Clean Your Living Area's More Efficiently!

If you've been following along the past couple months, you’ll know we've gone over efficiently cleaning your Bathrooms (January) and efficiently cleaning your Kitchens (February). While Bathrooms and Kitchens tend to be at the top of the priority list for most people, we still have Living Areas to clean. Whether it be your Bedroom, Living Room, Dining Room, Family Room, Media Room, etc.; your biggest battle in these rooms is more than likely…DUST! Many people suffer from dust allergies so it is exceedingly important to make sure you keep your Living Areas dusted on a regular basis, especially in your Bedroom where you sleep at night. In rooms where you have TV’s and other electronics you will be fighting dust on a weekly basis because electronics attract dust like a magnet.

There are a couple tips that remain the same no matter which area you are cleaning:

-Always dust top to bottom to avoid dust and debris falling on an area you have already cleaned

-Work clockwise or counter clockwise, to avoid missing any areas

To begin in your Living Area’s complete all the dry dusting, top to bottom. Run a long handled duster along all wall/ceiling corners, around drapery rods, along baseboards, behind furniture, etc.

Next you will do all furniture polishing. Take a clean microfiber cloth and mist with furniture polish. Wipe down all wood furniture with your cloth, be sure to get UNDER lamps, alarm clocks, coasters, books and any other items. The most thorough way to dust a piece of furniture is to take everything off the surface. Polish the top, sides and lastly base of the furniture. This will give a much more even looking polish and will help to eliminate streaks. Wipe down each item you removed, as you replace it so as not to get dust on your clean surface.

The last step in dusting is sanitizing glass. Use the same process of removing all items off of any glass topped furniture. Spray the surface to be cleaned and wipe clean with a dry microfiber cloth, turning your cloth as necessary to buff out all streaks. Cleaning the glass wholly rather than trying to clean around things will give you an even, minimal streak finish. At this time you would also sanitize any glass mirrors in living areas, mirrored closet doors, glass in French doors, etc.

If you are cleaning your Bedroom(s) you would now make/straighten your bed and pillows. If you are cleaning Living room/Family room/Media room this is the time to vacuum all furniture and straighten blankets/pillows. If there is leather furniture present, wipe it down with a microfiber cloth dampened with water or a leather safe cleaner.

Lastly vacuum all carpet/area rugs, running the vacuum hose along baseboards for a detailed vacuuming job. Mop hard surface floors if applicable.

Cleaning Your Kitchen More Efficiently!

Last month we focused on Bathrooms and how to clean them in the most efficient way. This month we will turn our focus to Kitchens. Are you tired of seeing crumbs under your toaster or grime building up underneath your control knobs on your stove? Follow along below and I bet you will find at least one area you have been missing when you’ve cleaned your Kitchen in the past.

Let’s begin by taking a long handled duster around the ceiling and wall corners to knock down cobwebs, working clockwise until you have gone around the entire Kitchen.

Take a dry cloth and lightly mist it with all-purpose spray, dust all picture frames, blinds and tops of door jams.

Wipe down any light fixtures hanging in Kitchen, if there are can lights in the ceiling, run the duster in the can to get cob webs.

Remove any large items from the floor, (i.e. area rugs, pet food dishes, garbage cans/recycle cans, etc.)

Now we are going to start with the countertops, section your counters and remove all items from your first section (including small appliances, canisters, books, bottles, etc.). It is best to choose a section of countertop, say from the stove top to the refrigerator. You will take EVERYTHING off of the countertop in this section. You can place the items on another counter or on the floor.

Liberally spray this section of countertop with your cleaning product.

Wet a sponge/scour (ensure your chosen sponge/scour is of “no-scratch” variety so you don’t scratch your countertops) and scrub your countertops, be sure to pay special attention to the areas that have food/grease build up. Wipe countertop clean with a dry cleaning cloth. Next, crouch down so you are eye level with the countertop, and look across the area you just cleaned to ensure you got all the crumbs and grime off the countertop.

Now we are going to replace the items that you removed from the countertop in the beginning. Take your rag (should be dampened by now) and wipe all of your countertop items clean, paying attention to the bottom of all items, as you place them back on the counter you just cleaned. This is also a good time to wipe fingerprints, food and smudges off of any small appliances you have (toasters, microwave ovens, blenders, etc.)

Repeat the sectioning, removing and cleaning process until all counters have been cleaned.

Next, clean the inside of your microwave. It is best to do this every time you clean your Kitchen; since microwaves typically get a lot of use they won’t get as much build up if they are cleaned frequently. If you do have a lot of build up in your microwave, spray it liberally with all purpose spray and put a cup of water (in a microwave safe container) in the microwave and heat for 1 minute. This will help to loosen any build up. Once cooled enough to touch, wipe clean.

Clean and polish exterior appliances, pay special attention to the handles of appliances where food residue tends to build up. When cleaning your stove top be sure to pull the control knobs off so you can clean behind them. If you have stainless steel appliances and use a stainless steel polish/cleaner, make sure you apply the polish/cleaner liberally. Use one side of a clean microfiber cloth to spread the polish/cleaner across the surface, and then use another side to buff it out. This should reduce/eliminate streaking.

Using a wet cleaning cloth wipe your switch plate/outlet covers then cabinets and drawers, paying attention to knobs and corners for build up.

Now it is time to clean the floors. Sweep floor first to collect major debris. Take your vacuum hose and vacuum up pile of debris then take the hose around all edges to ensure all food, crumbs and dust is sucked up. If your baseboards don’t have much build up you can use the vacuum hose to clean them off. However if there is build up on them, take a damp cloth and wipe your baseboards clean. Vacuum any area rugs. Mop floor.

Spray your sink with cleaning product and scrub, paying attention to cracks and crevices around faucet and drain holes. Polish faucet and dry sink out, straighten any towels.

Once floor is dry replace all floor items you removed in the beginning. Be sure to clean the items before putting them back, wipe down garbage cans, put rugs in the dryer on air fluff to pull crumbs and dust off of them, etc.

All done! Enjoy your thoroughly cleaned Kitchen J

 

Clean Your Bathroom More Efficiently!

So it’s time to clean the almighty bathroom….there you stand armed with your gloves, arsenal of cleaning products and toilet brush. Now the question remains, where do I start? While everyone tends to clean their bathroom a little differently there is a standard procedure that most professionals use because it is the most efficient. Are you tired of getting your tub sparkling clean and then, wait, is that a cobweb above the shower? Shoot! So you carefully try to grab it but instead you knock it down and now your clean tub has a cob web in it. Better go grab another rag because the tub has to be wiped out again. I can’t promise the below process will make cleaning your Bathroom FUN but I can almost bet following the below process will get your Bathroom more clean than it has been in the past.

Ready to get started?? Let’s begin!

Prior to turning lights on in your bathroom take a cleaning cloth and wipe your light fixtures.  To avoid injury this needs to be done when lights and fixture are off and cool to the touch.

Turn on the lights and begin by removing all things possible from the floors and placing them outside of the bathroom. i.e. rugs, scales, garbage cans, magazine racks, toilet brushes/plungers, hampers, etc.

Next do all high dusting; run a long handled duster along all ceiling and wall corners to knock down cobwebs. Then either remove your ceiling vent to soak and clean (if there is a lot of buildup) or take your vacuum hose and vacuum the dust off of your vent. A broom also works well to knock down dust if your vacuum hose won’t reach.

Take a dry cloth and lightly mist it with all-purpose spray, dust all picture frames, blinds and tops of door jams.

Now comes the fun part! We are going to remove all items out of your shower/tub. Remove all shampoo bottles, shower gels, washcloths, bathmats and anything else that will come out. Liberally spray your shower/tub with cleaning spray and let sit.

Next you are going to do the same “removing” process for your countertops. Remove all items from your countertop (bet this will make you think twice about how much you put back on it J). If you have a soap dish on your counter, take the soap out of the dish and place the dish in the sink. Once everything has been removed liberally spray your countertop with cleaning spray and let sit. If you put a soap dish in the sink, fill the dish with water to loosen the built up soap residue.

Head back to the shower now that the cleaning spray has had time to disinfect, scrub the shower/tub with a no-scratch pad or scrub brush. Pay special attention to soap scum rings, drain holes, soap dishes, shower door tracks/edges if applicable, etc. Once it’s all scrubbed, rinse.

Now were going to let the shower/tub air dry a bit and head over to the countertop.

Scrub your countertop with a no-scratch pad, paying attention to any build up or residue spots. Scrub sink as well, paying attention to cracks and crevices around faucet, drain holes in sink and overflow holes. Scrub your soap dish if it’s in the sink as well.

Spray your mirror with glass cleaner; also spray sink faucets with glass cleaner. Wipe mirror clean with a dry cloth then polish faucets with same cleaning cloth. Wipe countertop clean and sinks last. Dry out soap dish if you have one in the sink. Your cleaning cloth should be pretty damp by now which makes it perfect for spot cleaning cabinet/drawer fronts and knobs.

Grab a clean cloth and lightly mist it with cleaning spray, put your countertop items back on countertop, using the cleaning cloth to wipe each item clean before putting it back on the countertop. Pay special attention to the front and bottom of soap bottles, hair product bottles, etc. and wipe the bottles clean so as not to dirty your clean countertop.

Head back over to the shower/tub with your cleaning cloth and dry it out. Spray the faucet and any fixtures in the shower/tub with glass cleaner and wipe with a dry cloth to polish. If you have a shower door this would be the time to clean the glass door and frame. Lightly spray your cleaning cloth, like the one for the countertop items, and wipe each shower item clean before putting them back in the shower. Again pay special attention to the bottom of bottles that collect residues as you don’t want these residues in your clean shower.

You’re almost there! Now were going to do the toilet, spray your toilet liberally with cleaning spray and put a bowl cleaner in the bowl. Grab your toilet brush and scrub bowl. Put down lid and start at top of toilet, wipe clean tank lid and tank. Clean around toilet seat hinges, toilet seat lid, bowl sides (exterior) and base of toilet where toilet meets floor. Open toilet lid and clean underside of lid, toilet seat, underside of toilet seat and lastly toilet rim. Flush toilet.

At this point I like to take a cleaning cloth lightly sprayed with all-purpose cleaner and polish all the accessory holders (toilet paper holder, bath towel holder, robe hooks, etc.) and switch plate/outlet covers. Straighten towels/washcloths.

Lastly clean the floors. Sweep floor first to collect major debris. Take your vacuum hose and vacuum up pile of debris then take the hose around all edges to ensure all hair, dust is sucked up. Check base of toilet and suck up any hair/dust that might be on base of toilet from sweeping. If your baseboards don’t have much build up you can use the vacuum hose to clean them off. However if there is build up on them, take a damp cloth and wipe your baseboards clean. Mop floor.

Once floor is dry replace all floor items you removed in the beginning. Be sure to clean the items before putting them back, wipe down scales, put rugs in the dryer on air fluff to pull hair and dust off of them, etc.

Voila! Your bathroom should be sparkling clean now!

Cleaning Kit for DIY'ers

So there you are once again, in the cleaning aisle of your local supermarket. The bright lights, overwhelming clean smells…there’s just something about this section that lures people in. Maybe it’s the shelves upon shelves of slick packaging with loud colors and promises of taking out even the heaviest of buildup. Haven’t we all fallen victim to this? Walking the cleaning aisle and finding all these products that will save us time and money. If you just had products you enjoyed using you’d enjoy cleaning, right?

Fast forward 3 months into the future and where is that fancy new product? Is it sitting under your Kitchen sink, bottle covered in dust and still mostly full? What about that great piece of equipment that was going to save you so much time? Is it sitting in the corner of a closet, still looking brand new because it’s only been used once or twice? Whether in occupied or vacant homes, I am always shocked to see how many cleaning supplies people have in their homes. Fancy dusters, shower cleaner that will cut the heaviest of grime in half the time, just “spray and wipe”, passion fruit toilet cleaner and the list goes on and on.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are definitely some great products out there that truly do save you time and money. However, to keep your home clean, you only need a very basic selection of cleaners and equipment.  And with the cleaning aisles stocked full with rows and rows of products, how do you know what is right for your home? Below you will find Caliber Cleaning, Inc.’s “Cleaning Kit for DIY’ers.” Whether you’re doing your own house cleaning on a regular basis or you like to do touch ups between having a professional house cleaning service, this is a great list of what to keep on hand in any home.

Supplies	Equipment
All-purpose cleaner concentrate	Mop/Broom
Cleaner concentrate that contains bleach or  a green alternative for shower cleaner	Sponge/Scrub brush/Scour
Glass cleaner	Vacuum w/ hose attachments
Toilet bowl cleaner	Toilet brush
Furniture polish	Long duster
Stainless steel polish, if applicable	Microfiber cleaning cloths
Vinegar or oil soap for wood floors, if applicable	2 empty spray bottles

Use the 2 empty spray bottles for mixing all-purpose cleaner and a cleaner with bleach/or green alternative for shower cleaner. Buying concentrated jugs of cleaner and mixing your own bottles will save you money. Several cleaning concentrates can be bought for $3.00-$5.00 in 52oz jugs and only require 2-4oz of concentrate per 32oz spray bottle. For the average household this will last a long time. If you have linoleum/tile/marble floors you can also use the all-purpose cleaner concentrate in a bucket of hot water for mopping your floors. All cleaners slightly vary so follow the instructions on the packaging for proper dilution ratios.

With this basic chart of Supplies/Equipment you can create a cleaning kit that will help you to keep the inside of your home looking its best. Happy Cleaning!

Questions to Ask When Hiring a Cleaning Company

So you’re ready to hire a House Cleaning company…Do you have a referral from a friend or family member? Maybe you plan on heading to the web’s almighty search bar to begin your quest? Whether you’ve hired a Cleaning Company in the past or this is your first time, there are some very important questions to consider. One search for “House Cleaning Companies” will net you hundreds of results. How are you going to wade through the results and ultimately make a decision? Where do you even begin? Overwhelming, right? Read on to find a framework of questions to ask during your search.

We’ll start with some surface level questions that will hopefully help you to narrow your list down. Once you’ve got a list of some potentials you’d like to call to your house to provide you a bid we’ll go over some more in-depth questions. After all, this company will have access to the place you call home. You need to feel comfortable with them in your home whether you’re there during your cleaning or not.

Of course there are the obvious surface questions that 9 out of 10 people will always ask…how much does your service cost? Are you licensed, bonded and insured? How many people do you send? These are all important questions and you should ask them. However there are also several questions that should be asked that are more specific to company operations and policies. Yes many potential clients will ask if we’re licensed, bonded and insured. However they rarely ask what happens if something gets broken. You should be asking what a company’s insurance limits are; you should ask what their procedure is for fixing something if it gets broken.  

When you first start calling companies and you’re in the “narrowing down” phase, start with a few of the below questions;

·         How do you charge, by job or by hour? Do you charge minimums?

·         Are you licensed, bonded and insured?

·         What are your hours of operation?

·         Do your employees speak English?

·         Do you provide supplies and equipment?

·         Do you perform background checks?

Now that you’ve “pre-screened” a few companies with the above questions you are ready to have them to your home for a preview. Some companies can provide an estimate over the phone or internet; however, providing an estimate sight unseen can be very tricky. There are several factors that go into writing up a bid for house cleaning. If you receive an estimate over the phone sight unseen do expect the possibility of the cost increasing once the company does see your home. To receive the most accurate estimate it is best to have each company come preview your home so you can show them exactly what you want done in each area. This not only gives you a definite cost rather than an estimate, but it also ensures that the cleaning company knows exactly what you expect to have done in your home.

When you have each company to your home for a preview, the following are questions that you should consider asking. How each company answers the below questions should assist you in choosing the best company for your particular house cleaning needs. Every person is different when it comes to what is important to them. For example, some people don’t care about having the same person/crew every cleaning while others don’t care how many people come out during their cleaning. There are no right or wrong answers to the below questions, it all boils down to your particular preferences.

·         Do you send the same person/crew every cleaning?

·         Do you provide a list of what will be done in my home or do I get to create my own list?

·         Can I be home during cleaning?

·         How do I pay for services?

·         What are your insurance limits? If something gets broken in my home what is your procedure for fixing it?

·         What type of background check do you perform? How many years back do you check? Do you check just this state or multiple states?

·         How many people do you send during cleaning?

·         Where is my information and key (if applicable) stored? Who has access to it? What if my key is lost?

·         Will I be charged a fee for changing or skipping a cleaning?

·         Do you have a list of references I could call?

·         What is your maintenance plan on your vacuums? Do they have HEPA FILTERS?

·         What kind of products do you use?

Hopefully now you feel comfortable with a company to hire for your house cleaning needs. The above questions can also be used, if slightly modified, for hiring other service professionals around your home. Good luck in your search!

Green Cleaning....Or not?

Being an owner of a cleaning company, I get asked almost daily what my opinions are on green cleaning products. Whether it is from clients, friends or family members, green cleaning has become a huge topic of discussion. Some ask, "Is this just a trend that will pass? Or is it here to stay?" "Do green cleaning products even work?" "Is there such thing as a 100% natural product?" "What are the best green cleaning products?"

While I don't have the answers to all of these questions, through experience I do have opinions on them. First and foremost, I believe that green cleaning is definitely here to stay. As we hear more and more about global warming and human footprint, consumers want to know what they can do to reduce their impact on our earth. Clearly, one way of doing this is to begin using environmentally friendly cleaning products that don't contain harsh chemicals. Green cleaning products do have a purpose and, in my opinion, so do chemicals. When you are dealing with a home that hasn't been kept clean and has a lot of dirt/grime and grease build up, your standard all purpose green cleaner isn't going to cut the mustard...or the grease :) When in these circumstances I feel it is best and most sanitary to use chemical based cleaners. Chemical based cleaners have the power to cut through build up and sanitize an area. There are green cleaning products out there that claim to be heavy degreasers but I have yet to use one that effectively works. On the other hand, if you are dealing with a home that is kept up with routine cleaning, green cleaning products work wonderfully and I would suggest using them in this case. If you don’t need chemicals to cut thru build up, save yourself and your family from breathing in harsh chemicals.

When it comes to the question of the best brand of green cleaning products out there; there are so many to choose from. I have used a lot of different brands of green cleaning products but can in no way say one is better than another. I have found that one brand might carry a really great all purpose multi-surface cleaner while a completely different brand has a really great glass cleaner. A glass cleaner that works very well in my home, might streak in another person's home. It’s really about personal preference and what works best in your home. I am in the process of trying out a few new green glass cleaners. I have tried about 3 different green glass cleaners and they have all streaked. Some green products, namely glass cleaner and stainless steel polish/cleaner, tend to streak more than the chemically based cleaners because they don’t have the chemicals that evaporate and leave that streak free look :)

Another issue to consider when choosing green cleaning products is smell. We are a society that has become so accustomed to associating the smell of Bleach or Lysol with clean. True story...we had a client who requested green cleaning products only in her home, no exception. After about 3 cleanings she called me and said she didn't feel like her house was clean. She said everything LOOKED clean, but it didn't FEEL clean. I told her that I would be at her home at the end of her next cleaning to do a walk thru with her. As promised, I showed up at the end of her next cleaning and she opens the door with a smile and says "It looks great and FEEL's perfectly clean! No need to do a walk thru." Somewhat surprised, I said "Ok, great. Can I ask what you think is different this cleaning as opposed to the previous cleanings?" She replied, "Well this time I asked the crew to use Bleach, Comet, Windex and Murphy’s oil soap instead of the standard green products. Now when I walk in the door I can SMELL the products and it FEELS much cleaner."
Hmmm...that got me thinking about myself and my own personal preferences when it comes to cleaning my home. Sure enough, I find that if I clean with chemically based products, I too feel that my home is much cleaner. It is a sensory issue more than a fact of the actual surface being cleaner with chemicals than with green products. I believe that as a whole we need to educate ourselves more about the use of green cleaning products to try and break down the association of chemicals and clean. There are some great green products out there that smell wonderful, but the smell tends to fade much quicker than chemicals.

So in conclusion, I hope I was able to shed some light on the Green cleaning….or not? dilemma that many families have faced when deciding what products to buy. Some find that a mix of both green cleaning and chemicals work well in their household; personally that’s what I use J

Make it a great day!