Want To Make Your Home Ready For Holiday Guests? Use These 5 Pro Tips!

Many annual holiday traditions are fun and enjoyable, like swapping presents. However, some of them are not, such as cleaning up before having holiday guests. Nearly everyone finds holiday cleaning to be stressful, and a few surveys even show that half of all Americans find this more stressful than anything else about the holidays, including buying gifts, decorating, and travel. In fact, the burden of chores around the home can spoil all the fun. Yet, this need not be the case. Keep reading to learn 5 useful holiday cleaning tips that will help you relax and enjoy the season.

Why Is Holiday Cleaning A Hassle Anyway?

Holiday parties and gatherings can be quite a bit of fun. However, the messes left behind, with all the spills, tinsel, and food aren’t always so enjoyable. On top of being stressful, holiday cleaning is something that can wear down your health. As a matter of fact, several studies seems to indicated that a clean home is better for your heart health. The following is an expert checklist of cleaning tasks you can use:

1) Start With Your Entryway:

This is typically the first part of your home that guests are going to see, and you already know how far first impressions go. Entryways unfortunately have an additional layer of grime that other parts of your home don’t due to debris and mud that gets tracked in from outside. Use some soap and water so you can scrub the floors here. Make sure you take any doormats outside to shake off the dirt. Remember to clean your door and doorknob before anyone shows up.

2) Watch The Kitchen:

Holiday gatherings typically mean a lot of food and drink. Of course, guests are going to spend a bunch of their time interacting in the kitchen or just gathering around it. An emphasis of kitchen cleaning will take you a long way towards a clean home. Boiling water is very useful in cleaning out drains. Your garbage disposal might be a secret hiding place of some funky smells. Drop a few pieces of lemon in and then activate your garbage disposal so you get a fresh scent down there.

3) Remember You Have A Guest Bedroom:

If your home is like many others, your guest bedroom doesn’t get used most of the year. Even when the room is rather neat and tidy, it’s good to refresh it when it’s been dormant for a while. Strip off the sheets before washing them in warm water. It only takes a bit of vinegar to improve the freshness. Suck up any dust off the mattress and then also vacuum underneath pieces of furniture that have been sitting around a while.

4) Don’t Neglect The Bathroom:

If you truly want to fight odors and germs in a bathroom, then one quick once-over isn’t going to be enough. Think about using lemon juice to deal with hard-water stains as a means of freshening up the whole room. If you need to deal with soap scum, then mix up ammonia, water, and baking soda. Let that sit in place for several minutes before you wipe away the mess.

5) Put A Wrap On It:

If you want to avoid a lot of the holiday headache, then work in short breaks while the festivities are still ongoing so you can clean up messes and wrapping paper. When the time comes to put away the Christmas lights, think getting some cardboard pieces you can wrap them around. That will avoid those annoying tangles the following year. Contact your local waste management service to see when tree pickup times are. That’s how you can avoid leaving a tree laying around. You can also do this to avoid having your Christmas tree staying in the house until it’s spring.

Cleaning After The Holidays

These 5 holiday cleaning tips should help you enjoy a fresh and welcoming home during the winter season. However, you deserve a clean home every month of the year. If you’d like to learn how Immaculate Clean can help you keep your house clean throughout the entire year, request a quote today or give them a call at (410) 549-0727 to avail house cleaning services in Eldersburg MD.

Time for Change

When we change the calendar at the end of this month, we’ll not only be changing over to a new year—we’ll be entering a new decade. I, for one, am pretty psyched about this new decade. For one thing, I’m looking forward to being able to call it “the 20s.” I have a son who was born in the year 2000. And while it’s kind of cool that he’ll never forget how old he is, because the year always equals his age—in 2021, he’ll be 21; in 2099, he’ll be 99—he can’t look back on the first two decades of his life and encapsulate either one of them in a word. I mean, I can say “I love 80s music,” but what is the equivalent phrase for music from 2010-2019? I went to elementary school in the 70s; what’s he supposed to say? “I was in middle school in the early two-tens.” Yuck. Moving into a new decade offers us more than brevity of phrasing… It is a good excuse to take some time out to reflect on the past 10 years—the good and the bad; the things we’ve accomplished, and the dreams that remain unfulfilled… And while most people do make at least one new year’s resolution every year, what if we were to make a new DECADE’s resolution on January 1? I’m not sure yet exactly what that would look like for me, but I guess it starts with that age-old interview question: Where do you see yourself in 10 years? If it’s somewhere completely different than where you are now, the next question should be: What has to change in order for you to get there? As I was contemplating this, I came up with a deep, “life coachy” kind of conclusion: If you set a big goal for the next decade, you can intentionally make small new year’s resolutions each year that move you closer to that goal. So, if I’m thinking that 10 years from now I want to be working in a new career, I could resolve this year to take a course or two to start learning about a new field. If my goal is to be healthy and active in 10 years, I could resolve to start running or take up yoga this year. If my goal is to downsize to an empty-nester condo by 2020, perhaps my new year’s resolution this year would be to start purging, one room at a time. The point is, if we want to achieve a big change, we have to move toward it with intention, one small step at a time. Okay, I get that this is not an original idea; every motivational speaker or self-help author says some version of this at some point. So I don’t know why it took me almost 5 decades to really figure this out. But until this point, I’ve chosen my new year’s resolutions pretty haphazardly, and I’ve rarely been able to stick to them. Resolutions are hard because they involve change—and I have never been very good about embracing change. It takes me a long time to warm up to new ways of doing things. But I think as I’m getting older, I’m getting both wiser and bolder. Looking back over the past decade, I can see clearly that I have made a lot of positive changes in my life, and most of them happened one baby step at a time. I’ve learned to recognize when something needs to change, and I’ve learned to take action rather than waiting on change to happen on its own. Now that I understand this, I’m excited to see where the 20s take me as I move toward 2030 with real intention! ————— As you start to contemplate the parts of your life you’d like to change, think about your current cleaning service. Are you happy with the job they are doing? Immaculate Clean offers consistent, predictable, friendly, respectful service. If you have been feeling frustrated because you aren’t receiving this from your current provider, then maybe 2020 is the time to make a change. Give Immaculate Clean a try and be sure to inquire about any current savings offers. As 2019 draws to an end, Immaculate is offering $90 off a Top to Bottom Deluxe service plan with a recurring service commitment.  This offer won’t last forever (expires 1/31/20) so don’t delay, call today 410-549-0727 and let Immaculate Clean make your busy life easier.  They’re your neighbor and they’ll treat you as such!

How Messy Is Your Car Right Now?

A couple months ago, our family was down one car for a few days and I had to “borrow” “my son’s car.” (I use both terms loosely, because, hello—whose name do you think is on the title to that car? Hint: not my son’s.) After my son “graciously” handed over the keys, I opened the driver’s door, ready to hop in and head off to a meeting. Fortunately, I was running early that day, because before I could even step into the car, I had to clear a path. The kid’s car was a pigsty. It smelled like a cross between B.O. and old ketchup, there was some sticky substance smeared on the steering wheel, and the front and back seats were piled high with everything you could imagine: water bottles, fast food bags, clothing, basketballs, golf shoes… I knew I couldn’t stand to drive around in that filth all day, so I grabbed a trash can and a shovel and proceeded to scoop out all of the junk, just to make the vehicle safe to sit and breathe in once again. As appalled as I was at the condition of the kid’s car, I realized I really had to take some of the blame. When it came to keeping a car clean and clutter-free, I had been a horrible role model throughout most of my sons’ childhood. I’m not alone. I’m actually surprised that my friends who have the neatest houses are often the same friends who have to apologize for the state of their car if I happen to ride somewhere with them. It’s understandable when the kids are really little. When you have to unbuckle a toddler from a booster seat while trying to juggle a diaper bag, a purse, and bags of groceries, you simply don’t have enough hands to grab the other things that may be cluttering up your car—things like receipts and napkins and a travel mug in the cup holder. But kids grow up, and eventually you reach a point where there really is no excuse for continuing to drive a landfill-on-wheels. It’s just that old habits are hard to break. Well, believe it or not, I think the holiday season is the perfect time to break some bad habits and take control over your messy car. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a clean car before you head over the river and through the woods to see Grandmother for the holidays? Shouldn’t you be able to offer your friends a ride to the holiday party without fear of someone sitting on top of potato chip crumbs, or worse, in their red velvet dress? The bad news: Immaculate Clean will not clean your car for you. The good news: if you hire them to clean your house, you’ll have some extra time to focus on your vehicle. I suggest blocking off about 15 minutes this weekend to clean out your car from front to back. Toss out all the trash, bring inside all the stuff that doesn’t really belong in a car, run a hand vac over the seats and the floor mats, and then take some Windex and some Armor All to the interior surfaces.

Once your car is smelling and looking good, here are three easy tips you can use to keep it that way:

• • Keep a little trash bag or plastic grocery bag in or on the center console— a place to toss your tissues, receipts, straw wrappers, etc.
  • Make a pact with yourself to empty everything out your car every time you arrive home. Pro tip: Never, ever leave your purse and/or key in the car, even when it’s inside your own driveway or garage. (Remember when I said I had to “borrow” “my son’s car” because we were down a vehicle? That was because *someone* in my family left the key fob in a car—and it was stolen in broad day light.)
  • Schedule one day every month to vacuum out and wipe down the interior of your car (more frequently would be even better, but I’m realistic: if you’re reading these tips, you probably are not a clean freak.)

It might be too late for me to be a role model for my kids, but nonetheless, I’ve been making the effort to keep my car clean and clutter-free. It sure makes driving a lot more enjoyable—and probably safer, too!

5 Tips to Keep Your Pantry Clean and Organized

It’s no secret that organizing your household takes some work. Many people go to great lengths to make sure that everything’s as streamlined as possible. Your pantry should be no different. Luckily, there’s a handful of organization hacks you can use to help clean things up. Not sure where to start? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Let’s take a look at everything you need to know!

1. Clear Containers

The majority of items that you’d store in your pantry come in containers or boxes that prevent you from seeing what’s inside. For those who keep their pantry well-stocked, you may find yourself searching for one particular food or ingredient. If it’d be easier to identify the food outside of its box or container, place it in a clear container instead so you can find it quickly. In some cases, though, it may be easier to leave the product in its original box (such as if the box often has a bright color).

2. Place Older Food Toward the Front

It’s not uncommon for multiple grocery trips to push older food to the back of the pantry. But this leads to both rotten food and wasted money. This is especially true for grain products like bread and cereal after they’ve been opened. Instead, keep the food you’ve already purchased near the front of the pantry to ensure that you eat it before it goes bad.

3. Put Time Into Maintenance

As with any type of household cleaning, you can’t expect things to stay tidy if you only work on them when they need it. Five or 10 minutes per day is all it takes to keep your pantry organized though, so make sure you put the time in. A great routine to get into is to tidy up your pantry while you’re waiting for food to cook. Creating a cleaning calendar can also help you stay on top of the mess.

4. Over-Door Storage

Products that hang over doors and provide additional storage space are perfect for pantries. Anything that takes up too much space on a shelf or doesn’t have anything similar it needs to be stored with are the main products you’ll keep here. Over-door storage products are also ideal for holding bags, as they’ll help them retain their shape.

5. Keep Ingredients Together

If you frequently cook meals that require a handful of specific ingredients, keep these together in your pantry so you can minimize the amount of time you spend searching for them. For example, if you make a particular stew or season your chicken a certain way on a weekly basis, a section in your pantry that has all these ingredients in one place will make cooking a much more enjoyable process.

Organizing Your Pantry Can Seem Difficult

But it doesn’t have to be. With the above information about organizing your pantry in mind, you’ll be well on your way to keeping everything neat and right where you need it. Most homes can benefit from a deep cleaning from a professional. Check out our home cleaning services to see if they’re right for you.

Daily, Weekly and Monthly Tasks: How to Make a Cleaning Calendar

People in the US spend an average of two hours and fifteen minutes on cleaning each day. Truthfully, however, many of us still feel like our homes are a mess. It can be hard to keep up with everything, especially if you have a busy work life. Do you feel like you can’t stay on top of your household cleaning? Read on to learn how to make an effective and simple cleaning calendar. Get your house cleaning on a schedule that works!

Divide Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Bi-Yearly Tasks

In order to make a productive housekeeping schedule, you should write out a list of all the cleaning tasks you need to do. Write down the ones you cringe to even think about (like washing the windows or dusting the baseboards). Next, sort these tasks into one of four categories: daily, weekly, monthly, bi-yearly. Daily tasks might include making beds, wiping the kitchen counter, running the dishwasher and so on. Weekly tasks include things like cleaning toilets, bathtubs, changing bed linens and vacuuming and mopping. Monthly tasks might include dusting, cleaning vents, windows, and cleaning the inside of your fridge, stove, and microwave. Things you can do twice a year include changing the batteries on your smoke detectors, changing the filters on your furnace, washing curtains, vacuuming mattresses, decluttering the toy box and re-organizing the pantry. Twice a year is a good time to invest in a deep clean of your whole house!

Separate Weekly Tasks into Specific Days

Once your list is made, you might wonder if you have to dedicate your entire weekend to those weekly items. You can do that if you want, but it is easier to stay on top of your cleaning if you allot one of those weekly tasks to each day. You might decide to wash bed sheets on Saturday morning but clean the bathrooms every Tuesdays. This way, you aren’t a slave to cleaning for an entire day straight. Instead, you do your daily tasks and one weekly task each day. You might want to appoint one day as a catch-up day to do any tasks that didn’t quite get done that week so you never fall behind.

Make Your Cleaning Calendar Visible

You’ll never be able to keep on top of your cleaning if you can’t see exactly what you should be doing that day. Print out a cleaning calendar and put it over your desk or on your fridge so you can see it every day. You might even want to take a picture of it and make your wallpaper on your cell phone. Set an alarm on your phone if necessary to help you get the day’s tasks done.

Get the Family Involved

Who says the household cleaning routine has to be all on you? Make your cleaning more efficient by getting everyone in the house to pitch in. You and your spouse might decide which tasks you are each personally responsible for. One might take out the trash each week while someone else can be in charge of lawn mowing. There are plenty of age-appropriate chores for little ones. Kids can make their own beds in the morning, tidy toys, fix throw cushions, unload the dishwasher and so much more. Not only will you teach them responsibility, but you will also instill in them the value of a neat and tidy home.

Final Words

There you go! A simple, no-fuss way to get a cleaning calendar underway at your home. Remember, it doesn’t have to be complicated. Just plan out what works for you and stick to it. Of course, you can make adjustments and tweak it as you go. If you find that you simply don’t have the time for certain tasks, give us a call. We can provide you with a free estimate to help make your home an enjoyable, healthy place to live.

5 Must-Clean Spots for Fall

Though everyone knows about “spring cleaning”, making sure your home is thoroughly cleaned in the fall is pretty important too. Once the weather cools off, we’ll all be heading inside to get cozy. Snuggling up on the couch will be a lot more pleasant without the dust bunnies. Feeling excited about the upcoming holidays is a stress-free way to enter the season of many celebrations. 

Here are the must-clean spots in your home for the fall:

The Pantry

It may sound like a daunting task, but cleaning out your pantry is an absolute necessity every once in a while. It’s best to take everything out and throw away any food items that have expired or gone bad. Vacuum the shelves to clean away crumbs and dust, and wipe them down with an all-purpose cleaner. When returning all of your pantry items to their proper place, ensure all opened items are sealed properly so they don’t spill and leave your pantry a mess all over again.

The Closet

The fall season brings cooler weather, and now is the perfect time to make the switch in your wardrobe. Go through your summer clothes and donate any that no longer fit or that just aren’t your style anymore. Vacuum closet floors, baseboards, and door panels, and dust shelves before putting your boots, scarves, jackets, and other fall clothing into the closet.

The Curtains

One of the nice things about warm weather is that it allows us to open the windows in our homes and let in the breeze. The downside to this is that pollen and dust can get in through the window screens and stick to your window coverings. After summer is over, throw them in the wash and clean them according to the material they are made of.

The Refrigerator

Just like you did with the pantry, remove everything from your fridge and toss any foods that have expired. Check all of your produce for freshness and make a list of what foods, drinks, or condiments your family is getting low on so you can grocery shop more confidently. Wash all shelves and drawers to remove spills and sticky spots.  A clean refrigerator is a great way to be prepared for the upcoming holiday meals and leftovers.

The Carpet

You’ll be spending more time indoors as the cooler weather comes. Giving your carpets a deep clean will ensure your living spaces are cozy, fresh, and stain-free as you wait for warmer weather to return next spring. Not up for the challenge? Don’t deny your carpets a thorough clean and call your local home carpet care professional.

Looking for a Cleaning Company in Eldersburg, MD?

You deserve to spend less time maintaining the household cleaning and more time relaxing and enjoying life! Immaculate Clean is your best resource for residential cleaning in Maryland. We’ve been serving our community of busy homeowners since 2004 and continue to satisfy our clients with consistent service with excellence. Contact us today and make sure to inquire about our “pre-holiday stress relief” specials!

Cleaning for a Reason and Immaculate Clean give practical help to cancer patients

Since I first wrote this blog post last year, I’ve had a dear friend get diagnosed with cancer. Thanks to what I learned by writing this blog, I was able to set her up with a cleaning session from Immaculate Clean, which she appreciated so much. I think it is worth reminding people of this amazing service offered by Immaculate Clean, so please share this info!

It’s Pinktober®, aka Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Founded in 1985, this campaign to raise awareness about breast cancer has been tremendously successful, at least from the standpoint of making the color pink synonymous with breast cancer. Think about it— these days, we all immediately recognize the meaning behind a pink ribbon, a pink 5K t-shirt, and even pink football cleats worn by an NFL player. Well-played, Pinktober marketing people, well-played. Hopefully, all the awareness spread over the past 34 years has saved many lives by encouraging women to get mammograms and leading folks to donate money toward finding a cure. All of that is important, truly good stuff.

But, having known some amazing women who have battled breast cancer and other kinds of cancer, I think I can safely say this: Awareness is cool—but action is cooler. A woman in the midst of undergoing cancer treatment is already WELL aware of it, thank-you-very-much. All of the pink balloons and pink socks in the world are not going to solve her immediate concerns that come from being thrust into an unfamiliar world full of doctors and pharmacists and life-or-death decisions, overwhelming fears about the future, and stresses about day-to-day issues that healthy people take for granted. Her thoughts at this time may look something like this:

What is going to happen to me? How is this treatment going to affect me? Is my insurance going to cover all of this? What if treatment doesn’t work?? What if the cancer comes back? I’m sick and the treatment is making me feel even worse; how am I going to continue to work and take care of my kids? How am I going to find the energy to cook meals for my family? How am I going to clean my house? 

That is a lot to deal with, but, honestly, some of it should not fall onto the cancer patient’s shoulders at all. These women have to focus so hard on kicking cancer’s a$$ that they shouldn’t be burdened by concerns about things like cooking meals for their families or cleaning their house. My personal view is, if you really want to support a friend or family member who is facing a cancer battle, you should think about ways you can ease the burdens of daily life so they can concentrate completely on the one thing that matters: getting well.

This may mean offering to bring them a meal, buy groceries for them, walk their dog, or drive their kids to soccer. Anything that seems “routine” to you is probably something that they could really use some help with. Another thing you can do—and this won’t cost you a thing—is tell them about a fabulous program called “Cleaning for a Reason.” 

The Cleaning for a Reason Foundation provides free house cleaning for women who are going through cancer treatments. Immaculate Clean is a proud and active partner of the Cleaning for a Reason Foundation, committed to helping women in the local community during their time of need by providing free cleaning services. The way it works is rather simple: A patient who is undergoing cancer treatments can register via the website at cleaningforareason.org. Based on a participating cleaning company’s availability, they will receive a total of two free general cleanings. 

It may sound like such a simple thing, but in reality, to be able to give a cancer patient the gift of a clean home does much more than just ease a little of her workload. The peace that comes with a clean, uncluttered, fresh-smelling environment can do wonders for a patient’s spirit! It’s better for her health, too! 

So, whether or not you’re wearing pink, I’m going to encourage you to spread some awareness about this important free service this Pinktober®, and take some action to help a cancer patient you may know in a meaningful way!

Why You Need to Maintain a Clean Kitchen

Following a routine weekly or biweekly maintenance clean schedule for your home, it is helpful not only for your sanity, but also for creating a clean healthy space for you and your family to eat, sleep, and live your daily life in harmony and happiness. Today, let’s focus on one room in particular that commonly gets a lot of use yet not enough care.

The Kitchen

It’s one of the most frequently-utilized rooms in your home (unless you live by ordering takeout every night and dining on the couch). We wish we could say that wiping the counters down a few times a week could cut it, but the truth is that grime and bacteria accumulate in the kitchen rather quickly and often go overlooked amidst our busy lives. Avoiding routine cleaning of your kitchen is a recipe for disaster. Here’s why!

Behind Closed Doors

Your kitchen is full of appliances and cupboards that are kept closed the majority of the time. What’s behind them?

• Beautifully shined glassware
• Silverware you can see your reflection in
• Perfectly alphabetized spices
• Pantry items organized in groups of the meals you’ll be preparing over the next week
• Fresh refrigerated foods that are definitely not spoiled or making the shelves sticky

Okay, maybe that’s all just in our dreams. Realistically, it’s tough to keep every part of the kitchen clean 100% of the time. Why? Because we use it!

Some of us are in there at least three times a day just preparing meals. But when we don’t keep the kitchen clean on a regular basis, we’re essentially inviting bugs to move in rent-free and they begin to feed their little in size but large growing “family” of pest.  These pests love to feed off our spills. Crumbs, food scraps, spilled drinks, and even old wet dishes in the sink can attract these little pests and foster bacteria. 

So Much To Do, So Little Time

When you clean your kitchen, there are many areas that need your attention, including:

• Black splash
• Wall decor
• Light fixtures
• Blinds and window sills
• Stovetop 
• Large and small appliance exteriors
• Microwave interior
• Cabinet fronts
• Countertops
• Refrigerator
• Sink
• Floors and baseboards
• Table and chairs

…and the list, unfortunately, doesn’t end there. Feeling overwhelmed? That’s why Immaculate Clean is here!

Don’t Sacrifice Your Valuable Time or Waste Another Beautiful Day Cleaning

Before we know it, summer will come to a close, fall will be in full swing, and the hectic holiday season will be lurking around the corner. Make the most of the remaining warm Maryland days and hire Immaculate Clean to ease your burden.  Waking up to a fresh cup of coffee in a clean tidy kitchen is the first ingredient to a successful stress-free start to your day!

We are a family-favorite, trusted cleaning company in Eldersburg, MD with the expertise and tools needed to get even this important job done with success. Contact us to schedule your kitchen clean as well as any or all areas of your home today.

Juggling and Struggling: The Sandwich Generation 

A couple of weeks ago, I spent the morning helping my son move into an apartment for his sophomore year at college. Later that same day, I went to the grocery store to do the shopping for my 95-year-old mother-in-law and helped her take out her trash and fold her sheets. The next day, my husband and I drove three hours to visit my own parents and help them with some tasks that they used to be able to handle on their own— things like fixing a sink and hooking up a printer.

Put it all together, and I do believe this makes us official members of the “sandwich generation,” sandwiched between being responsible for our almost-grown kids and our aging parents.

It’s kind of a tricky place to be. I mean, one of the things that gets a mom through the sense of loss and sadness of the impending empty nest phase is imagining all the newfound freedoms that we assume will come with it…  Dreams of spontaneous weekend getaways, downsizing to a smaller home, and spending retirement years wintering in the south were sometimes the only things that kept me sane when I tried to cope with the thoughts about my babies moving out…

But it’s tough to pick up and leave for the winter, or even a weekend, when your parent lives on their own but can no longer drive… And it’s not a good time to think about downsizing if you worry that you might need to care for a parent in your own home someday…  

And yet, we want to care for them. They were there for us through all of our ups and downs as we grew. They put up with us as colicky babies and tantrum-throwing toddlers and obnoxious know-it-all teenagers… The least we can do is show them even a fraction of the love, care, and patience that they’ve shown us from the day they brought us into the world.

Still, I think it is okay to admit that this stage of life can be pretty stressful. By this point, you may have figured out how to successfully juggle the demands of parenthood and a job and maintaining a home and a marriage… But as our parents come to depend on us more, we’re tossing at least one more “responsibility” ball and one more “worry” ball into the mix, and suddenly “juggling” turns into “struggling.”

For those of us who find ourselves in the “sandwich generation,” whether you’re a full-time caregiver or assisting a parent who lives independently, I think the best thing we can do is seek outside help whenever possible:

• Split up some of the responsibilities with siblings and other family members. 
• Look into support groups that might be helpful; many retirement communities or hospitals provide support groups for people caring for people with specific conditions, like Alzheimer’s or cancer or diabetes; churches also can be a good resource for support groups. It can feel uplifting just to talk to other people who are dealing with the same thing. 
• Finally, hire outside help whenever feasible; hiring a professional cleaner like Immaculate Clean can take one thing off of your plate—and when you’re already juggling so much, having one less thing to worry about can make a world of difference.

3 Tips for Staying on Top of Your Laundry

We’ve all done it before, at least once or twice, and for some of us, it’s almost a lifestyle. We’re busy doing things around the house and haphazardly toss a dirty t-shirt or wet towel into the laundry room, reassuring ourselves that we’ll take care of it later when our current mental to-do list is completed. By the following week, that t-shirt has morphed into a terrifyingly gigantic, and perhaps even threatening, pile of dirty laundry that seems to be as impossible to deal with as Mt. Everest seems to climb.

It’s a fine feeling to avoid the chore of laundry while we’re busy with other things, whether it’s getting dressed for a fun night out or scrambling to get the floors vacuumed before the kids get home from school and turn the house upside down all over again. “One less thing to worry about today,” we tell ourselves, promising to tackle the laundry another day, or even later that same evening if we’re feeling extra ambitious.

Yet when the final chore on our mental checklist is completed, do we run to the laundry room? We’re willing to bet you “accidentally” forgot about the laundry and fell onto the couch with an exhausted, audible sigh instead on more occasions than one.

So how do we quit this endless cycle of watching the laundry pile up for days or weeks and having to dedicate what feels like an entire day to doing the 6 loads of laundry that finally came crashing down all over the floor, telling us that our washer and dryer could sit empty no more? Here’s what we’ve got:

Tip #1: Make a Weekly Chore List – For YOU!

Many of us tackle things better when they’re written down on paper. Make yourself a weekly to-do list and split household chores up evenly throughout the week so that you avoid days where you’re overwhelmed with too much on your plate. Checking things off the list can be rewarding in itself, and seeing the things you’ve accomplished on paper can motivate you to do even more.

Tip #2: Get Help from the Kids

Children tend to enjoy helping out with “adult” tasks. They might not necessarily love laundry, but folding is a relatively simple chore that kids can handle if they are given direction. If you’re more comfortable handling the laundry yourself, give the kids some of the simpler tasks you find yourself spending time on when you should be attending to the mountain of laundry that awaits you.

Tip #3: Hire a Cleaning Company to Handle the Rest

If monotonous house cleaning tasks are keeping you from taking care of the laundry on a regular basis, lighten the load by hiring a professional cleaning company to take care of everything else. Say “goodbye” to vacuuming, dusting, sweeping, and scrubbing and “hello” to fresh, clean clothes and a spotless laundry room!

Looking for a Professional Cleaning Company in Maryland?

Immaculate Clean has been providing superior cleaning services to thousands of homeowners for over 15 years. We work with our customers to find the best cleaning schedule that best suits their needs at a fair and affordable price. Contact us for a free estimate or for more information about our “laundry with light cleaning” service plans. We’ll help you get your laundry under control.