CleanNaples

We love our SnowBirds.  We are ready to welcome you back to beautiful Naples, FL.  We've been holding down the fort for you this summer.  No Hurricanes(yet), no horrible storms, it's been a bit HOT, but besides that all is well here in Paradise.

In honor of your return we are offering a free cleaning*  up to $132.00(2 hours cleaning with a team of 2)

*The fine print.....
Free cleaning is your 5th cleaning, not valid with any other promotions or discounted work.  Limit one free cleaning per household per promotion.
Offer expires 11-1-11

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Prepare for your Cleaning Lady's Arrival

Are you looking for a professional house cleaner but don't really know how to find a great professional house cleaner?

Professional house cleaners have excellent cleaning skills and some great organizational skills. But great communication with your house cleaner or cleaning team will help you get the level of clean you want for your house, and help your house cleaner know just what you expect. Most people try to keep their house clean themselves. But all of us are busy with family and work, and housekeeping chores sometimes get left out in the rush.

The following tips from professional house cleaners work well for all people who are trying to keep their house clean. Then, if you decide you need help keeping your house clean, you will be organized and be able to get the best results with your house cleaning service.

Professional house cleaners are organized. So you need to be organized as well. First take a good look around your house. Then think of the result you want. If you are quite behind in your house cleaning, don't feel bad. You are not alone.

Make a list prioritizing the rooms you want to have cleaned. You may choose the rooms that are used the most and clean these rooms first. Then make a list of what you want done in each room to make it look the way you want it to look.

If the professional house cleaner knows exactly what you want to have done, and what your priorities are, you will get a cleaner house for your money. If you are organized for your housekeeper......"Clean for the cleaning Lady"(yes we're serious about that tip) it really will make a difference.

Most professional house cleaners choose to clean a house at sections at a time, so let them do their thing. Don't hover! Stay out of the way if possible.

The next step professional house cleaners take is to be sure they have the right tools for the cleaning jobs they are going to do.

Most cleaning companies will supply their own cleaning supplies, so they are not spending time at each home searching for supplies. If you have a specific product you like to use you should provide that and have it readily available. Do not expect the professional cleaning service to purchase your specific products. You should also keep the number of cleaning products to a minimum, so they are easy to store.

For more tips and tricks on house cleaning and organic cleaning please visit my web site at CleanNaples.com

Taresa@CleanNaples

5 Things I HATE about Cleaning

The 5 Things I hate about Cleaning:

1. The job itself.....who likes to clean? I mean really? Yes I know some of you OCD'ers out there can't help yourself, but I bet if left to your own devices and everything was in it's place, even you would not waste time cleaning. Right? Life is too short to scrub your own toilet!
2. I HATE putting laundry away. I mean, I hate it. I'll wash, fold but it in a pile on a bed, but to go that extra step and put it in the drawer...no way. That would be just too difficult.
3. I HATE changing my sheets. I have a king size bed which I love, but the back and forth of changing the sheets really drives me nuts. It's never even, never tucked nicely. It's a pain.
4. The smell. Although I love the smell of a clean house, I feel like I'm being gassed while doing it. My daughter complains about the strong smell, too bleachy, too sweet, too hospital, I want to just come home and take a deep breath and smell "clean" not chemicals.
5. I HATE collecting up the right cleaning supplies. I own a cleaning service. You would think I had the right supplies on hand just laying around right? Wrong. I take them back and forth from home to the workshop. I never have the right things at home, I've lent them to the business and they are cleaning someone elses' home now!

How to fix the 5 things I/You HATE about cleaning?
Well, of course my suggestion would be to hire a cleaning service. I think everyone should have their home professionally cleaned twice a month. But.....I know that's not always a reality.

So, Plan B would be to spread out your most hated jobs. Do one job a day. Don't save them all to do on Saturday morning on your day off. I know I grew up with Saturday morning cleanings. But times have changed. Families have different make ups, crazier schedules, more expectations of your time with work and play.

So give yourself a break, if you can't budget a regular cleaning, spread it out. Give jobs to other family members that you hate, they may like to do.....(see earlier blog).

Pair up when you make beds. Have a bed making "party" and everyone helps each other. It is SO much easier with two or three people tackling a bed, and there is nothing like sliding into clean tight sheets at the end of a long day. Pure bliss.

Try and keep a cleaning kit. Most of you don't "loan" out your cleaning supplies like I do, so no excuses:) Keep them in a caddy and carry that caddy with you from room to room. It saves you a ton of time hunting down just the right item.

On movie night we do a laundry sort. Bring out your hangers and your hamper full of clean clothes and get the hanging items on hangers. Lay them out then hang them up all at once. It really helps to do this while drinking wine. You don't even notice you're "cleaning"!

Chemical smells, it's tough. A lot of organic cleaners don't get the job done. At CleanNaples we use and love Shaklee products. Their strong go-to product Basic H does do a lot of general cleaning. Because I live in FL I'm afraid of mold, so I do use bleach. I try to spray it and leave the house when I can. When you return later, the strong bleach smell is gone, and it does just smell clean.

Do try not to HATE cleaning too much. Tackle the jobs a bit at a time. Don't beat yourself up if it's not perfect. We are not our mother's, this is not the same generation. We are working full time and caring for children. It's a whole new world.

Please visit my web site for more cleaning tips and tricks.
Cleannaples.com