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!

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.

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.

Taking a hint from Heloise

Good Housekeeping may sound like an odd choice of reading material for a 12-year-old. But, as an avid reader growing up, often upon finishing the latest Laura Ingalls Wilder or Judy Blume book and feeling desperate for something to read, I would turn to my mother’s copy of the popular women’s magazine.

One of the regular features in the magazine was a column called “Hints from Heloise,” in which a lovely white-maned woman named Heloise would respond to readers’ urgent questions, like “My cat peed on my antique oriental carpet, what do I do?” or “What is the best way to clean the inside of my refrigerator?”

One thing stuck with me from those columns. Heloise’s helpful hints for almost every situation tended to involved one common ingredient: vinegar. Occasionally, she’d throw in another kitchen staple, like baking soda or lemon juice. But vinegar—that was clearly the magic elixir. Sometimes I wonder how she would answer if a reader ever sent in this question: “Dear Heloise, I’ve used your hints to clean up every stain in my house; now how do I remove the lingering aroma of vinegar?”

I’m no Heloise. My answer to almost any household problem would be to buy a cleaning product marketed for that specific problem. “Why make something when you can buy it?” has kind of been my philosophy regarding everything from birthday cakes to cleaning supplies. In short, I am the kind of consumer advertisers dream about.

But with age comes wisdom, and I have come to accept that Heloise was on to something. Vinegar is cheap and, in many instances, actually seems to do a better job than any store-bought cleaners. For example, I have a fancy insulated stainless steel water bottle that is not supposed to be washed in the dishwasher because that will eventually break down the insulation. Hand washing the bottle with soap is not a good alternative, because it starts to make the water taste soapy. Enter Heloise. I’ve learned to throw a spoonful of vinegar into the bottle, add some water, slosh it around, rinse it out, and, voila—a clean bottle that continues to keep cold liquids cold and hot liquids hot and tasting good.

In a previous post, I’ve talked about how I generally use a French Press to make coffee at home. However, we do have a normal drip coffee maker for when we need to make larger quantities of coffee. Occasionally, it starts acting wonky, like something is clogged. The solution, naturally, is vinegar. Run a mixture of equal parts vinegar and water through one brew cycle, then run it through another cycle using just water in order to rinse it out. Voila! Problem solved. (But take it from me—you don’t want forget to go through that rinse cycle before you brew your next pot of coffee!)

I’ve also started running vinegar through my washing machine when it starts smelling a little funky or when the suds don’t seem to all be rinsing out.

I assume you realize that in all of these cases, I’m talking about regular distilled white vinegar. But it turns out cider vinegar also can be useful in tackling one extremely annoying household problem—fruit flies. If you ever find yourself battling fruit flies after bringing home one bad banana, here’s how you can make a trap to rid your home of those little suckers for good. Pour a little cider vinegar into the bottom of a jar. Roll up a piece of paper into a cone shape, and stick the narrow end of the cone into the jar. Fruit flies will be attracted to the cider vinegar like a magnet, where their own gluttony will lead them to the bottom of the cone, where, unable to escape, they face a certain liquidy death.

So there you have it; I’m afraid that’s the extent of my handy DIY household hints. But if you want more, don’t worry—Heloise is still at it today!

Does My Home Need a Spring Cleaning?

Yes, your home really does need a Spring Cleaning.

It’s officially spring… The sun is shining, the trees are budding, and Pinterest is buzzing with pins that say things like, “55 Cleaning Hacks to Make Spring Cleaning More Productive and Fun!” and “The 30-Day Spring Cleaning Challenge,” not to mention free spring cleaning printable checklists galore.

All of which makes me sit back and contemplate: How did any of us function back in the dark ages before there was Pinterest to give us all these unrealistic ideals to aspire to in our daily lives? Not very well, evidently. I can remember being a young newlywed living in my first house, and visiting with my grandmother one weekend. In an attempt to make conversation, she asked me, “So, did you get your spring cleaning done yet?” And she said it so matter-of-factly, kind of like you might ask someone in December, “Have you finished your Christmas shopping?”

I remember being completely taken aback and flustered by the question. Spring cleaning? That’s a real thing that people do? Not just some quaint notion or cute saying from the past?

Thinking back even further, I do recall my mom spending a day every year taking down the curtains and washing them, while my dad went outside and washed all the windows from a precarious position atop an aluminum ladder. And I remember the smell of Ajax and Murphy’s Wood Soap emanating through the house from the deep cleaning they’d give the kitchen cabinets and the floor around that same time…

Voila! Apparently, THAT was “Spring Cleaning!” I just never thought about it that way. My parents always kept an immaculate house anyway, so I think I thought these were just some quirky things that they liked to do for fun—wash and iron drapes and scrub windows and cabinets.

It took a few years of filth and dust building up on my own window sills and inside my cabinets before I really understood the value of giving your home a deep cleaning once a year. However, I don’t know about you, but I get overwhelmed enough by the day-to-day responsibilities of running a household, like working, and picking up shoes and towels and coats and dog toys, and cooking, and washing dishes, and taking out trash, and doing laundry, etc. A checklist of 101 spring cleaning tasks, no matter how well organized and cute the graphic may be, only tends to make me feel stressed out and inadequate.

Sometimes, the best thing you can do for yourself and everyone around you is to call in a professional. Fortunately, Immaculate Clean is having a spring cleaning special: $50 off a One Time Deep Clean. This detailed cleaning includes cleaning the interior of the fridge and oven, vacuuming under family & living room couch cushions, hand wiping baseboards, window sills, fan blades, cabinet fronts, and more.

So, this year I’m making my own spring cleaning printable checklist, and it’s going to look something like this:

• Do all the usual daily chores
• Declutter a closet or two
• Stay off Pinterest

Give us a call at 410-549-0727 to avail cheap house cleaning services in Sykesville, MD.

Cleaning tips that could save your life!

How’s that for a headline? Do you think it’s a little dramatic? Well, I admit that I do have a tendency to exaggerate and be a bit dramatic sometimes, but in this case, it’s not really much of a stretch to say that cleaning your house the right way could possibly save your life.

 

That’s because it’s flu season. And if you’ve been paying any attention at all to the news, you know that this year’s flu is especially widespread and severe. Even people who received a flu vaccination are catching it, and otherwise healthy people of all ages are actually dying from this flu. This is not fake news! This is all coming straight from the CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm

Everyday preventive actions to stop the spread of the flu

So, with this deadly flu virus floating around, what is there to do, aside from locking yourself into a germ-free incubator, a la John Travolta from the 1976 classic made-for-TV movie, “The Boy in the Plastic Bubble?” (And if those of you reading this are too young to remember that one, perhaps you will recall “The Bubble Boy” episode of Seinfeld?) Clearly, bubble living is not a practical solution for many of us.

Instead, the aforementioned CDC suggests that in addition to getting a flu shot, we should, “Take everyday preventive actions to help stop the spread of flu viruses!”

By “everyday preventive actions,” the CDC means avoiding contact with sick people, covering coughs and sneezes, washing your hands frequently, avoiding touching your mouth, nose, or eyes, and disinfecting surfaces and objects that may be contaminated with flu viruses.

How the flu virus travels

There’s only one problem with that: “Surfaces and objects that may be contaminated with flu viruses” covers just about EVERYTHING. That is because, according to my other source for major medical news, The Today Show, droplets from a sneeze can travel 26 feet! And if there are flu germs living in one of those droplets, that virus can stay alive for 24 hours!

Not only is that a really gross thought—it’s pretty scary. It means that some sicko could have sneezed at Wal-Mart, or in the school cafeteria, or in your office, or even in your own home, from far enough away that they could barely hear you say, “Gesundheit,” and you could end up with a real, live flu virus on your shoe, or on your lunch box, or on your cell phone, or on your kitchen counter—and that sucker is going to stay alive for one whole day, just waiting for someone to touch it.

Cleaning is the answer

So, aside from teaching your kids to cough and sneeze into their elbow instead of their hand, and to keep their hands out of their mouth, and to wash their hands constantly, the most important thing you can do for them is to clean, clean, clean. Make sure you are frequently wiping down things like doorknobs, light switches, remote controls, and keyboards with disinfecting wipes. Another thing I learned on The Today Show is, those surfaces carry a disgusting amount of germs. https://www.today.com/health/which-today-anchor-has-more-germs-their-office-t121656

If there is ever an important time to have your home professionally cleaned, it’s during flu season. Hire Immaculate Clean residential cleaning services in Sykesville, MD to come in and give your surfaces a good disinfecting. Let them put their professional products and expertise to work on your sinks, countertops, floors, appliances, and all the rest of the hard surfaces that could be harboring viruses. Give them a call today, and keep the flu at bay: (410) 549-0727.

Show The Master Some Love

If you could peek inside my master bedroom right now, you would understand the stark irony surrounding the idea of ME being a writer for a blog about cleaning. In fact, when I told my mom I was going to be doing this, she laughed for about 10 minutes straight.

The truth is, I am not a neat person by nature. When I was a teenager, I had a big poster hanging on my bedroom door that said, “My Room: Love It or Leave It,” depicting a cartoon rendering of a typical, messy teenage girl’s bedroom: books, banana peels, and record albums (the vinyl kind; that’s how old I am) littering the floor, unmade bed, clothes draped on furniture, open dresser drawers, etc. I just have always been a little bit “clutter-blind.”

Fast forward 30-something years, and I’ve certainly matured a bit in that regard. Living in constant fear of “drop-in” company, I have learned to keep the common areas of my house fairly neat and clutter-free, most of the time. Unfortunately, though, based on the belief that pretty much no one besides my husband and me is ever going to step foot into the master bedroom, that tends to be the room where the clutter collects, and it tends to be the room that I neglect the most when it comes to cleaning, organizing, or even decorating. Based on conversations with friends, I’m pretty sure I’m not alone.

When you think about it, it makes sense. As a woman and a mom, I know that we often focus our energy on others’ well-being above our own. It is sometimes hard for us to think of ourselves as deserving or important enough to take the time to care for ourselves, and by extension, to care for the one room in the house where we spend the most time.
But it also makes sense that spending some time focusing on our bedrooms could lead to less stress and more productivity in all areas of our lives. I’m not a big believer in feng shui, but I do believe that even if our eyes are closed for most of the hours we spend in our bedroom, if we are spending that time surrounded by chaos and clutter, we will start each day with brains full of chaos and clutter.

So, I’ve decided it’s time to take some action. But how does someone like me, a serial clutterer, go about making our bedroom a clean, lovely haven where we can start and end each day feeling calm and maybe even a little bit pampered?

Hire a Cleaning Service

The first step for me is having an Eldersburg, MD cleaning service like Immaculate Clean come in on a regular basis. In my case, this means that every other Thursday I am forced to put away clothes and clear surfaces of clutter—you know, the “clean before the cleaning crew” ritual. It also means that every other Thursday, I know my bed is going to be made up crisp and neat, the floor is going to be freshly swept, and the room is going to smell clean and dust-free.

Purge the Wardrobe

The next step, which I am in the process of working on right now, involves cleaning out drawers and closets and sending old clothes to Goodwill. It dawned on me recently that one of the things I was spending a lot of time doing in my every-other-Thursday pre-cleaning ritual was putting away the clean clothes that had been sitting in laundry baskets in my room for days at a time. I finally figured out that the reason I kept procrastinating on putting the clothes away was because it was always a struggle to find room to put them! My drawers were overflowing with outfits I never wore, and it was hard to find room—not to mention empty hangers—to hang clothes in my closet. So I’ve started to purge, with the goal of clearing out one drawer each day. That approach keeps it manageable, yet still rewards me with a feeling of accomplishment.

Accessorize

The final step: It’s time to make our room look and feel like a luxurious resort. I’ve been gathering ideas on Pinterest, ordering resort-quality sheets, and am planning a date with Pier One and HomeGoods this weekend to shop for new wall-hangings and accessories. For the price of one weekend in a nice hotel, I should be able to do enough redecorating to make it feel like we’re on vacation every single night. And don’t we all deserve that feeling? If we just take some time to show the master bedroom a little love, it can love us right back.

A Different Perspective on Cleaning

 

I’ve been spending a lot of time on the floor lately. It’s the only place I can truly stretch all of my aching muscles. One of the many joys of getting older.

As I was laying there today, I started looking around. Big mistake! From the upright perspective, my house seemed rather clean. Definitely not the case from the floor.

It started to make me wonder…what’s really hiding in places I can’t normally see? I decided to get some evidence. Armed with my cell phone and a selfie stick, I started taking pics of surfaces I generally ignore. Here’s a look at some of what I found:

View from above an island pendant

 

From the top of a table lamp

 

Close-up of a wall air conditioning unit

 

Close-up of a bathroom air vent

 

And, of course, there were the socks, dust and other miscellaneous items under the beds.

Now, I’m not lucky enough to live in the service area of Immaculate Clean. Even if I did, I wouldn’t expect they would always clean all of these surfaces. The reality is, it would take anyone an extraordinary amount of time to clean every inch, of every surface, and it could get expensive to have it done on a regular basis. But, once you get up, and down, and start looking around, you realize it might be time for a deep clean. Another option would be to get an estimate for some add-on services. Of course, it’s always an option to climb a step-ladder or crawl under the furniture and do it yourself.

Now that I’m aware of the dirt that’s hiding, it’s time to get rid of it. Hopefully, the next time I’m on my floor I will not be distracted by all of the dust under the nearby cabinet. The sit-ups and leg lifts are far too important.

Spring Cleaning…Already?

 

I swear I was just writing about preparing your home for the winter. How is it the middle of February already? And, the weather is just adding to the confusion with temps in the 60s.

Personally, I love the nice weather, but it really does draw attention to all of the dirt I’ve been avoiding. After a weekend of extraordinary temperatures, I noticed a few things I need to get to as soon as possible. A deep cleaning will come eventually, but for now, here are a few things to kick-off the process:

The Windows

It really is a bummer when the sun is shining in and all I can see are the spots all over the windows. Not to mention, when I go to open them, I notice the cobwebs and dead bugs caught between the windows and screens. It’s definitely time to give them a good cleaning.

Use a good window cleaner and a lint-free cloth on the glass. Spray the cleaner on the window and give it a minute to set before wiping it clean. Make sure you wipe the outside of the windows too. If your windows are difficult to reach, it’s worth calling a window cleaning company for best results.

After wiping the glass, give the frames and sills a wipe down. A vacuum hose works great for this task.

The Floors

 

The mud season is rapidly approaching so now is the time to get rid of the winter residue. Start with the area rugs. If washable, throw them in the machine to get them clean. Otherwise, take them outside and give them a good shake.

While the rugs are getting some fresh air, tend to the hard surfaces and carpeted areas. For hard surfaces, make sure to get rid of dust and debris before mopping. The professionals at Immaculate Clean suggest using a handheld vacuum rather than sweeping. When mopping, vinegar diluted in water is sufficient for wood floors, but Mr. Clean Professional Floor Cleaner is highly recommended for the best clean. Wipe down the baseboards for a complete cleaning.

As for the carpeted rooms, start with a good vacuuming and edging around the baseboards. However, they’re probably also due for a professional cleaning. As we learned in What’s Hiding in Your Carpet?, professional cleaning on a quarterly basis is recommended to best maintain your carpets.

The Garage

 

Between the car tires and kids’ boots, the garage floor is a disaster by this time of year. Of course, I’ve also dumped a bunch of stuff that I didn’t want to deal with in the cold weather like cardboard boxes to be recycled and exterior holiday decorations that I didn’t get around to putting away.

Take advantage of the nice weather by pulling everything outside and really cleaning the floor. As with the other hard surfaces, sweep first, then mop. Mildly soapy water is perfect for the concrete surface. Don’t forget to clean any windows and wipe down the corners where spider webs might be hiding.

Once the floor dries, you can start organizing what needs to go back in and what you can get rid of. I’m thinking a blog on organizing the garage is on the horizon.

The Exterior

 

Now that the snow is gone, I can see all of the trash and debris that has collected on my yard. Having just gone through a renovation project, I’m finding all kinds of construction scraps, too.

Personally, I’m not a yard-work type person. I generally leave it to the professionals, but there are some basic things needed to be done to ensure a minimum level of curb appeal.

Start by getting rid of any leftover holiday decorations and dried out planters. Next, pick up the trash and any large branches that may have fallen. Finally, sweep off the walkways and porches. It may not be worthy of a landscaper’s stamp of approval, but it’s a start.

Spring hasn’t totally sprung yet, but it’s not too early to get started. You want to get going before the mud of the upcoming season makes its way in the house. If you’re too overwhelmed with everything else going on in life, leave it to the professionals at Immaculate Clean. Give them a call at 410-549-0727. Voted the “Best of Carroll County” for the past 7 years!!

Cleaning Tips from The Pros: For Families with Children

We’ve brought you many cleaning tips in the past via our Maryland Cleaning Blog. This post focuses on cleaning tips and tricks.  If you have children, you know that keeping your home spic and span is nearly impossible. Hopefully these suggestions will make life easier and give you some time to spend relaxing or spending with family doing something enriching.

 

Smelly Teen Shoes

If your teen plays sports, you may have some very stinky tennis shoes on your hands. If your Children’s shoes stink up the house, try sprinkling them with baking soda over night. It absorbs the moisture and sweat and neutralizes odors -is there anything baking powder can’t do?

 

 

Marker on the Hardwood Floor or Furniture

Do you have toddlers coloring on the floor that somehow left marks and stains, or maybe a tricky two year old created their own masterpiece on the coffee table? Believe it or not you can remove marker stains from wood with toothpaste! Use an old toothbrush to work in the tooth paste and let sit until dry. Wipe away with a wet rag or sponge. Plain white toothpaste works best for removing stains.

 

 

Crayon Marks on White Walls

If your little Picasso has drawn a pretty picture on your white walls, try a simple damp sponge with sprinkled baking soda. Work gently into the wall in small circular motion. This will remove most types of crayon marks!

 

 

Muddy Tracks in the House

Wait, don’t break out your mop! Dry dirt is far easier to clean than wet mud. Wait for muddy footprints to dry before cleaning, then just sweep up the dirt and blot left over marks with a soapy rag.

 

 

Kill Germs

Children bring home an array of germs from school and daycare. Babies also put everything in their mouths making it even more important to keep things clean. If you haven’t already been using your dishwasher as amazing resource for cleaning and sanitizing toys, try it! Most plastic toys are dishwasher safe and don’t forget you can also put toothbrush holders and pet bowls in there too.

We hope we inspired you to save time while keeping your home clean and your family happy. Remember that even if you are keeping your home clean sometimes you still need a little help from a professional, that’s why we’re here, for recurring cleaning, one-time deep cleaning, or fall refresher. Call us at 410-549-0727 or click here to get a free quote!