What is the best way to clean Vinyl?

@fleschler   "I have a rule I made up, if I don't want to hear a record at least 3 times annually, out it goes."

This statement doesn't add up arithmetically.  You currently have 28,500 records.  You dispose of records you don't play 3 times a year.  I assume each side is 20 minutes, you listen to the whole record and you spend 40 hours per week listening.  in a year you have 2080 hours to listen to only 1040 records 3 times each.  Ergo you should have only 1040 records, not 28,500.  If you listen continuously 24 hours per day, you can still only retain 4368 records.

I read on the Stereophile forum that the Spin Clean system can cause static on the vinyl.

True or False

Wet cleaning generally reduces static. However, if you dry a disk with a microfibre cloth you may introduce static then. I don't worry about it as I always treat a record before playing it with either a Zerostat gun or, lately, the Furutech Destat III.

As for your question about a Spin Clean, U/S and vacuum machine for <$500, you'd need to find some used bargains and I don't think you'd easily come in under budget! You could get a Humminguru for $375USD. Once you have tasted the convenience of a machine it is hard to clean manually, unless you are as saintly as pindac! But a Spin Clean is relatively cheap and if you don't mind the effort there is little to lose by trying it out.

@clearthinker 

Yeah, that is hard to miss that. I thought the current number was 18,000… which would take about 2.5 years to listen to once if you listened 24 hours per day. it is easy to be a bit sloppy with numbers… but those are some large numbers.
 

I am somewhat intimidated by my 2,000 albums and me being 70 years old… can I listen to them all in my lifetime. 

"What are some MIC budget  US's now available?"

Has this been suggested yet?

HumminGuru all-in-one ultrasonic vinyl record cleaner