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From Our Cleaning Family to Your Home

We are delighted that you are our client and have entrusted the health of your home to NW Maids. We are guessing that with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak some of you might be thinking about NW Maids more than usual and wondering if we are taking any extra precautions when cleaning your home.  Yes, we are and we would like to share with you a little about it right now.

First, and most important, our entire staff is committed to consistently using our sanitizer products and process for cleaning that will allow NW Maids to ensure that your home is protected from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) to a 99.9% germ free level, each and every time we clean your home. The Industry Standard for cleaning a residential home is 97% germ free.  During this time we have chosen to raise the bar to the highest germ free level available at this time.

We began our effort by disinfecting all high-touch surfaces. Here is why this is important:

• Our Sanitizer products are the most effective disinfectant, killing 99.9% of germs on surfaces (reducing cross-contamination).
• It was also shown to kill the Coronavirus (COVID-19)* and Hepatitis A in 60 seconds.
• It proved to eliminate Listeria, Salmonella, E. coli and Norovirus in 30 seconds.
• It leaves no harsh odors or fumes.
• It is safe to use at businesses, restaurants or homes, since it requires no rinsing after use on food surfaces.

It is the most powerful surface cleaner that meets all of our standards for cleaning, household safety, multi-surface compatibility and 99.9% total disinfecting. NW Maids is committed to your safety and to making sure that our cleaning process is thorough and complete. To show our commitment to complete cleaning, our sanitizer product will be used on all household and workplace surfaces during our regular cleaning process. This product will be used alongside our regular scrubbing, polishing, dusting, mopping, vacuuming and cleaning services. We want to offer the best to our clients and assure them that we are taking the best precautions against the spread of harmful germs and bacteria.

We always maintain housecleaning best practices. During this time, we have added a new high-touch disinfecting procedure where we use disinfectant cleaning agents on all door knobs, light switches, door frames, hand rails, appliance control panels and other high touch areas in the home.

As we said earlier, our staff is committed to keeping your home Coronavirus free and have also committed to staying home if they are sick to protect you, our clients and their co-workers.  We are also asking for your help in keeping all of our homes healthy.  If there are symptoms of illness for any persons in your home please give us a call so that we can postpone or reschedule your cleaning.

A clean home is a healthy home, and now, it’s more important than ever!  

We hope that you have found this information useful and feel that NW Maids is adding to your safety and peace of mind while you are in your home. Your health depends on a clean environment, and we’re here to help you maintain a clean and safe standard of living.

We will do everything that we can to insure we meet or exceed your expectations for a healthy home. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to improve, enhance or expand our services to better meet your needs.

If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to call our office at (206) 508-5850 or…

BOOK ONLINE NOW

We are here for you!  

Best regards,
NW Maids Support Team
Phone: (206) 508-5850

First impressions matter, especially when it comes to your home. Once the front door is open, your guests are either met with soothing scents or unpleasant odours that will forever be in their memory. No one wants their house to be referred to as the house that smells weird. This isn’t to say that there aren’t everyday smells that tend to permeate the house and refuse to leave. For instance, any habited house is bound to have a smell associated with what happens in that house. Just because everyday living has a smell, doesn’t mean it cannot be reversed.

Numerous unpleasant smells can plague your home. Sometimes the stench might be from the most unlikely places; e.g. under the dishwasher where a piece of meatloaf fell last week. Whichever way, for every smell that may arise in your home, exists a couple of DIY solutions to resolve it. After all, our great grandparents didn’t have Swiffer and Clorox wipes to clean up spills. Our friends at https://ehmaids.ca compiled 5 amazing DIY solutions to keep your house smelling good. The best part about this is that they involve items you already have at home.

•    Baking Soda: It is natural for any kitchen to have a smell but it definitely should not be the smell of rotten mouldy food or burnt toast and most of all not your trashcan. Everyone wants a kitchen that smells a lot like a pastry shop but that isn’t always the case. Baking soda is a good odour absorbent. To get rid of rank smells, place a baking soda box in the fridge or mix with essential oil to clean your trashcan.

•    Fruits and spices: one of our favourite natural deodorizers include fruits and here’s why. No one turns up their noses at the exquisite smell of fruits, plus they really eliminate stenches from the house. This solution involves ¾ of boiling water, slices of fruits (we prefer lemon and grapefruit), a couple of sticks of cinnamon and voila! Leave to boil on low and add water where necessary.

•    Homemade diffusers: all you require for this is a mug that can heat up, boiling water, a candle warmer and essential oil. Add 3-4 drops of essential oil into the mug with an average amount of boiling water. Then place the mug on the candle warmer. It is as simple as that. In the winter months, we recommend using Eucalyptus oil as it clears out the sinuses after a day in the cold and gives your home a mentholated scent

•    Candles: some air fresheners cover-up rather than eliminate smells but candles are an inexpensive but ideal way to get rid of smells. Even if you have plain candles, adding a few drops of lavender oil can change the smell of your home.

•    White Vinegar: like baking soda, white vinegar is one of the easiest and best ways to eliminate odours in the home. For carpet odours, mix white vinegar with water and spray onto the carpet. Placing a cup of white vinegar in a room absorbs the musty stench of that room.

House smells have a way of latching on to carpets and furniture but it doesn’t mean that with proper care, the smells cannot be eliminated. The best part of these DIY house cleaning solutions is that they all involve materials that you already have at home. Take back control of the smell of your house.

In case you haven’t heard, time is the only asset you have that you can’t acquire any more of. Of course, there have been increasingly more tantalizing breakthroughs in the longevity field, but nonwithstanding a phase-shift in the lifespan of humans, it seems as though we have a finite amount of time on our hands to use as we please.

That being the case, it would be foolish to presume that other assets you have are more valuable, since you are at any time able to make more money and acquire more valuables.

For that matter, you can also lose all of your money or valuables quickly.

Time, however, remains the constant asset that is forever being slowly drained of you. So it would make sense to protect your most prized asset with the ferocity with which you would protect your cash or belongings. However, most folks don’t think of it that way.

In fact, most people frivolously squander their time on… let’s say, peculiar things, while feverishly guarding their monetary posessions with genuine tenacity.

Why is it, then, that we do this? Why don’t we guard our time with the same bullishness that we use to guard our money?

Probably because of a 2 main things:

1. Perspective. If your bank account dips, you get an instant hit to your morale if your goal is to save money. Time, on the other hand, is constantly slipping away silently. Imagine a backwards clock that’s counting down until you die – wouldn’t that light a fire under your butt to get more stuff done with the limited time you have left?
2. Status. If you waste time doing things that bring your life no value, nobody sees it (except in the long run). However, money can be used to increase your status and instantly feel better about yourself. So of course folks are going to try and accumulate wealth without regarding their time as more valuable – you can use wealth to feel superior to other people, but you can’t quip “I have more free time than you!” and achieve quite the same effect.

Speaking of time, how much is your time worth? Can you even put a monetary value on it? It should be priceless, since you can’t get any of it back.

That being said, why would you waste your precious time on this earth doing something like cleaning your home?

Why not instead hire a cleaning service to do the work for you?

As the owner of Tidy House Cleaning Service says, “What you’re really buying when you purchase a home cleaning service is more time.”

That can’t be emphasized enough – it makes fiscal sense to trade money for time because money has an inherent cap on it’s value, while your time should be regarded as infinitely more valuable than anything else you could possibly own.

So stop scrubbing those toilets and let the pros handle the dirty work. Meanwhile, spend more time with your family, get a new haircut, walk your dog, go hiking, and live.

You’ll be providing much needed income to hard working individuals that will be very grateful for the opportunity to better their financial situation, and you’ll free up your own time to finally have some fun out in the sun for once.

Don’t delay – book a house cleaning service today and thank me later. 

So how do you actually clean green… the RIGHT way? Experts weigh in…

Ah yes… cleaning without the toxic chemicals. Sounds like a dream come true.

A recent publication from Tree Hugger talks about 10 different ways that you can incorporate green cleaning into your routine simply and easily. It is possible, and works better than you probably conceived! (Inconceivable… cue the Princess Bride references).

Without further ado, here are the 10 simple ways to green clean your home with ease!

1. Get eco-friendly cleaning products
2. Avoid poor indoor air quality
3. Watch out for antibacterial cleaners
4. Basically… baking soda
5. Clean your indoor air… the eco-friendly way
6. Get rid of all of your toxic cleaners
7. Avoid dry cleaners (the convential ones)
8. Hire a green cleaning service
9. Get those shoes off!
10. How to design your home to be clean and green

Let’s take a deep dive into the world of green cleaning and unveil the curtain on the professional secrets to this subtle craft!

1) Get your green cleaning products!

The basics consist of Baking Soda, Borax, White Vinegar, Lemon, Castile Soap, and something called Washing Soda, which is actually sodium carbonate.

The article warns that you probably shouldn’t leave these chemicals around young ones and pets, but for the most part they are more innocuous than the far more chemically laden ones.

You can check out other brands such as Mrs. Meyers and Method for more green cleaning action.

2) Avoid bad indoor air quality

Get those windows open! You want to make sure your home is well-ventilated, since this is one of the best things you can do for your home while cleaning it. All of those toxins you’re removing are definitely going to make the air more toxic, so replace it with fresh air!

3) Steer clear of antibacterial cleaners

Here’s the thing about antibacterial cleaners… they actually remove a lot of good bacteria, and make it easier for super germs to spread! (Cue ominous music…)

4) Baking soda for the win!

Here’s the thing about Baking Soda – you can use it on just about everything cleaning related! Especially when it comes to freshening up carpets and removing stains. Put the power of the soda to use, and you won’t regret it!

5) Clean your indoor air naturally

You can always try using some plants to clean the indoor air – they are great at filtering the air so that you only breathe the freshest air possible!

6) Get rid of your toxic cleaners safely

According to 604 Maids, a cleaning service in Vancouver, Canada: “A lot of toxic cleaners actually need to be recycled at the correct facilities instead of throwing them in the trash. This helps the environment tremendously, and that’s what we’re all about!”

Make sure that if you’re throwing those old spray bottles in the trash, you’re not polluting the environment too much! If they have instructions on how to dispose of them, follow those instead of just chucking it.

7) Avoid dry cleaners (conventional ones)

Yes, they’re toxic! That’s pretty much all we need to say about that.

8) Hire a green cleaning service

Shameless plug: You can always hire us here at NW Maids for your green cleaning service needs if you’re within an hour of the Seattle, WA area!

9) Kick your shoes off!

It’s important not to track in the toxins that you may have been exposed to outside, into the home. Instead, try taking your shoes off in an ‘airlock’ of sorts – an area before you step into your bedroom or living room that serves as a location where you can keep shoes and other things that might potentially have dirt or toxins on them. Examples: oil, antifreeze, debris from street trash, etc.

10) Designing your home to be clean and green

I would actually recommend that you design your home in the way described above, because that will get you the best shot at keeping your home clean. And of course, if you need any sort of cleaning advice, contact us or book your cleaning online with our handy booking form!

 

Thank you for reading and let us know how these tips work for you!

 

It’s time to lift the curtain on the best secrets in the book for green cleaning…

Yes, I’m sure that you’ve considered green cleaning, but also been hesitant to try it out. Let’s face it – sometimes you just need some bleach to get the job done. Or do you…

A recent publication from The Spruce talks about 6 different ways that you can incorporate green cleaning into your routine simply and easily. It is possible, and works better than you probably conceived! (Inconceivable… cue the Princess Bride references).

Without further ado, here are the 6 simple ways to green clean your home with ease!

1. Start with the basics
2. Try commercial cleaning products
3. Keep your drains clean
4. Thing four
5. Thing five
6. Thing six

Let’s take a deep dive into the world of green cleaning and unveil the curtain on the professional secrets to this subtle craft!

1) Start with the basics

The basics consist of Baking Soda, Borax, White Vinegar, Lemon, Castile Soap, and something called Washing Soda, which is actually sodium carbonate.

The article warns that you probably shouldn’t leave these chemicals around young ones and pets, but for the most part they are more innocuous than the far more chemically laden ones.

 

2) Try commercial cleaning products

The site encourages you to purchase commercial cleaning products that are ‘green.’ The reason for this is that these products tend to be easier to use, due to not having to mix anything. The ease of use is definitely an advantage if your goal is to get the job done in the easiest way possible. Remember, that’s what we’re trying to achieve in the end – a clean home for you with less work and less chemicals!

3) Keep your drains clean

Apparently it’s a good idea to use a strainer in order to keep debris from collecting in your drains, making it generally hard to clean in that area. It’s important to use a plunger first, then a concoction of baking soda and vinegar to get the job done. And remember – you should always pour some boiling water down the drain. Ideally weekly in order to keep the drain free of grease residue and buildup. Thank me later when you save on Dran-o!

4) Wood surfaces – how to clean them the green way

Real World Services Co, a commercial cleaning service in Columbus, OH adds that “You can clean most wood surfaces with olive oil and vinegar. This is a less-known folk remedy that works wonders in a pinch.”

Who knew that salad dressing could become wood cleaner, but I guess then you could eat off of the floor, right? Right? I know, it’s a bad one. Don’t hold it against us!

Pro Tip: For wood floors, try a 1/4 cup vinegar with a gallon of hot water.

5) Windows! Windows everywhere!

According to a post on Angie’s List, it costs about $2 to $7 per pane for window cleaning. That can get expensive!

If you can see specks on your windows, they are about to be blasted away by an amazing concoction!

Lemon juice and water will get the trick done. Try it out and let us know how it works!

6) Oven cleaning

Two words – baking soda. This is the old folk remedy that works the best and it’s very green as well. Just make sure that you’re letting it soak overnight so that the grime has a chance to come off. This is especially important if you don’t have one of those fancy self cleaning ovens. I mean, who does? Oh, that’s right. Most people. We should really get one of those for the office! But then we wouldn’t get to clean it, and that would make us sad, because we love cleaning!

Did we mention you can book us online if you’re in the Seattle area and are sick of cleaning your oven?

7) The bathroom

The combination of baking soda and vinegar is very popular. In fact, “baking soda and vinegar recipes” garners over 25 million results on Google. It’s no surprise then, that you can use this magical combo to clean your toilet as well.

Pro Tip: Use borax on your tile and shower to scrub them clean!

8) Fresh air – the green way

Have you measured your air quality? Probably not, because that’s not something normal people do. But to tell you the truth, it’s something that affects your mood and quality of life more than you probably imagine!

Vinegar and baking soda (again) are used together to clean the air.

We hope this list helps, and please check out our handy online booking form if you need maid or housecleaning services in Seattle, WA.

 

Why you shouldn’t just hire any cleaning company – investigate!

Yes, we’ve all been in a hurry before, needing a cleaning service and not caring who you went with. We understand how you feel!

However, if you’re going to let someone into your home, there are several things you should probably ask beforehand. Let’s get into them now!

According to a recent blog by care.com there are 7 things that you should look out for before hiring a cleaning service.

1. What your individual needs are
2. The qualifications of the cleaner or company you’re thinking of hiring
3. Their experience
4. Your schedule vs theirs – are they able to fit you in?
5. Cleaning supplies – who provides them, what are they like?
6. How can you pay? What methods do they accept?
7. References and Background Checks – super important for the sensitive job of going into your home!

Let’s check these out together and figure out more about them!

1) Your individual needs

You should always consider what your actual needs are – if the individual or service you’re thinking of hiring doesn’t accomodate for your individual needs, run!

Here is a sample cleaning checklist that you can reference – it includes all the basics of a regular cleaning, plus some extras and add-ons that you may want to mention to your cleaning professional or company.

Make sure you are clear about what it is you need – are there areas of your home that need special attention? Are you expecting a deep cleaning for the price of a regular cleaning? These discrepancies should be able to be answered by your cleaning individual accurately and clearly. It’s important for your home to be in good hands, and this is a great way to make sure you’re getting a person or service that can fulfill your cleaning needs!

 

2) The qualifications of the cleaner or company

It’s super important to check if the company or cleaner you are thinking of hiring actually has the correct qualifications. Cleaning is a job that does require a high level of organization and expertise. This is partially due to it being a job that requires you to match the correct cleaning products and cleaning techniques to the correct surfaces that you are cleaning. For example: If you use Bleach on a glass stovetop, it does cause damage!

Clean Maids near Cypress, TX has this to say: “Granite, marble and stainless steel appliances (like fridges and sinks) all need to be handled with the correct products and cleaning supplies, otherwise they can be seriously damaged and need to be replaced. This can be quite costly so you want to make sure you have well trained cleaners!”

 

3) The cleaner’s experience (and feedback)

 

It’s very imporant to regard the cleaner’s experience and what kind of feedback they’ve received.

Check online review sites like Yelp and Google for online reviews, but keep in mind that you should take these with a grain of salt! It’s common knowledge that 1 in 50 happy customers leaves a review, but 1 in 4 unhappy customers will scream your company’s name from the rooftops!

This is why it’s very important to ensure that your cleaning company or individual has enough experience to have some sort of feedback listed online for them, or at least references that they can send you.

4) Their schedule

 

Is the cleaner or company able to fit you into their schedule? This is important, as schedules fill up fast, and it’s very important to ensure that you can find a spot that works for you. This is even more important if you’re booking a recurring cleaning vs a one-off, because you want to make sure your cleaner can access the property at the time of cleaning. Otherwise they might get locked out and have to charge a cancellation fee in some cases!

5) Cleaning supplies

It’s important to be clear about who provides the cleaning supplies. Are they high quality? Check with your cleaner or company and ensure that whoever provides the cleaning supplies, they are there at the time of cleaning, otherwise there will be a miscommunication that could result in a bad experience.

6) Methods of payment

It’s important to see if you can pay via credit card – make sure that the cleaner or company has a booking form that you can use. This makes it so much easier to book your cleaning, and ensure payment is sent on time on their end as well!

7) References and Background checks

This is pretty self-evident, but it’s worth repeating anyway. Make sure you get your cleaners background checked and get some references, or at the very least, ensure your company that you’re hiring has done so.

We hope this list helps, and make sure you check our our cleaning services if you’re in the Seattle area!