Cleaning Light Bulb Sockets

Blarghy

So, I've been living in this apartment for a couple years and I have a small chandelier in my dining area that has been a pain in the ass the entire time, as it burns through light bulbs like nobody's business. I've mostly consigned myself to eating in the dimness of the couple bulbs that seem to last, but after they started flickering, I decided to finally climb up there and get a good look at the sucker. From what I can see, the light sockets themselves are utterly flithy -- its looks like a previous tenant took out the bulbs at some point and just let the empty sockets fill up with greasy dust.

Now, I could start pestering the landlord about this, but given that I've been the tenant here for the last few years, I suspect that they'd probably just figure that it was me who didn't maintain the sockets. So, my question is how advisable is it for me to try cleaning them out myself? The electrical box for my suite is easily accessible, and I'm fine with spending a few bucks on whatever cleaning supplies I might need. I don't see any easy way to take down the chandelier without prying it out of the ceiling though.

If its a good idea, what kind of cleaning products should I use to go about it? And any other safety precautions so I don't fry myself or burn the building down (or both)?

Foomy

Kill the breaker to it first.

And then some rubbing alchohol, cotton balls and maybe some qtips should clean it up.

Technicality

When you kill the breaker do it with a working bulb in the light fitting and the light turned on, so that you can be sure the power to that specific fitting has actually gone off. If someone has wired something up wrong you don't want to find out with your fingers.

I wouldn't think dirty fixtures would break bulbs though. Are the bulbs Halogen ones by any chance? Those die very quickly if you get finger grease on them by touching them with your bare hands (often happens when replacing them if you aren't aware of it).