that will clean your windows for free.

The result is a beautifully streak-free window, with grease, grime and water marks buffed away by the coarse paper and warm water.

I have been taught to simply use use hot water and scrunched - newspaper (broadsheet or otherwise) to quickly and cheaply get windows sparkling.

All you need to do is fill a bucket - I often use a mop bucket - with hand-hot water. Depending on your glass, you can use hotter water. But if you have listed windows or are dealing with anything that isn't double glazed, boiling hot water may damage or crack your glass.

All you need to do is crumple up a good handful of newspaper, dip it in hot water and apply a decent amount of pressure to your window. Now, this does require some elbow grease and you will probably find yourself working up a sweat if you're doing every window in the house. However, this is arguably a small price to pay for what is essentially a cost-free window cleaning technique.

You may also want to wear gloves as the ink from the newspaper can transfer onto your hands after a while, but the good news is it will not transfer onto the window itself. This technique also varies in effectiveness throughout the seasons.

I have tried this before in the height of summer, and the hot water can evaporate on the window within seconds, making for a much longer and more frustrating experience. So, this may be a task best saved for cooler summer days or the transitional seasons.

One Reddit user agreed with me, posting "Newspaper in my opinion is still the best way to clean glass.I've tried every kind of cloth but always go back to newspaper." Another chimed in:" In my experience, this is the only way to seemingly be streak free."

If you want to step your method up a notch, you can add in white wine vinegar to your hot water mix - however- I have tried this and not seen it make a major difference to the outcome.