Hiring help for your house can be a daunting and complicated task. It means inviting a complete stranger into your home and trusting them with your belongings. As overwhelming as that may seem, sometimes you just need the help. So what do you do? You find a good housekeeper to help you keep your home in order.

But before you go out and hire just anyone to clean your house, there are a few things you should do first. 

Define your needs

Before you go out and look for a housekeeper start by defining the needs of your household. What kind of things do you need help with? Which rooms need more attention than others? How often do you need someone to come and help you? These are all things you need to sit down and ask yourself before you find a housekeeper.

Do your due diligence 

Whether you choose to use a cleaning company to find your housekeeper or find one that’s independent, you need to do your due diligence. It’s always a good idea, no matter where you find your housekeeper to check their references and reviews before you decided to hire them.

Another thing you’ll want to look for is insurance and background checks. Are they bonded and insured? While most cleaning companies do have insurance, this isn’t always the case for independent house cleaners. It’s important that you have a background check and that the cleaner is insured in the unlikely event that something valuable breaks or something were to go missing. 

So in order to find a good housekeeper for your house, these are things that you need to take into consideration before you hire. It could make all the difference.

Ask and compare rates

Once you’ve narrowed in on a few prospective housekeepers go ahead and compare all their rates. Find out what’s included their services and what’s not based on your needs. Then take a look at your budget and see what works for you and what doesn’t. 

This is also the time for you to ask about any other requests you may have when deciding if it’s a right fit or not. Do you require them to bring their own supplies? What about cleaner, does it have to be all-natural? Find out if these are an option for your housekeeper and if there’s any extra cost that may be associated with extra services. 

Find someone that works with your schedule

Professional cleaning services often offer flexibility with their cleaning schedules. They typically have one-time, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, and bi-monthly cleanings. This is something you need to be aware of when searching for a good housekeeper.

Although they might have the perfect rate and fit within your budget, they may not be flexible enough to work with your schedule. You should find a housekeeper who is willing to shuffle things around when you need them too, even if it’s not very often. 

Qualities of a good housekeeper

Now that we understand what it takes to find a good housekeeper, let’s talk about some of the qualities they should possess.

Loyalty

A good housekeeper will be able to stay an extra 20 or 30 minutes (or maybe even an hour) to help you out with some unexpected tasks. You want to find a cleaner who is willing to do that from time to time and who doesn’t cancel on you at the last minute. Loyalty is a key quality to a good housekeeper.

Honesty

Since you’re allowing this person into your home it’s important that you know you can trust them. There could be times where you can’t or won’t be home during your cleaning. So you need to know that you have an honest and trustworthy person inside of your home.

Flexibility

We touched on this briefly, but a friendly reminder never hurts. When looking for a good housekeeper for your home, you need to find someone that’s flexible. Things happen and so you need to be sure that you can count on your housekeeper to shift things around if need be.

Empathy

Since the job of a housekeeper is to clean and organize the house, this means they will have access to your most valuable and personal items. A good housekeeper will be able to take care of these things for you as if they were there own. They won’t be careless but caring with your items.

Need help finding a good housekeeper for your home?

Have everything packed and ready to go? Now you’ve just got to get to your new place and settle in. But wait! You haven’t done any of your move-out cleaning yet. So there are a few things you probably need to go back and check before you leave.

If you put a security deposit down on your place, you’ll need to do a thorough move-out cleaning before turning in your keys and getting some (or all) of your money back. 

The kitchen

Cabinets

Go around and make sure everything is out of your drawers and cabinets. Clean them all out, remove any liners you have in there, and give them a good wipe down. Be sure to look for any caked-on stains or debris and don’t leave anything behind.

Counters

Clean your counters with an all-natural (or green) surface cleaner. Grab an empty spray bottle and fill it with water. Add a few drops of lemon essential oil and a teaspoon of vinegar. Now spray all of the counters and wipe them down removing any or all stuck-on food.

Stovetop/Oven

Scrub off any stuck-on food (use a scrub brush or a putty knife) before spraying the surface with your homemade counter cleaner. Sprinkle a little bit of baking soda on the surface of the stove or the door of the oven and let it sit overnight before wiping it away and seeing a brand new appliance. 

Refrigerator/Freezer

After you’ve cleaned out your fridge and taken out all of the food go ahead and unplug it before cleaning it out completely. Spray the inside with your vinegar solution and wipe it down using a microfiber cleaning cloth.

Sink

Rinse out the sink using hot water. Spray it down with your vinegar solution. Sprinkle some baking soda down the drain and garbage disposal followed by one cup of vinegar. Now go ahead and give your sink a good scrub while you let the baking soda sit for a few minutes. And then you can rinse the sink again with hot water. 

Floors

Everyone room on your move-out cleaning checklist should finish with you cleaning the floors. The floors are the very last thing you should do in each room before heading to the next. And they should only be done after you’ve got everything completely moved out of that space.

To clean your kitchen floors, you can use an all-natural floor cleaner or you can use the same vinegar solution we’ve been using all along (if you have laminate or tile floors). Using a microfiber mop, go ahead and mop the floors from the inside of the room to the outside of the room.

The bathrooms

Shower/Tub

Create a paste-like solution using baking soda and water and apply it to the surface of your tub or shower. Scrub the solution into the surface with a sponge and spray vinegar on it so that it fizzes. Then go ahead and scrub it a little more before rinsing out the tub o shower with hot water.

Counter/Vanity

If you have any countertops or a vanity in your bathroom be sure to clean out the drawers in them (like we did in the kitchen) and give them a nice wipe down using our all-natural cleaning solution. Dust off any framing on these structures and wipe down the mirrors before calling them complete.

Toilet

Get some toilet cleaner and let it sit in the inside of the bowl. Now taking a spray bottle and a solution of vinegar, two drops of lemon essential oil, and a drop of tea tree oil spray the outside of the toilet. Give it a good wipe down using a microfiber cloth. Make sure you even wipe down the bottom of the bowl and the back of the toilet to ensure that no debris is left behind.

Mirror

Don’t forget about the mirror. Wipe down the outside of the mirror with a cleaning rag to clean up and dust. Spray the mirror with window cleaner, wipe it down and you’re good to go.

Sink

Just like the kitchen sink, rinse it out with hot water, spray it with your solution and sprinkle it with baking soda. Give the sink a good scrub with either a scrub brush or a cleaning cloth before rinsing it out again using hot water. 

Floors

To clean your bathroom floors, you can use an all-natural floor cleaner or you can use the same vinegar solution we’ve been using all along (if you have laminate or tile floors). If you have wood floors you’ll want to use a cleaner made for wood floors. Take a microfiber mop, go ahead and mop the floors from the inside of the room to the outside of the room.

General living spaces/Bedrooms

Light fixtures

Make sure you check all ceiling fans and permanent light fixtures for debris or dust. These should be the first things that you clean in each room since they’re dusty. Clean these fixtures before cleaning the surfaces (countertops, appliances) and floors.

Baseboards

Every room should be checked for baseboards that need to be cleaned. Be sure to go around and clean these before you clean the floors and after you dust in each room.

Walls

You don’t need to get out the surface cleaner and scrub your walls clean but you do need to make sure there are no visible marks on them. Go around and look for holes in the wall or marks that need to be covered up. Get rid of any dust and cover up any marks with touch-up paint.

Floors

To clean the rest of the floors, you can use an all-natural floor cleaner or you can use the same vinegar solution we’ve been using all along (if you have laminate or tile floors). If you have wood floors you’ll want to use a cleaner made for wood floors. Take a microfiber mop, go ahead and mop the floors from the inside of the room to the outside of the room.

Hiring a cleaning service for your move

Need help with your move-out cleaning? Maybe you don’t have time to do your move-out cleaning or maybe it’s just too difficult for you to accomplish on your own. No matter what your situation is, we’re here to help. Contact us today for a free estimate and see how our professional house cleaners can help you.

Looking for a way to clean your white baseboards that won’t cause damage to them but still gets the job done? 

If you don’t have a professional house cleaner that comes to your house on a regular basis, do yourself a favor and take a look around your home. When is the last time you actually cleaned your baseboards? This is especially important if you have white baseboards. They tend to show dust and dirt a lot easier than other baseboards. 

Learning how to clean your white baseboards on a regular basis, in lieu is easier than cleaning them every once and a while. In fact, this is a house chore that should be done at least once a month. This is so your baseboards don’t get out of control and they are easier to maintain.

Today we’re discussing how to clean your white baseboards, what you should use to clean them, and some last minute tips to help you get the job done.

What products should you use to clean your white baseboards

When it comes to picking out products to clean your white baseboards with, you want to stay away from anything that includes harsh chemicals. Stick to more natural products, green products, and even DIY products to help you with this chore. You don’t want to use anything that could cause damage to your baseboards.

For this household chore, you’ll need a bowl, cleaning gloves, a little bit of hot water, a mild cleaner, and two microfiber cleaning cloths. If you haven’t gotten to your baseboards in a while and they are extremely dirty, you’ll want to grab a dry brush so you can get into all the crack and crevices easily.

Castile soap is a great choice for anyone who chooses to go pick up a cleaning product to clean their baseboards with. Castile’s detergent is one that is free of artificial scents, chemicals, and dyes. It can be used on both painted and natural wood baseboards and it won’t damage the surface. You can find it on Amazon or at some local retailers like Walmart or Target. 

Or another great option to use for your baseboards is Borax. Borax is an effective and inexpensive choice to use for household cleaning. It’s a natural mineral that works well chores including cleaning white baseboards, bathroom cleaning, kitchen cleaning, and more. You can find it in the laundry or cleaning aisle of many retailers. 

How to go about cleaning your white baseboards

Once you get into the habit of cleaning your baseboards the process of doing it gets easier and easier. But one of the first things you should do before you start actually cleaning your baseboards is to get your vacuum out. Suck up and loose dust or debris that may be hovering over your baseboards. 

A lot of people vacuum their baseboards on a regular basis when they already have the vacuum out which makes the entire chore much simpler when it comes time to do it. Just take the brush attachment on your vacuum and run it along your baseboards from time to time (or every time you go to clean them).

Here’s what you need to do to get started:

Start by getting out your bowl and adding about two tablespoons of your cleaner whether it’s dish soap or a gentle surface cleaner. Make sure to put on your cleaning gloves before reaching into the water. Do this so that you don’t burn or irritate the skin while you’re cleaning. Then once you’ve got your bowl filled up, take one of your microfiber towels and submerge it into the bowl. Grab the wet rag, ring it out nicely, and then wipe as you go. 

The reason we say you’ll need two cleaning cloths is that you also want a dry cleaning rag to go over the baseboard with once you’re finished wiping it down. You can do an entire wall before you go back and take a dry rag to it. You just want to make sure you do this to prevent any water from soaking into any unknown holes or crevices. This could attract unwanted house pests. 

Last minute tips

There’s really no reason to exclude your baseboards from your cleaning routine. They are a vital part of your household chores. And if left unattended to can contribute to a rise in household dust and allergies. If you’re really stretched on time and you’re trying to tend to your baseboards here are a few things you can do:

• Grab out the wipes (both disinfectant or baby wipes will work)
• Go over the baseboards with your swifter 
• Put the kids to work and let them clean the baseboards
• Keep a diffuser in your home and run it with essential oils to help reduce the amount of dust
• Call in a professional to help – there’s nothing wrong with having help on a monthly basis

Spekless Professional House Cleaning

We know that cleaning the baseboards isn’t an ideal household chore for most. In fact, it’s why we’re here for you if you need help completing tasks like this around your home. Our professional house cleaners have been trained to leave your house spotless which includes the baseboards.

We are flexible and have options that can serve any size home from a single deep-cleaning to occasional monthly cleaning and even help with weekly routine cleaning. Contact us today for a free service estimate to see how we can help you.

It’s flu season which means that at one point or another you may just catch yourself lying in bed snuggled up with a cold. You’ve got a ton of work to and a family to take care of though, you don’t have time to be sick let alone clean up after it. 

You probably know that it’s important to clean your home after being sick, but you might not know that it’s also important to clean in when you’re sick. This is to help prevent the spread of germs around your home. And it’s especially important if you have a household with children. 

When bacteria and germs spread from one surface to another, one thing can lead to another and then you might just find yourself in the emergency room before you know it. If you’re having trouble keeping the house clean don’t worry, we’re here to help through that by discussing ways you can start cleaning the house while you’re sick.

Using the right cleaning products

Before you find the motivation you need for cleaning the house when you’re sick, you need to make sure that you’re using cleaning products that aren’t harmful to you and your family. Certain cleaning products can be really harmful, not only to certain surfaces in your home but to the air that you breathe in.

The last thing you want is to start cleaning with a chemical that only enhances your illness and sends you to the hospital. Consider making the switch to all natural cleaning products to help protect you and your family from ingesting toxic chemicals.

Finding the motivation to clean the house when you’re sick

It can be hard to get up and clean when you don’t even feel like getting out of bed. But just like money is your motivation to get up and go to work, you can find the motivation to get up and clean the house. 

Now we’re not saying that you have to get on your hands and knees and scrub the entire house, but keeping it organized and free from germs is crucial during this time. Not only will you stop the spread of germs in their track, but you’ll also benefit mentally from having a clean house. And the better you are mentally, the better you’ll be physically. 

Maybe your motivation is music. Maybe it’s germs. Or maybe it’s knowing that you’ll feel better once you do it. No matter what it is, there’s a motive behind every household cleaning routine (sick or not) and it’s time for you to find yours. Below we’ve lined out some tips to help you.

Tips to help you succeed in cleaning the house when you’re sick

Have a cleaning basket on hand

Having a cleaning basket in your house introduces a whole new level of motivation into the equation. There’s just something about having a nice little basket with all of your supplies together in one place that just makes you want to get up and start cleaning the entire house. And it’s super helpful when you don’t feel like looking all over the place for that bottle of Windex you could’ve sworn you left under the bathroom sink.

Make sure you have disinfectant wipes ready

When it comes to cleaning the house when you’re sick, one of the best things you can do for yourself is to make sure that you have disinfectant wipes in every room of the house. This way, if you touch anything or start to sneeze all over the remote, you can simply grab a wipe and stop the spread of germs.

Run a diffuser with essential oils

Having a diffuser in your home is great for many reasons. One of them being that you can add a few drops of your favorite essential oil in it and it will help clean the air around you while strengthening your immune system. So not only are you cleaning the air, you are actually helping cure your sickness in the process.

Delegate the weekly chore list

If you’re still having trouble finding the motivation to get up and start cleaning when you’re sick, consider delegating the weekly chore list to others in your home. If you have kids or a partner, this is perfect – just give them a list of things to do while you sit back and relax.

But what do I do if I don’t have children or a spouse?

Maybe you don’t have kids or a partner to help you when things get tough around the house. Not everyone does. Maybe you have a roommate though. And if you do, it’s perfectly reasonable to ask them to pick up some of the slack. After all, you are sick. 

But if that’s not the case, the last thing you can do is…

Hire a professional house cleaning service

Sometimes we just can’t clean the house when we’re sick. But don’t worry we’re here for you! Our professional house cleaners will help you get your house back on the right track. Contact us today for a free estimate.

The best way to clean any room in the house is to come up with a weekly cleaning routine to help you clean it easily and effectively. We were selected by Redfin as a top cleaning expert! See the article we were featured in: Kitchen Cleaning 101: Experts Share Their Favorite Tips

Today we’re going to walk you through the best way to clean your kitchen in a few simple steps.

First things first, before you begin you’ll want to gather all of your cleaning supplies so that you’ll have everything you need handy. After you’ve gathered your supplies you can start the kitchen cleaning process.

Dust everything from top to bottom

You want to start the kitchen cleaning process by dusting everything from top to bottom. Working from top to bottom prevents you from having to redo any work you’ve previously done. And while you’re doing this you’ll want to remove any trash from the countertops (and other places that it doesn’t belong) so that you can move on to checkpoint number two. 

Take out the trash 

Next you’ll go around and pick up and trash or spoiled food and throw it away before taking out the trash. Nothing more to it, this step is pretty simple.

Do the dishes & clean the sink

Now you can start to do the dishes by either washing them and setting them out to try or rinsing them and putting them in the dishwasher. Once you’re finished with the dishes you can start to work on your sink (cleaning the sink is an important part of kitchen cleaning). Spray it down and let it disinfect for about 4 to five minutes before scrubbing it down and rinsing it with hot water.

Disinfect all surfaces 

Once you’ve dusted, taken out the trash, done the dishes, and cleaned the sink you can now start to disinfect and clean all the touchable surfaces in your kitchen. This is your countertops, your microwave, drawer handles and knobs, the handles on your refrigerator (and the outside of it), and anything else that you or your family may have touched. Go around and spray the surfaces with your disinfectant and allow it to sit for at least 1 minute before taking your cleaning cloth to it.

Clean the floor

The very last thing you want to do when cleaning any room in the house (but especially the kitchen) is clean the floors. You’ll work from the inside of the room to the outside of the room when sweeping, vacuuming, and mopping the floor so that you don’t have to backtrack.

And that’s really all there is to it when it comes to kitchen cleaning. The more you settle into a cleaning routine the easier it is to clean it each week.

Professional kitchen cleaning

Need help cleaning the kitchen in your home? Contact us today and see how one of our professional house cleaners can assist you.

When it comes to cleaning, water can aid you in a variety of ways. We use it when we’re dishwashing and doing laundry. But there’s one question everyone seems to be asking and that is: is hot water more effective than cold water? Let’s take a look.

It aids in removing bacteria

Hot water doesn’t exactly kill bacteria but it does aid in the removal of it. It gets rid of potential hosts for bacteria by working together with detergent to attack oil and grime. It’s best to soak things in a bucket or a bowl of hot water and detergent for at least 30 minutes to make this method effective.

It helps cut food on your dishes

Can’t get that hard stuck on food off your plate so you can throw it in the dishwasher? Hot water is great for cutting stuck on food off of surfaces. And going back to the first thing we said about aiding in the removal of bacteria, that comes in handy here too. Running your dishwasher with hot water and detergent helps sanitize your dishes for a better clean.

But here’s the catch…

Cold water is better for your laundry

Though hot water is better for the majority of household cleaning tasks, cold water is better for your laundry. Using cold water for your laundry can prevent stains and odors from setting further into the fabric. Hot water only increases the chance of them settling into the fabric and makes it harder for you to remove them.

Spekless House Cleaning

Our professionally trained house cleaners can proactively take care of the bacteria in your home so you don’t have to. And so you have more time to do the things you enjoy. Call (571) 882 2712 or click here to contact us for a free estimate. We were maid for this!

We know that when you are cleaning your home, you to get your household cleaning done as fast as possible. No one wants to spend their entire weekend cleaning. But are there things that you’re overlooking that are causing you to work harder than you should? Here we’re lining out four mistakes that can actually slow you down when cleaning.

1. Forgetting the top to bottom rule

2. Failing to clean your supplies

Dirty mops and cloths are used to clean up dirt. So it’s only rational to clean them when you’re finished in order to prevent the spread of bacteria from one cleaning to the next. You can clean a dirty surface with dirty supplies. It only slows you down.

3. Not rinsing your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher

Many homeowners will swear that you don’t need to pre-wash your dishes before putting them into the dishwasher. While that may be true, you still need to scrap off the leftover food and give them a quick and thorough rinse. Otherwise, you’re just making more work for yourself when you end up having to wash them when they’re done in the dishwasher.

4. Cleaning without a routine

Cleaning routines are such a vital part of household cleaning. If you don’t have an adequate cleaning routine each week you could end up spending more time cleaning than you would like on the weekends. This will help you clean faster and more efficient without slowing you down in the long haul.

Are you someone who works a lot but dreads coming home to a messy house? Do you periodically waste your hard-earned money eating out because you can’t face your kitchen long enough to cook? If this is you, you’re not alone. Many people feel this way but think they can’t afford to hire a cleaning professional to help.

So the question remains…

Can I really afford to hire a cleaning professional?

Let’s get real here, sometimes cleaning your home is hard. So hard in fact that the only option you have left is to hire help. But can you really afford it? Would hiring help cost you more than you can chew? 

The cost of a professional cleaner isn’t as expensive as you think. Especially when you step back and look at how the on-demand economy has revitalized the service industry. But if dollar equations don’t do it for you, taking the time to learn that your time is sometimes more valuable than money should.

Sometimes trading a few bucks for more time at work (with friends or family) could be just the thing you need. Hiring a professional house cleaner is more about prioritizing your busy on-demand life and less about the cost effects. 

You can read some of the benefits of a cleaning service here.

Things to consider

When it comes time to hire help for your house, consider asking yourself the following questions:

• Do I enjoy this task or is in fundamental to my household chores? If not you should consider hiring help.
• What else could I do with the time that I spend cleaning each week? Could I be exercising, making more money or enjoying time with friends or family?
• Am I using the time I should be using to focus on my health and well being? 
• Does the cost of a professional cleaner really compare to what I could be doing?

Spekless Professional House Cleaners