How to clean venetian blinds

I suspect most of us now have mini-blinds and there are a thousand and one suggestions out there for cleaning them. However, I grew up in a house that had what seemed like a billion venetian blinds and I remember some very specific methods of cleaning them.

A) Indoor-Outdoor/bathtub method: Pour one gallon (yes a gallon) of WHITE vinegar (or bleach) into your bathtub, place the venetian blind (slats closed) into the vinegar and then cover with hot water. Using a sponge, soft cloth, other type of method, gently wipe each slat to remove dirt (by the way - you should use a feather duster or electrostatic duster to remove obvious dust) and clean the framing. Remove blind, hold up from the top and let the water drip off it, take outside and hang over clothesline rinse with garden hose and allow to hang until dry enough to replace in window.

B) Outdoor method: This is awesome on a really windy, dry, sunny day. I recommend this method because it also has the added benefit of whitening yellowing blinds: Remove loose dust/debris and hang blind from sturdy clothesline (from the top of the blind). Saturate the front and back of each slat with a mix of water and white vinegar (or water and bleach) and beginning at the top, clean the slats the same was as directed in the 'bathtub' method. Using your garden hose, rinse the blinds off and then allow to dry.

With all the new cleaning products we have today, my guess is that there are others that are even more helpful. If you smoke, try something with orange or lemon oil in it as it will neutralize the nicotine and make it easier to remove from the blinds. You can also squeeze the juice of one lemon into the vinegar/water combination to clean even better and help the whitening process.