Housecleaning tips to make your life easier! (and mine!)

There was a time when I used to clean the shower curtain with a bottle of bleach and a sponge while it was hanging on the shower rod! Blasted be those days!!! Some blessed soul, I don't remember who, mentioned one day that they just throw theirs in the washing machine with some towels and it comes out like new again! Brilliant be that day! The towels do the scrubbing for you, and if you must throw some bleach in the water, then so be it. If you wash your shower curtain this way often enough you should not ever need bleach!!!

I am surprised at how many people are still cleaning their shower curtains the same way I did years ago, and I am surprised at the many simple ideas I am still learning everyday, that are so simple I can't believe I did not think of them on my own! Hence, the reason and inspiration for this post, to share random housecleaning ideas that will hopefully lighten your load, and if you have any ideas to share, please post them as a comment!

The very first and foremost rule of housecleaning, or for that matter, of cleaning anything, is to clean top to bottom! Have you ever spent ample time cleaning your bathroom only to look up at your light fixture to realize that dust and cob webs have settled there? Unless you are very careful at removing them, you will have to clean your sink and vanity, and maybe the floor, all over again! Ahhhhhhhhhh! Don't let this happen to you! Always look up first, and work your way down. If you forget, I recommend skipping the light fixture, and dealing with the dust and cob webs later!

When cleaning top to bottom, the nifty hand sweeper is your friend! Use it to sweep the tops of window casings, and then the blinds, and then the top of the bottom window, and then the window seal! If you have panes on the outsides of your windows then the hand sweeper works great to loosen the dust in those tiny little corners! If you need to follow up with a towel and some cleaner, then at least the job will have been simplified for you. The hand sweeper is also handy when cleaning out kitchen cabinets. If you do a spring cleaning, or if you are moving out/into a house, use the hand sweeper first to get rid of the loose stuff, then go back with a towel and some cleaner.

For dirty baseboards, the same method makes for a more efficient clean, but you may want to use a full size broom, so you don't have to get down on all fours, I mean threes, since one hand would be holding the sweeper! Sweep away the loose stuff, (or use the bristle attachment of your vacuum) and you may be surprised that you suddenly have white baseboards again! Or, you may discover the few areas that need a damp cleaning towel, but at least you won't have spent hours on the floor hand scrubbing what was only some loose dust! If your baseboards are bad, and do require ample time on the floor, your job will still be easier if you remove the loose stuff first with a broom.

Vacuum those air vents with the bristle attachment! Don't spend hours scrubbing them! You probably don't need to! Again, if you do, get the loose stuff first with the vacuum, or a broom, but a vacuum is preferred. If some scrubbing is required, take the whole vent off and place it in your bath tub or shower, or outside on the drive way if it's a nice day, and douse it with vinegar or any all purpose cleaner, or both! Let it sit for a few minutes, and then rinse. Only spend time scrubbing what may still be left!

I learned this one just a couple of weeks ago: Microfiber is the key to a streak free wood floor! I didn't want to use microfiber; it's a synthetic material and it feels yucky on my dry hands! But it is great for wood or laminate flooring. I learned this from one of my wonderful clients, thank you:)

About once a week, fill up the kitchen sink with soapy water and throw your stove and oven knobs in to soak. While they soak, you can clean the panel really well and easily without them in the way. Dry the knobs with a towel and pop them back on. This will keep your neato stove looking new!

For those of you who have yet to obtain a self cleaning oven - vinegar, baking soda, a scrubby, and a plastic spatula will do the job! Douse the oven with vinegar, turn it on to 350 for ten minutes, then douse with vinegar and baking soda while it is still warm and scrape the gunk away! You may need to apply some elbow grease with your scrubby, but with this method, hopefully not much! I recently learned from another great client, that the microwave oven can be cleaned in the same way. If you forget to clean it right after the spillage of chili beans, and the glop of mess has a chance to harden, then cover it with a wet towel, and turn the microwave on for a few minutes. Hopefully you will then be able to wipe away the mess with relative ease!

If you are so lucky to own a jacuzzi tub, and if you are luckier yet to ever use it, here is how to clean out the jets: fill up the tub with water and add a couple cups of vinegar while the jets are running. If they have become moldy at all, you may have to get a toothbrush out to clean around the outsides of them, but the vinegar will keep them clear and functioning well. Some of my clients use dish washing machine soap or tablets. This method will also help clean the whole tub at the same time!

Gosh, I know there are many more! I will leave room for some of you to add to my list, I'm excited to possibly come across some new ones! But before I go, just a few more tips to maintain cleanliness in the first place!

- Spend some money on the paint you use on the inside of your house if you at all can! the nice the paint, the easier to wipe off dirt and smudges! The finish also has something to do with it. I know matte is prettier, but glossy is easier! Decide which of the two you can live with - dirt or gloss?

- If you have a tiled shower, you will either have to use a lot of bleach (gaspppp!!!!) or you will have to dry it completely after almost every shower! I do not prefer either of these ideas, so I will never have a tile shower, but if you do, you must come to terms with one of these two choices! Unfortunately, if you resolve to using bleach on a regular basis, you may still end up with mold. My beloved vinegar is a mold deterrent, but I am not sure how good it is at preventing it. Maybe one of you could experiment for me by spraying your shower down ever couple days? Hmmmmmm. I'm afraid that drying the shower every time you use it is the only guaranteed way to keep mold at bay. If you buy a squeegee the job won't be quite so difficult. There is a third aspect to this issue that I must mention. Re-sealing your grout every six months or so would do a lot to keep the mold and dirt from settling into the porous crevices of grout. Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezzzz! I'll never have a tile shower!

- Speaking of squeegees . . . if your shower has a door, then you need one! I used to be so annoyed when I visited my mum's house, because she was always on every ones case about drying the shower door with the squeegee she had hanging inside of it to keep it nice, but she was right to do so! Keeping the water off it keeps it from getting hard water spots, which are not easy to remove. It also removes soapy substances which would later turn to soap scum, aaannnnnddd - DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN - it keeps mold away! Leaving your shower door open for a while after you shower will help the track and the hinges dry out without molding as well.

A special, oh so special note from me as a housekeeper, and on behalf of all housekeepers everywhere!

Tile showers and shower doors are my own personal cryptonite! The shower squeegee is the only real anecdote! When you utilize the potential of the shower squeegee, you make the world of the housekeeper that much brighter and bearable!!!

- Have your air ducts cleaned regularly to keep the dust at a minimum. (and don't forget to replace your air filters every few months!)

- Remember to check the filters on your vacuum cleaner to maintain it's efficiency.

Thanks for reading - now it's your turn to add some ideas!

Vinegar Does the Job!

I have a friend who told me that she would love to have me clean her house, but that she wants the "toxic" stuff, to make sure the germs are kept to a minimum. I understand. Bleach kills germs. It also kills color, if you accidentally get it somewhere it's not supposed to be, and it will burn your skin if you get it on you without washing it off immediately. If you have a big job to conquer, the fumes from breathing it are quite irritating. The worst thing about bleach is that it's not so good as a cleaner! Basically, all it does is kill germs.

On the other hand - Vinegar kills germs and cleans wonderfully! I came across a nifty science project that set out to prove the germ killing power of vinegar. In other research, I discovered that if you use hydrogen peroxide hand in hand with vinegar, that the results are almost as good as using bleach, and some claim, maybe better! Apparently, it is not a good idea to mix and store the two elements together. If you want to clean green, but are really concerned with germs, use two spray bottles, one for each ingredient. Spray one right after the other to get optimal germ killing results! This method is a little more work, but really - there are only a few instances most would want to use this kind of disinfectant anyway: toilets, cutting boards, and maybe on door knobs and telephones when someone in the house is sick.

I must share some personal opinion on this matter, after all, I successfully completed a very difficult college microbiology class a few years ago . . . consequently, I have pondered the effects of germs on our lives a little more than I would have liked to! I spent months surrounded by very dangerous bacteria and viruses, even spilling a vile on my desk and lab coat at one time, (what was it, uhh, e. coli, maybe staph ~ hee hee). I have learned first hand that human beings are very resistant to "germs"! Unless one's immune system is compromised by a disease or some sort of very extreme stress, toilet goobers and eggs over-easy (yum!) aren't going to hurt anybody! Before I became a *professional* housekeeper, I rarely even used cleaners to clean my house! I used water and sometimes plain ole' soap. About once ever four to six months or so, I would buy some comet to clean the toilet really good, and maybe the shower, but I have since seen the light!

Vinegar, by itself, is plenty efficient at zapping germs and cleaning your house. It can be used for almost everything too! Here's a list:

GLASS!!! It is the best to clean glass and get a streak free shine!

Chrome and brass fixtures - gets 'em shiny!

Hard water build up - if your faucets are yuck and/or the water tray in your fridge has become grimy, soak in vinegar for a few minutes to an hour, depending on how bad the case is! For faucets, soak a towel in straight or diluted vinegar and wrap them for a few minutes to an hour.

Floors - any floors. Vinyl, Tile, Wood, spot cleaning for carpets

Showers and shower doors - gets the water spots off, use a straight solution for tough jobs! Use baking soda with it for a mild abrasive and boosting power!

Toilets

Greasy stoves!!! - and stinky microwaves become SHINY again!

Grimy Ovens!!! - use with baking soda. Turn the oven on for a few minutes at 350 or so after you have doused it with vinegar, then wipe, scour, plastic spatula it clean!!! (commercial oven cleaners are horrible!!!)

Dusting - I even use vinegar to dust by spraying just a small bit on my towel, it doesn't have the junk in it that makes a foggy build up on your furniture, and I don't have to switch cleaners when I get to the glass furniture, or the combination glass/wood furniture.

When diluting vinegar with water, I say, use what works! For the toughest jobs you may want to use it straight, but be warned, it is strong and will burn your eyes if you get too close to the mist. It won't damage your eyes, again, I figured this out for myself. (someday I will tell you the story of when I thought I grabbed my water bottle but actually grabbed the vinegar!) A quarter of vinegar to water is a pretty good solution.

I just realized that earlier in this blog I used the words: - toilet goobers & yum - in the same sentence! I can't help but wonder what that says about me . . .

Ditch The Hesitation and Hire A Housekeeper

Have you ever thought about hiring a housekeeper but decided against it because you felt like you should be able to keep up with household chores yourself? Or maybe you determined it was a bad way to spend your money? Maybe you have kids who are old enough to help out and you want to teach them the value of taking care of a home. Whatever your reasons for thinking about hiring a housekeeper, and then not doing so, I'm here to persuade you of the reasons to hire one after all.

I cannot tell you how many times I have been called on (reluctantly) to (possibly) clean a house by someone who cannot believe they have resorted to calling me in the first place! The guilt of not being able to keep up is unbearable, and worsened by the fact that they are going to spend money from the family budget to hire me. But nonetheless, they call me "just to see about it." So after arriving at their houses and listening to the guilt trips they inflict on themselves, I've come up with a few little anecdotal thoughts.

One of the things I love about my job is that I get to meet all sorts of wonderful and interesting people. I meet people on a regular basis who are talented, creative, innovative, and just plain important because of what they do and contribute to society. I am happy to serve people that fit this description, and I hope that what I do allows them to be even better at what they do. Why spend valuable time doing mundane chores when your time is better spent fulfilling your purpose for this time and place? And why spend time cleaning when you might need to rest from being so awesome at your purpose in life?

Let's talk about value. The actual price tag of hiring a housekeeper. Even if I can get you to agree that you have better things to do other than clean, you may still feel guilty about spending the money. When you pay someone to clean - you don't just get a clean house! You get a stronger immune system because your stress level is down a couple notches. A stronger immune system can save you money because you will not have to spend as much on cold medication or doctor visits (or other means of reducing stress, wink). You may even save money on food. You know how it is. If you have to spend the day cleaning, the last thing you want to do is make dinner! So you go out to eat, or you order pizza, which is OK if that's the plan, but in many cases, it isn't. When you come home to a nicely cleaned kitchen, it is more likely that you will feel energized to go ahead and cook a meal at home! Also, a clutter free,  clean and organized atmosphere is energizing! It frees your mind to happily think of "what's next!" Rather than think, "oh no, what's next?"  What price tag would you put on energy? On clarity of mind?  

I once had t-shirts made for my business that said, "Skip the therapist and hire a housekeeper."

Funny, huh? Well I'm only half joking! I wonder how many marriages my service has saved? Ha ha.

What will it take for you to be more you-ey and less swept away? Maybe you don't need my services, maybe you need a gardener or lawn service, or maybe you need a regular babysitter or day care provider, or a financial planner. The possibility exists that you don't hate housework you just need to invest in a nice vacuum cleaner or upgrade your washer and dryer.  We don't always realize the full value that may come from investing in these things and areas of our lives, but we need to. Life is short and it would be a shame to let it pass us by.

This is true: as a housekeeper, I really care about the homes I care for and the people that live in them. Yes I care about paying my bills and having money left over for fun stuff, but I truly care about the people I serve and look forward to the opportunity to prove it by providing personable and thoughtful service. It gives me purpose and fulfilment as a house cleaner when I know that I'm helping others be valuable in this world. 

Hopefully I have made you laugh and think and smile, and hopefully you will be you and our community will be better for it.

From my heart to yours . . .

Jen

"Housekeeping" versus "Housecleaning"

I learned a lot about keeping a house from my Mema (aka: Grandma). I say "keeping" a house, instead of "cleaning" a house, because she made it a point to differentiate the two. My Mema used to lecture me often that if I would learn to "keep" a house, then I wouldn't have to clean very often. Brilliant she was! I wonder if she could sense that I was becoming a true messy, because I think she targeted me above the other grand kids! Ahhhhhhhh, I can hear the gasps already as I admit such a horrible sin: I - Jen, THE housekeeper of Jen's Housekeeping, am a messy. But don't worry! I am also a mean - green - cleaning - machine! Let me explain:

Even though I may let stacks of papers pile up in various places of my house - I can't stand to let my shower get moldy! Even though I may leave my "stuff" all over the house because I am going to do something with it soon - the kitchen floor must be clean. I think you probably understand. There are a lot of us out there. The problem with messy is that often times it becomes hard to clean unless a ridiculous amount of time is spent putting "stuff" away! Luckily, I can always get to the toilet and the shower - no paper stacks there - without dealing with the stuff, but dusting, vacuuming, and other things become impossible. Also, when there is stuff everywhere, it just gives the impression of "dirty"! Unfortunately, the two go hand in hand, no matter how you look at it!

My Mema must have realized that I was pretty good at cleaning, but that I was in trouble when it came to maintaining order, so she tried to explain to me the concept of keeping a house, versus cleaning a house. I suppose she got through to me - because over the years I have fought my tendency to make a mess, losing the battle most of the time, but winning just enough to know that because of her, I just may have it in me! The really weird thing is - or maybe I should say - the providential thing is - when I started this business I actually called it: Jen's Housecleaning, but I couldn't get an email with the same name, so I was forced, FORCED, to change my name to: Jen's Housekeeping! I thought of her the very instant that I was able to open an email with the word - keeping - rather than - cleaning! Of course! It was meant to be me and my house and my business, and it was meant for me to carry on to others what I learned from her.

I am so glad to have my web site up and running, and I am so glad to have this opportunity to blog my thoughts and ideas for you. When I am at your house, technically I am cleaning, and only a bit of what I do helps to keep the order. But I hope that my cleaning will make it easier for you - oh keeper of the house - to do your job after I leave. Through my web site and this blog, hopefully you will glean the encouragement and knowledge necessary to help you become the keeper that my Mema knows you can be! If you already are a skilled keeper of your home - I would love to hear about your strategy so that I can share all the handy tips possible with my readers.

Before I wrap this one up, I just want to assure you all that I am right there with you on this one. I long to keep not only my house, but my sanity, my peace of mind, and my dignity! In a few months, we won't care who knocks on our doors unexpectedly . . . no way! Door wide open and nothing to hide!

Come back soon - we here at Jen's Housekeeping have just begun!