Tips
Invite your guests, develope a menu, agonize over activities. Now the guests will arrive at your home ready to be entertained. Depite all other preparation, none is more important than assuring that your guests of a comfortable, clean, place to be entertained in, your home. Take the time to make your home ready for guests. These ideas for pre-party cleaning to help you get more out of your event can help you a little.
Here’s How:
1.Evaluate what needs to be done.
Writing down a quick list of rooms and places in your home that need attention will give you a plan. Don’t forget entry areas and coat closets.
2.Start with the most important rooms.
Sometimes it helps to begin cleaning from the entryway to your home, and work your way through the places your guests are most likely to go. Check out the intense cleaning guides for living areas, bathrooms, and bedrooms.
3.Don’t forget the clutter.
Clutter can give a spotless home a messy appearance. Give your guests room to move freely in your home. If you’re having trouble getting rid of items ask yourself these questions about clutter. Try to get yourself jump started by choosing a small junk drawer and trying the quick clutter clearing ideas. Don’t forget to use the 4 container clutter method to organize any job.
4.Take shortcuts that work for you.
If there won’t be any children at the party and your guests will only be in living areas, don’t worry about cleaning and detailing family bedrooms. If the party is informal, make your serving dishes informal too. Find ways to save time that fit with the party you’re trying to have.
5.Prepare for minor cleaning emergencies during the party.
Be aware that stains are probably the number one party cleanup culprit. Stock up on your favorite stain removal products. Double check the stain removal helplist. Most of all, don’t stress. These things happen and being prepared only shows more of your ability as host or hostess.
6.Recruit help.
Use your family or closest friends to help you prepare. Find tips on involving your family in cleaning and use them to mobilize your forces at home. Check out our ideas on making chores fun. For many people, professional cleaning help may be the better choice. If you intend to have help before or during the party, be sure to reserve your place as soon as you have the dates and times you’ll need them. Especially during any holiday season, help can be hard to find.
7.Add your own finishing touches.
Preparing your home for a party is more than just stripping it of its clutter and dirt. It also gives you a chance to add small touches that make your home comfortable and inviting. Try flower arrangements, photographs, candles, or incense. Try to stimulate the senses of your guests. Do a walk-through after you’ve cleaned and decluttered to see how your guests will experience the rooms in your home.
8.Enjoy the party.
Try not to stress over the little things that may seem to go wrong during the party. Just enjoy the fruits of your efforts.
Tips:
1.The more involved and complicated the party is, the more time you’ll have to prepare your home. Last minute informal gatherings do not require your home to be in perfect order. The 15 minute cleanups should be adequate to get your house in shape.
What You Need:
•Pen and paper
•Various cleaning supplies
•4 boxes to clear clutter
•Finishing decorative touches
•Stain treatment products
Bathroom Cleaning Tips
Windows and Mirrors
In a 32 oz. spray bottle, add 1/3 cup white (clear) vinegar and 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol. If you absolutely must have another cleaner, add 1 tablespoon automatic dishwashing detergent.
Tubs and Shower Stalls
Alkaline deposits in the water cause those not so pretty spots on your glass doors and shower walls. Apply a car wax to the walls and doors, but not the floor or it gets real slick. Both fiberglass and glass are porous. The car wax seals those pores, which makes cleaning easier and keeps water spots away. Reapply twice yearly.
Squeegee or wipe down your shower after each use to further prevent buildup. If you’re tired of fighting the soap scum buildup, switch to liquid soap, natural soap or Dove. It’s the talc in most bar soaps that causes the buildup. Changing soap can eliminate the buildup. You still need to clean the shower once a week, but the job is easier.
Clean the showers once a week with an orange citrus based cleaner. Spray on and give it ten minutes to dissolve the dirt. Why do all that scrubbing when your product does it for you?
OK, so the soap scum refuses to budge and friends are coming for a visit. Use your orange based cleaner concentrated. Pour plenty on an old dishrag and wipe on the walls and doors. Use can use boiling hot white vinegar (wear gloves) but you must keep applying it as the white vinegar dries. It takes time to dissolve that buildup.
Patience now becomes a virtue. Wait and wait and wait some more. Go clean the rest of the house. If the cleaner starts dripping down the walls, wipe it back on. Check the walls with a fingernail. If the residue removes easily, round one is about over.
Use a white bristle pad to scrub. They look like fibers and are glued to a sponge. Use the white ones only. The colored scrubbers are coarser and do scratch. Test a spot to make sure it won’t scratch the fiberglass. Dampen the pad, keeping it good and wet and gently scrub. This removes the soap buildup and most of the white mineral deposits on the glass doors. Nothing removes the etch marks themselves, but further damage is halted. Reapply the orange citrus cleaner if necessary.
Plastic shower curtains can be machine washed. Remove, spray with your diluted orange based cleaner and wait about 10 minutes. Wash with your rags and they come out quite clean. Air dry. If the curtain is long enough, cut off the seam at the bottom to prevent mildew buildup down there.
Toilets
Ring around your toilet? Again, alkaline deposits cause those nasty rings. Depending on the hardness of your water, pour one or two cups of white vinegar into the toilet once a month to eliminate the problem.
Toilet bowl rings – Here I take a deep breath and plead with you to follow these instructions. Repeat. Follow these instructions. Do not deviate or you will scratch the inside of your toilet bowl.
Turn off the water flow to the toilet and flush to remove the water. Saturate a couple of heavy duty paper towels with white vinegar or the Orange Citrus Cleaner. Place around the edges making sure all areas are covered. Keep the towels damp for several hours, even overnight, until the water spots start dissolving. Then scrub with a stiff nylon brush.
If the white vinegar does not dissolve the whole ring, go to a janitorial supply store or a hardware store and purchase a pumice stone and a stiff toothbrush. Dampen one end of the pumice stone and keep it wet.
Gently, very gently, rub the pumice stone across the lines. When enough pumice builds on the sides, switch to a stiff bristle brush to continue working. Rub gently until the deposit disappears. Pumice will scratch the toilet. Use it only one time and cautiously.
Sinks
Once a month, pour one cup of baking soda, followed by one cup of white vinegar down the drain. Wait an hour and flush with warm water. The combination fizzles away most of the buildup. Works for shower, tub and kitchen sink drains as well.
Faucets
Water deposits build up around faucets and drain areas. Use a paper towel soaked in white vinegar and place around the faucet. Plug the drain and pour 1/2 cup white vinegar in the sink and wait. It takes time for the white vinegar to dissolve the alkaline deposits. Scrub using a stiff bristled nylon toothbrush.
Do not use orange based or powdered cleansers on brass or gold plated faucets. These fixtures corrode and scratch quickly. Dry these faucets after each use to prevent water spot damage.
Mildew
Keep ahead of mildew so it doesn’t become a problem. Every six months spray your bathroom ceiling with a 50/50 solution of hydrogen peroxide and water. Peroxide is a safe bleach and won’t harm the environment or your lungs. Find larger quantities of peroxide at beauty or medical supply stores.
Spray the mixture on and leave it. No need to rinse or scrub. If you currently have mildew, follow the above directions. Wait two hours and respray. Then wait 24 hours and spray a third time if necessary.
VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE TIPS: WWW.ANACLEANINGSERVICE.COM
Your family may not be the only ones enjoying the sofa. The soft, comfortable places where families relax and play at home can harbor millions of bacteria. For example, Staphylococcus bacteria can live on soft surfaces for 24 hours.
“Bacteria can be found just about everywhere around the home – on both hard and soft surfaces alike,” says pediatrician Dr. Laura Jana. “While many families take aim at bacteria on hard surfaces such as kitchen and bathroom countertops, soft surfaces tend to fly under the radar during cleaning routines.”
Some commonly overlooked household soft surfaces include:
•Sofas – Since kids spend a significant amount of time playing, sleeping and eating on the sofa, bacteria tends to accumulate on this piece of furniture. However, a recent survey from the Hygiene Council found that the majority (61 percent) of Americans sanitized their sofa only a few times, if at all, since it was purchased.
•Mattresses – Families commonly think that washing their sheets is enough to keep their beds clean. However, people shed bacteria-harboring skin cells onto their mattress each night when they sleep, which becomes especially problematic when someone is sick. This provides food for microbes and dust mites.
•Pillows – Any surface where people rest their heads is bound to be filled with bacteria, especially surfaces that are consistently used, such as pillows. The mouth, nose and ears are vulnerable orifices that rub against pillows and pick up bacteria left behind by previous users.
•Fabric Shoes – Shoes are in constant contact with the ground, which is known to be one of the dirtiest surfaces, but it’s not just the sole of the shoe that collects grime. The fabric surface on shoes also harbors bacteria that is easily transferred when tying your laces or slipping on your heel.
•Car Seats – While their purpose is to offer protection on the road, bacteria lurk in the fabric covering of car seats. They often catch crumbs and absorb spills that can accumulate over time.
What You Can Do
•Clean your soft furnishings and surfaces regularly to remove germs and microbial food sources.
•Consider a steam vapor sanitation device to kill germs without the use of harmful chemicals. Some units have been shown to be very effective at killing pathogens as well as dust mites in fabrics.
•UV-C or ultraviolet light has demonstrated effectiveness against microbes on carpets and hard surfaces alike. Some vacuum cleaners offer a UV-C light mounted on the bottom of the vacuum to help control bacterial growth.
•Sanitizing sprays can be very effective at killing bacteria and viruses on soft surfaces.
For more information on proper disinfection and sanitizing routines, families can visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at www.cdc.gov.
How to clean Ceramic tile floors
We sweep and mop on a regular basis and they stay clean and shiny. Mop floors with clear water or just a dash of liquid dish soap. We change the water when it gets cloudy. Too much soap or dirty water will make floors dull or sticky. We don’t use scrub pads on ceramic tile floors or you might scratch them. Our professional cleaners wash most floors by hand, cleaning and drying a small area at a time.
How to clean Grout
Grout cleaning is a special order an we must come back another day to provide this special request. Old grout may need cleaning with a wax stripper or heavy-duty cleaner plus a grout brush. Sometimes we use a bleaching cleanser on tough spots. Once the grout is as clean as you can get it, rinse it well. When it’s thoroughly dry, apply a coat of masonry sealer so that it doesn’t absorb dirt in the future.
Mildewed grout in tubs or showers, we may use a grout brush with a 1 / 5 solution of chlorine bleach and water. We never use bleach in combination with any ammonia-based product and be sure the area is well-ventilated. When we’ve finished cleaning, rinse the area well to remove all traces of bleach.
We cleaning colored grout with a heavy-duty cleaner and a grout brush, but don’t use bleach because this may remove the color from the grout. Be sure never to use a bleaching solution on colored grout. A masonry sealer can be applied to clean, colored grout to ward off future stains.
The aditional charge for this special cleaning task may go from $100.00 up to $600.00 on large room. The price vary how big is the room.
Visit us at www.anacleaningservice.com for more details.
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