Cleaning Records


I have a rather small record collection made up of about 25% new records, 25% old albums that I've purchased from local shops, and 50% old albums of my dad's that have been sitting in the garage for a good 10 years.
As far as cleaning goes, I guess the obvious part is buying a carbon-fiber brush to dust them off before each play, but I'm lost as to what I should do to REALLY clean them. I only spent about $400 on my turntable, so buying a VPI record cleaner used for $800 doesn't seem right for me right now. Are there any cleaners that do a comprabale job for under $100 if possible, possibly $200. How should I go about cleaning without a cleaning machine? People have talked about washing their records. Does this process actually include holding the record in the sink and pouring deionized water over it? How would I clean it?
If I were to clean it with a cloth, would I move around the record in circles as opposed to moving from the label outward? I've seen a lot of "record-cleaning solutions". How does one use these? Just mix it in water and pour it on the record? Wouldn't it harm the record to actually apply force to it when "scrubbing"?
I found a bottle of D4 that I bought a while ago. Should I use it? And if yes, do I dillute it in water first?
I'm obviously very new to all of this, and I would appreciate any help.
boxingnun
4yanx...Good grief!!!.. I am sure you are correct.
That's why I mostly play CDs.
Figures.. always a wise-acher oozing from between the jewel case cracks. Knew I should have stayed gone. adios

BTW, it takes me 1 hour to clean 12 LP's. Five minutes each. A very small price to pay. Sorry it took loneger than that for anyone to READ my post!
5 minutes is nothing relative to the results you are more than likely achieving. I'm running about 3 minutes per CD. I do two at a time. I do new CDs as soon as I get in the door. If I am doing a single newly purchased CD, I also do one of my older ones. I've done about 400 of about 900.

I got a long way to go.....
4yanx....Relax!...In a casual way I complement you on the comprehensive writeup about cleaning records. If you enjoy cleaning records that's OK with me. People with antique cars spend more time polishing them than driving.

Does music exist to serve as a test signal for audio equipment, or does audio equipment exist to convey music? Can we agree to disagree?

Have you or anyone else considered a mail-order record cleaning service for lazy blokes like me. It seems that you have the equipment, experience and enthusiasm for such an enterprise.
If I went through 4yanx steps I would spend a full calendar year to clean my vinyl collection only with sleap and eat breaks.

If a record qualify for "STEP ONE" I simply ignore taking care of this record and look for replacement.

Otherwise it takes me less than a minute to clean it.