A-1 Cleaning Service, LLC.

Get The Job Done With A-1 <><

Tag: Cleaning Tips

  • Cleaning for the Busy Professional

    Cleaning for the Busy Professional

    Cleaning for the busy professionalIf you are starting tireless that your cleaning process is taking up a lot of time in your life, then it may well be the case that you are actually having issues with how much free time you have in the first place. As your job gets more and more stressful, there will be things that you need to change about the rest of your life in order that it does not become totally overrun by work and chores. Whilst many feel like they should be able to have a regular balance between work and the home, you will often find that work starts to encroach in a way that is not so appealing, and the only time that you feel that you have to sacrifice is your family and social time. This is some of the most important hours of your life however, so it is essential that you find a way of reducing the amount that you lose to working, and try to find time elsewhere. One way of doing this is to get out of the cycle of letting the housework take forever, and there are two ways in which you can do this.

    First off, you could get a cleaner. This is a fairly simple answer that many professionals go for to ensure that they are not being forced to work when they get home after a long day at the office. There is little better relaxing than coming home to a clean and tidy home, so it is certainly a good idea to look in to this. Besides that, a cleaner often has a good supply of commercial cleaning products and knows exactly the tasks to be done—professionals often possess the know-how of these things. Of course, you may have to point out the areas of the house and let them know what to clean, but they will surely find a good idea to go about the work.

    Be sure of the hours that you need before you call anyone. Remember to ask your friends and family if they have a cleaner that they can recommend before you even start looking. Have a think about the sort of budget that you are willing to spend on cleaning, and look in to how well the cleaners get paid by the various agencies that you are looking at using. There is a lot to be said for having a loyal and devoted cleaner, who will ensure that you are always looked after, and they can become like a member of the family if you cultivate the relationship carefully, so choose wisely!

    You could also try streamlining your own cleaning process, so that it does not get in the way of your life. This process is not a particularly easy one, but if you were to clean more often, and in a less block like way, then you may well be in for a revelation in terms of how well you can get your place cleaned without having to allow the process to take up much of your time. By separating the tasks that contribute to the whole house clean, you can get them done within five or ten minutes, and this of course means that you are in a position where you can slot such jobs in amongst other larger things in your life. For instance, if you are waiting for the kettle to boil for your coffee in the morning, you can wipe down the kitchen, or if you are waiting for your favorite TV program to start in the evening, you could vacuum the living room! If you want, combining this way of doing things with a less regular cleaning service would make everything a lot easier, without the expense of a cleaner coming every week or more often.

    http://www.cleanerscarpetcleaning.com/kensington-carpet-cleaners/W8-floor-cleaning-kensington.html

  • Guest Blog: Teaching Children to Clean

    Teaching Children to Clean

    So many times parents wait to give chores to their children when they are much older. The best way to train your children to clean house is to start from the time they learn to walk. And even before they can walk you can talk to them about the work you are doing and what is the best way to get it done. Many studies show that children can learn to read or learn a foreign language in their infancy. It is never too early to start teaching them how to clean house as well!

    I know that when I was very small my own mother would sit me near her as she was cooking or baking in the kitchen and she shared each step with me. She would also take all of us from room to room with her as she cleaned and she talked about everything she was doing. Now even though I do not recall these conversations as they took place at the time I know that I these experiences are stored in my mind. I have always known, almost instinctively, the best way to dust furniture, bake a cake, to clean a tub, etc.

    Starting from the time your child can walk you can find chores that they can do. Picking up their own toys and putting them back into the toy box for example. Putting away their own clothes in the dresser or helping you to carry a few dirty clothes to the laundry room. These are things that babies can easily achieve. If you wait until they get older and more responsible, they will most likely at this point rebel against the idea of cleaning. Starting them out early making it just another natural part of life (and it is) will give them the skills they need in their adult years. It will also ensure that you as the parents will not have the entire responsibility of cleaning the home. I personally know families with teenagers and adult children that take no responsibility for the home and the parents are working and have the entire responsibility for the home as well. This should never be the case, it is not fair, but if you wait to train your children when you think they are old enough then you may find yourself in the same situation.

    There are some really clever charts I have seen in several different posts lately about age appropriate chores for children. You could search the internet for these charts or just sit down and write down all the chores that need to be done in the house from the smallest on up. Write down your child’s or children’s names and start writing age appropriate chores under their names. Yes, you will need to spend a little more time in the beginning supervising and teaching but it will be well worth your time when you witness the results. Start them off small and work your way up to bigger and bigger challenges as they age. In the beginning you can work side by side with the children to train them and encourage them but as they advance in skill they can be left to work on their own.

    Some people say that they have charts with stars and rewards for chores. Some children get allowances if they do their chores. Even though I do believe in giving children allowances I have never believed in giving it to them for doing their chores. I feel like everyone who lives in the home should be responsible for it and that their reward is a clean and nurturing environment. In my opinion the allowance should not be for doing the chores but instead for personal responsibility for their lives. Not just doing their chores but doing them with a good attitude. Being responsible for their homework and doing their best in school (which of course is different for each individual). One child may be an A student while the other brings home a B in a few subjects but you know they are doing their best.

    And children should not just be taught to do their chores. They should also be taught to see a need and meet it. How many times have we all seen a child or even an adult for that matter walk right over something that needs to be picked up and put away or thrown away? Or you may be carrying in a lot of groceries and no one offers to help. This type of instruction is so very important for children to get early in life. We are only hurting our children when we do not give them proper training in thinking of others and noticing small things that need to be done and doing them. When they enter the workforce they will have a hard time adapting to being a team member and working with others if they do not receive the proper training at home.

    Cleanliness is a big part of life and something that can not be ignored. As parents we need to look at it for what it is, a life skill, something that our children need to become successful independent adults. We only make it easier for them by starting them out from the beginning. Chores are not a punishment but a very important part of life.

    Rachael Cherry is a wife, mother, and writer who is passionate about helping connect families in need with high quality caregivers. She has taken that passion and put it to work through NannyPro, a respected online nanny referral service. Learn more by visiting @NannyPro on Twitter.

  • Guest Post: Invaluable Tools for Cleaning Up After Children

    Invaluable Tools for Cleaning Up After Children

    1297273471Cleaning up after your kids can feel like a full-time job. That’s because most often, especially when parenting two or more, it is. The good news is with the right tools on hand you can significantly cut the cleaning time and even get the kids to help out with basic household clean up.

    1. Baby Wipes – Keep a container on hand in every room in the house, in the diaper bag, and in the car for easily clean up. Clean faces, sticky hands in surfaces with a single swipe. Since they are safe enough for baby’s bottom, as your kids grow they can grow in their ability to help clean up little messes independently.

    2. Hand Sanitizer – While washing yours and your little ones hands with soap and water is always the best defense for spreading germs, when a sink just isn’t available, opt for hand sanitizer instead. Keep a small bottle on your key chain, in your diaper bag and in your car for easy access. Monitor the kids carefully when using it so you can be sure that they rub their hands together properly and let their hands dry.

    3. Bucketless Mops – Mops designed with reusable containers attached to them make laminate floor clean up a cinch.  Simply squeeze the trigger to spray your floor with the cleaning material of your choice and you can quickly mop up nearly any mess. Once the map pads are nice and gritty, remove and throw it in the washing machine. For a deeper clean opt for a steam mop that kills bacteria without the use of chemicals.

    4. Handheld Vacuums – There is hardly a thing handier then a handheld vac. From cleaning leaves and dried mud up from the entry way to clearing crumbs off the countertop, floor, and table, handheld vacs allow you to clean up the mess without making a bigger mess  as you try to carry crumbs over to the trash can. Added bonus? The kids love to use it.

    5. Steam Vac-   At one point or another, your child’s bodily fluids are going to hit the floor, literally. Whether it’s a potty training mishap or a case of the stomach flu, forget calling the carpet cleaning professionals and clean up quickly – even in the middle of the night – with your very own steam vac. Having one on hand will save you time, money and effort.

    Cleaning up messes is part of life. Make this part of life a little easier to keep up with by having the tools on hand that can save you time and energy as you tackle your children’s messes both big and small.

    With over 20 years of experience in the nanny world as an award-winning nanny, agency director, and parenting author, Michelle LaRowe is considered a leading industry expert. A mom herself, she loves to educate parents and nannies on the importance of quality in-home childcare.

  • Make Your Floors Shine With These Hardwood Cleaning Tips

    Make Your Floors Shine With These Hardwood Cleaning Tips

    Hardwood Cleaning Tips to Make Your Floors Shine

    Hardwood Floor Cleaning ArcataHardwood cleaning can be difficult, when a nice sheen on your hardwood floors is what you are aiming for, it can sometimes feel impossible.

    br>
    This feels especially applicable when the ‘tried and true’ methods either leave you with a layer of ammonia water drying on the floor or force you to go back over the cleaned floor with a dry rag.

    Now while this will get your floors clean, it might not always restore the glossy surface that shows off the beautiful grain of your floor, thereby leading you to consider getting the entire flooring replaced and reinstalled with the help of Shadow Wood Flooring (https://www.shadowwoodflooring.com/).
    We definitely do not want that to happen to you! Therefore, want to use a product that not only cleans off the surface of the floor but restores the glossy look of the original varnish.

    If you have floor mats over your hardwood, then you will want to get those clean too as you do not want to put dirty mats back over a newly cleaned and varnished floor. So checking out links like https://serp.co/best/floor-mat-cleaner/ as well as other similar websites for these products, can help you get what you need so your floors are always looking great.

    My preferred cleaner that I use on the job is Bruce Hardwood & Laminate Floor Cleaner, although some people might not like using it because of the perceived harm of chemicals such as 2-Propanol, or Ethylene Glycol Monobutyl Ether. Well I’m here to tell you these complicated chemicals aren’t nearly as bad as you would think! For starters, this ‘2-Propanol‘ is really just everyday Isopropyl alcohol, and in hardwood cleaning applications, this is extremely useful (and safe) in the dissolving of oils, gums, and resins that have been deposited onto your floor from normal everyday use. Ethylene Glycol Monobutyl Ether, whose proper chemical name is simply 2-Butoxyethanol, is also not nearly as hazardous as the name sounds, as it is used in such applications as paints, inks, leather protectors, oil dispersants, degreasers, liquid soaps, cosmetics, lacquers and varnishes. The combination of the 2-Propanol and 2-Butoxyethanol in Bruce Floor Cleaner allows us to not only strip the oils and resins off the surface of the floor (with the 2-Propanol), but restore a nice shine to the floor as if you had applied a new layer of varnish (with the 2-Butoxyethanol).

    Now, Bruce is not the only brand of floor cleaner that uses these two chemicals, and those are not the only two chemicals that will give us the desired results, but it is one that is widely available, and the one that I use out on the job cleaning houses. On floors sealed with varnish, it’s possible to use a floor-cleaning machine like those from Intelligent Design Manufacturing to apply the solution, which also has the benefit of drying, buffing and polishing the floor too. On smaller jobs, however, I use a 5 step method in hardwood cleaning, repeating each step as necessary before moving onto the next:

    1. Sweep the floor with a regular broom to get the bigger debris off the surface.
    2. Re-sweep the floor, focusing most of your time on the cracks between floorboards and the edges around the baseboards. At this point: TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF! This keeps you from tracking dirt and debris back across the floor.
    3. Wipe entire floor with dry cloth, or use a microfiber dust mop to get the fine particulate matter off the wood surface
    4. Spray a small amount of floor (about 5 feet wide and 2 feet deep from where I stand) with Bruce Hardwood & Laminate Floor Cleaner or similar hardwood cleaning solution
    5. Wipe with a microfiber or cloth mop (NOT a ‘wet mop’) WITH THE GRAIN OF THE FLOOR, always moving your body backward, so you never step on the newly wiped areas. This way even if there are streaks on the floor when it dries, it will only blend in with the grain of the floor, and there will be no foot prints anywhere on the floor!

    After using your new technique for hardwood cleaning, and before walking on, or using the floor, you will want to wait for it to dry (only 10-15 minutes, as there is very little liquid on the floor) at which point the floor will still be quite slick, but dry to the touch. At this point if you turn the lights on in the room and get down near the floor you can see the glossy finish that you just restored, and check for areas that you either missed the first time around or areas that need extra attention.

    Hardwood cleaning can be difficult when you do not have a plan, but with these steps your floors will retain their shine and be less prone to scratches! With only a few minutes of hardwood cleaning a week, your floors will remind you that a beautiful home starts from the baseboards up.

    Also see http://www.scribd.com/doc/200630232/Hardwood-Floor-Cleaning-Tips-From-a1clean-net-Blog

  • Guest Blog: Cleaning Tips to Reduce Smells

    Reduce Smells With These Simple Cleaning Tips

    smelly

     

    Living in a stinky home is not pleasant. Not only can grime buildup stink, but it can also cause breathing problems and even worse longer lasting health problems. However traditional cleaning chemicals can cause breathing problems as well. What can you do? Try to clean green with these simple tips:

    1. Dishwasher smelling foul? Sprinkle in a handful of baking soda before your next load or between loads.
    2. Remove the musty smell from sponges and loofas by soaking them overnight in four tablespoons of baking soda to one quart of warm water. Let them dry in the sun and they have new life!
    3. Stave off bad smells in your refrigerator and freezer by leaving an open box of baking soda in your refrigerator all the time. Swap it out every month for optimum scent control.
    4. Keep your trash can or recycling bin fresh smelling by sprinkling in a dash of baking soda every time you empty it. Also works great on big outdoor trash cans and helps keep the flies away!
    5. Keep your closets from smelling musty and giving your clothes the same smell. Leave a container of baking soda in the corner of your closet and change out every few months to keep your clothes smelling fresh. Add a drop or two of essential oils for an even better scent.
    6. Stinky gym bags? Sprinkle in a dash of baking soda to drive away smells.
    7. Clean out ashtrays and remove the lingering smoke smell by scrubbing with baking soda.
    8. Get the stink and stain out of plastic containers and lunch boxes with vinegar. Wipe with undiluted vinegar and let sit overnight. For tough stains let the container soak in a half and half solution overnight.
    9. Clean and deodorize the oven with vinegar. Soak the oven with undiluted vinegar and let it sit for several hours or overnight. Then rinse well. For tough stains you can scrub them with baking soda.

    Using baking soda and vinegar to clean can be a great way to cut through the grime and stink without further aggravating the problem. Try some of these easy cleaning tips in your home and see if you can breathe easier.

    Author Bio:

    This post is contributed by Christine Maddox. Currently she is pursuing her Master’s degree from University of Texas as well as blogging for www.4nannies.com. She loves to write anything related to parenting, kids, nanny care etc. She can be reached via email at: christine.4nannies @ gmail.com.

     

  • Hot Spots for Dirty Carpets

    Hot Spots for Dirty Carpets

    If you have carpets in your home then you know there are certain areas that get dirtier than others. These frequently trafficked areas are often the sites of big stains and just an overall dirty look. You can prevent stains in these areas through various methods, mostly through regular carpet cleaning. So, if you’ve just bought a new vacuum cleaner after reading some reviews on a website like https://www.cleanthatfloor.com/, here are some helpful tips to help with your cleaning routine:

    1. Entrances – Your doorways are often the site of many stains. Mud, snow, leaves and so on are easy to drag in on dirty shoes. You can prevent these stains in various ways. One way is to insist on the removal of shoes when entering the home. Another way is to add welcome mats to cut down on some of the stains. You can also have a tiled or wooden entryway to prevent carpet stains in that area. Yet another way to prevent stains is to lay down carpet protection or a rug in those high traffic areas. All these ways can help cut down on the dirt that is brought into your home.
    2. Hallways – Hallways are often a high traffic area, especially in the center. Fight the wear and staining by laying down a long, thin rug or carpet protector.
    3. Stairs – Stairs are another high traffic area. You can cut down on stains on the stairs by avoiding carpet altogether or getting a carpet protector for that area. Often times there are also many spills on the stairs. Prevent food or drinks from being transported up stairs to avoid these stains. Vacuum carpets on stairs frequently to cit down on wear.
    4. Dining – The last place that gets a lot of stains is the dining area. Having your table on top of carpet is a recipe for spilled foods and drinks. Not only this but you can compliment a dirty carpet with dirty upholstery to create a dining room of mess and mayhem! Some carpet cleaning services such as carpet cleaning Hagerstown area can specialize in carpets and upholstery to keep your whole room clean from spills and splatters. However you might also have a large rug under the table. Many carpet cleaning services can clean these too! Oriental rugs look great and prevent the carpet from acquiring stains, however, you will then need to get the rug cleaned. Luckily, there are people like the Sunny Isles Beach Oriental Rug Pros at hand offering their services to get Oriental rugs looking as good as new. Tablecloths also help to prevent drips off of the corners of tables onto carpets.

    As you can see, although there are many areas that can get stained there are also many ways to prevent these stains and wear from occurring. Use wisdom on how to best protect and clean your carpets and they should last you a long time.

    Author Bio:
    This post is contributed by Linda Bailey from housekeeping.org. She is a Texas-based writer who loves to write on the topics of housekeeping, green living, home décor, and more. She welcomes your comments which can be sent to b.lindahousekeeping @ gmail.com.

Online Booking