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?

Experiencing some trouble cleaning the house? Your house cleaning routine will never be the same again after you learn these amazing house cleaning tips. 

Here are 10 mind-boggling house cleaning tips that will help you keep a clean house:

1. Use vinegar to clean the microwave 

Get out a small microwave-safe bowl and fill it halfway (about half cup) with vinegar and pop it in the microwave on high for 3-5 minutes. When it’s finished, let it sit for about 1 minute before removing the hot bowl. Then you can go ahead and grab your cleaning cloth and wipe the microwave completely clean – no hard elbow grease necessary. You can also go ahead and add a few drops of lemon essential oil in the bowl for a fresh lemon scent.

2. Clean your grout with toilet cleaner

Clorox toilet bowl cleaner is perfect for cleaning and whitening your floors grout. It’s the perfect tool and one you probably never thought of. Just take you Clorox cleaning gel and run it along the lines of your grout. The gel texture allows it to stay firmly in place so you can let it sit (for about 30 minutes) and let the bleach work its magic before wiping it away with a cleaning cloth.

3. Scrub your garbage disposal with a toothbrush

Another great house cleaning tip is to take an old toothbrush to your garbage disposal to clean it. A lot of times we pour things down the drain like baking soda and bleach to kill the smell but we don’t actually clean the garbage disposal. Get out a small bowl and fill it with hot water and a mild detergent. Take your toothbrush (ok not your toothbrush, but an old one) and get to scrubbing. 

4. Add cleaner to your toilet brush holder

Does your toilet brush cleaner have a small holder for you to set it in when you’re finished with it? Go ahead and fill that bowl with a disinfecting cleaner like Mr.Clean. Not only will this help deodorize your bathroom, but it will also help keep your toilet brush clean. Who wants to clean the toilet with a dirty toilet brush?

5. Get clean walls with your swifter

If you don’t know this, your walls can get pretty dirty after a while. Especially if they go unattended to. Get out your swifter or dust mop and attach a dry dusting cloth to the end. Spray it lightly with some antibacterial dusting spray and run it along the walls. This will have your walls clean and the room smelling fresh in no time.

6. Dust the blinds with a cleaning cloth and tongs

It’s no secret that microfiber cleaning cloths are taking over the world of household cleaning. And this house cleaning tip is no different. Take your kitchen tongs and wrap each one in one of your cleaning cloths and secure it with a rubber band or zip tie. Spray the cloth with dusting spray and run the tong along the inside of each blind.

7. Shine the faucets with dryer sheets

There are a few things you can do around the house using used dryer sheets and one of them is shining your sink faucets. If you have chrome faucets this house cleaning tip works like magic. And it also helps prevent and repel future water stains and grime. Take your dryer sheet and use it as a buffer along the outside of the faucet to get them looking like new. 

8. Freshen up your mattress with baking soda

Noticing some odor coming from your mattress at night? Or have your kids peed the bed again? Freshen it up with baking soda and essential oils. Go ahead and sprinkle baking soda over the entire mattress and let it sit for about 15 minutes before vacuuming it. Next, you can use a mixture of peroxide, salt, and essential oils (lavender, lemon, four thieves) to help remove stains and odor caused by blood, sweat, and urine.

9. Remove crud from your burners with ammonia 

Tired of endlessly scrubbing your burners and not seeing results? You can remove burnt on food and other crud from your stove top burners using this simple house cleaning hack. Take a cup of ammonia and pour it into a ziplock bag (one for each burner) and allow the burners to soak overnight. In the morning you’ll be able to rinse off your burners to be shiny, clean and like new!

10. Clean the couch with baby wipes

The last hack we have for you on our house cleaning tips list is a way to clean your microfiber couch using baby wipes. Yeah, you got, we said baby wipes. Grab an empty spray bottle and add some rubbing alcohol to it. Spray the couch until it’s damp, scrub it with baby wipes, and dry it using a hair dryer (or you can let it air dry) and there you have it – a nice clean couch to sit on.

Spekless Professional House Cleaning

It doesn’t matter whether you need help with once a month deep cleaning or routine weekly cleaning here at Spekless, we’ve got you covered. Contact us today for a free estimate and to see how our professional house cleaners can help you achieve the needs of your household.

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.

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

Many homeowners aren’t aware of the benefits that a professional house cleaning service can provide to them. They spend a lot of time stressing out about their dirty homes and trying to clean it themselves only to fail in the end. So they hire an individual cleaner to help them and end up unhappy with the results.

Here’s why a professional house cleaner could make a world of difference in your home:

Professional house cleaners have been trained

Having a professional house cleaner come to your house is better than paying an individual housekeeper. This is for the simple fact that professional cleaners have been fully-trained to do the job. Now we’re not saying all individual housekeepers don’t know what they’re doing. But instead what we are saying is that professional house cleaners have been taught how to clean your house from top to bottom. It can make a huge difference in the outcome of the service.

Most of the time they’re bonded & insured

If you’ve properly done your due diligence on a cleaning company before hiring them, the company you hire should be bonded and insured. Professional house cleaning companies are often structured to protect both the employees and the clients. Which means if personal possessions are damaged or the cleaner is injured on the job, the company is liable and not you.

Taxes can be a pain

Paying an individual house cleaner can often times be a pain when tax season comes. If you hire outside help, you may be considered an employer by the IRS. That means that you’ll need to file an I-9 for your cleaner and submit information yearly. You can easily avoid this mess by utilizing the help of a local cleaning company.

Spekless professional house cleaning

Want to hire a professional cleaner for your household? If you’re looking for help you with your home, look no further. We can help. Fill out the form on our website today to get a free service estimate.

Living room cleaning checklist

1. Declutter

To start off your living room cleaning checklist, the first thing you’ll do is go through and declutter your living room. Make sure the space is free and clear and easily accessible.

2. Dust

Now go through and dust everything using a cleaning cloth and a dusting spray. For high places, you can use a hand duster. And for the blinds, you can use either a hand duster or the brush attachment on your vacuum cleaner.

3. Sanitize

Once you’re done dusting the entire living room you can start to sanitize any surfaces that need to be disinfected. Surfaces include but are not limited to any remote controls, buttons on the entertainment system, a home telephone, and any handles on drawers or doors.

4. Upholstery

After you’ve sanitized everything now you can go through and clean all of your upholstery. Start by vacuuming the surface using the brush attachment on your vacuum. And if you have any covers on your upholstery you can go ahead and throw them in the washing machine. After you’ve vacuumed the surface you can wipe it down with a damp cleaning cloth or by using the recommended cleaning regime specified by the manufacturer.

5. Shelving

If you have any shelves or drawers in your living room nows the time to clean them out. Wipe down any shelves and pull everything out of the drawers before wiping them down as well. Just take your cleaning cloth and spray it with antibacterial dusting spray before wiping down the surface.

6. Windows

Now it’s time to break out the window cleaner and your microfiber cleaning cloth and clean all the windows in your living room. For this step, you could also go the old fashion route and use newspaper if you don’t have a microfiber rag.

7. Floors

The last thing for you to do in this living room cleaning checklist is to sweep, vacuum, and mop the floors (if applicable). Once you’re done with that you can kick your feet back and relax. You deserve it!

For more living room cleaning tips, check out this post.

Overview

Did this living room cleaning checklist work for you? If so, be sure to check out our blog for more house cleaning tips. Or if you’re interested in getting help cleaning yourself, go ahead and contact us today for a free service estimate. We are here to help!

There are two types of people in this world. Those who make their beds in the morning and those who don’t. Those who don’t are usually those who don’t clean their bedrooms very often. If this is you, you might need a little help in the bedroom cleaning department. 

How often should I make my bed?

Realistically speaking you should be making your bed every single morning when you get out of it. I know it seems like a lot, but once you get in the habit of doing it, it’s not that bad. Making your bed every morning not only helps you keep a clean bedroom, it helps you achieve balance in your daily life.

How often should I wash my sheets and blankets?

If you’re sleeping on your sheets every night, you should be throwing them in the wash weekly. It doesn’t matter how much you shower, our bodies naturally secrete oil and when you’re sleeping that oil ends up on your sheets. So it’s ultimately best that you throw your sheets and blankets in the wash at the end of each week.

How often should I clean the mattress and pillows?

When it comes to bedroom cleaning, you want to make sure you’re cleaning your mattress and your pillows regularly too. Ideally, you should clean your pillows once a month. You can clean them easily by putting them in a mesh laundry bag and throwing them into the wash. Your mattress, on the other hand, can be cleaned once every two to three months by vacuuming it.

How often should I dust and vacuum?

You should be dusting your bedroom at least once every two weeks. And you should be vacuuming your bedroom weekly to help prevent further dust buildup. Make sure you’re dusting everything in your bedroom from the nightstand to any shelving and even the corners of the wall. 

Overview

Need help cleaning your bedroom? Contact us today for a free estimate and one of our specialists will follow up with a free service estimate. Our professional house cleaners are trained to clean household rooms such as the bedroom. And we would love to work with you.

Bathroom cleaning is one of the most important cleaning tasks in a household. The bathroom should be cleaned weekly. In our efforts to help you save some time and energy we’ve created a bathroom cleaning checklist (and list of supplies) to help you get the job done right.

Bathroom Cleaning Supplies

When cleaning the bathroom you want to have all your supplies in one place. The best thing to do would be to purchase a caddy or a tote to hold all of your supplies under the bathroom sink. After you’ve gathered all of your supplies you can begin working on your bathroom cleaning checklist.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Caddy or tote
• Sponge
• Rubber gloves
• Toilet bowl brush/scrubber
• Microfiber rag
• Mini broom/dustpan
• Glass cleaner
• Bathroom all-purpose cleaner

Bathroom Cleaning Checklist

Empty Trash

After you’ve removed all or any bath mats or rugs from the bathroom you can start your cleaning checklist by emptying the trash. This is also when you’ll want to remove any dirty laundry and anything on the countertops.

Dust

Next, take your duster and work from top to bottom dusting the entire bathroom. Dust any light fixtures, the top of the medicine cabinet, the back of the toilet, etc.

Disinfect

Now spray everything down with your bathroom cleaner slash disinfectant. This is your tub, sinks, toilet, and counterspace. It’s also a good idea to spray your trash can down too. They can get a little dirty sometimes. Once you’ve sprayed them, let the solution sit for at least two minutes before moving on to the next step.

Wipe/Scrub

Taking your microfiber cloth, wipe down all surfaces you just sprayed. If your bathtub needs a little TLC, take your bathroom cleaner and spray it again and then use your sponge to help remove some of the soap scum and grime from it. Once that’s done you can take your glass cleaner and a clean microfiber cloth and wipe down the mirror before heading to the last step.

Pro Tip: After you’ve wiped down your surfaces take a dry microfiber cloth to buff and shine the surfaces.

Floors

Finish up your bathroom cleaning checklist by vacuuming and mopping your floors from the inner corner out. It’s best to use a microfiber mop on the bathroom floor to really make it shine.

Need Help?

There’s help when you need it. Finding time to clean the bathroom in our everyday lives is difficult. If you’re too busy to clean the bathrooms in your help or it’s becoming overwhelming, there’s help available. Here at Spekless, we offer one-time and routine cleaning services to help you achieve the needs of your household. Contact us today for a free estimate.