It’s hard to believe this time of year is upon us once again. As the holidays are quickly approaching, our stress levels beging to peak as we try to prepare our homes for the most perfect party and/or gathering. No matter how much we prepare, it seems like we are never quite ready. Well here are a few pointers that we hope can and will help you get ready for your gathering.
Start Early: Begin cleaning before the seasonal rush, so you can break tasks down into manageable chunks. It also gives you more time to tackle long-term projects, like polishing silverware and rearranging furniture.
Make a List: Before you get started, divide chores by room and estimate the time it will take to complete each task. Then decide if you can squeeze in cleaning during commercials or if you should set aside an entire afternoon.
Clean in Chunks: Set aside a fixed time each day, like right before bed or after your morning coffee, to get things done. You’ll be amazed at how much you can check off your list in under an hour.
Take Shortcuts: If you find yourself needing a quick cleaning fix, take a couple of shortcuts to tide you over until you can give rooms a deeper scrub.
Enlist Help: Designate a specific time each week for cleaning and divide chores so members of your household can pitch in. For example, have kids make their own beds, sort toys, dust and wipe off countertops.
Simplify: Instead of cleaning around the clutter, eliminate it. Give yourself an hour per room to decide what to keep and what to toss, then organize the keepers.
Have Fun: While you clean, listen to books on CD from the library, put on your favorite podcast, or dance to high-energy tunes. And when you’re finished, reward yourself with a long, relaxing bath or sweet treat.
The most important thing to do as a host, is to take the time to enjoy yourself and your guests. After all, being around our family and friends is what it is all about, right?!?!
Happy Holidays from our family here at Minch Professional Cleaning Services, LLC to yours!
With the holiday season in full swing, many families are gearing up to play host to Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends. This requires prepping and cleaning up to make the home look presentable when guests arrive. For the Thanksgiving holiday, Minch Professional Cleaning Services, LLC is pleased to announce they are now offering a cleaning special to help their valued clients focus on preparing a delicious dinner.
The special being offered totals $100 in savings. When making an appointment before December 31, 2013, clients will receive $50 off an initial deep cleaning lasting a minimum of four hours. A deep cleaning includes thoroughly going through all areas and rooms of the home, washing, scrubbing, vacuuming, and cleaning every inch of the house. A professional cleaner from Minch Professional Cleaning Services, LLC will conduct an initial walkthrough and then proceed to move from room to room washing any and all woodwork, including doors and doorknobs. They will make sure the windows are washed, the blinds are cleaned and in order, floors are polished to shine, and all light fixtures are cleaned as well. With the deep cleaning the team is able to provide the perfect setting and a fresh aroma for hosting company on the holiday.
Once clients experience the cleaning process that Minch Professional Cleaning Services, LLC offers with their $50 savings, they will receive $10 off each of the next five maintenance cleanings. Maintenance cleanings will touch up the home and the cleaners will dust, vacuum, scrub and sanitize all rooms, while thoroughly cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms.
To hear more about the holiday special from the premier cleaning service in Bucks County, or to inquire on making an appointment for an initial deep cleaning, please call 215-949-2154 or visit their website today. To take advantage of this limited time offer, appointments must be made before December 31, 2013.
Awesome New FUN Tip/Tricks for this fast moving Holiday season. If you have guests coming over for the Holiday season You will want to read this!!You have your entire sumptuous menu planned for Thanksgiving. Succulent turkey with your secret recipe glaze, green-bean casserole with homemade caramelized onions, sweet potato souffle with a pecan streusel topping, homemade yeast rolls, two caramel apple pies, three traditional pumpkin pies and two Chocolate Silk Pies. The other visitors are bringing appetizers and drinks. You turn around in excitement, and as your eyes leave your tempting menu, you gaze upon your house. “Oh yeah,” you think, “visitors have to be in my house to eat.” It’s not exactly ready for the holiday guests right now, but don’t fret! You still have time to get it comfy, inviting and sparkly clean! Here are some tips to aid in your journey to creating the perfect atmosphere in your home for holiday guests!
1. Freshen up the guest room. Nothing says welcome like a freshly cleaned guest room. Strip all bed linens and give them a fresh washing. Pull out matching towels and wash cloths for the guest bath. Include a basket of new toiletry and useful items they may need while visiting. Add a special touch by adding a couple holiday scented candles with matches included. Attach a small note of where items that may be needed are located-iron, ironing board, washing machine, etc. Place a fresh bouquet of flowers in the room to give an added fresh scent. Iron bed sheets for a crisp look and feel. If your guests are avid coffee drinkers, leave a few mugs, some joe, and an extra coffee maker in the room for added convenience.
2. Dust and wipe down walls and doors. Day-to-day living can take a toil on walls and doors. As families rush to and fro, a smudge here or a smudge there may go unnoticed. Do a thorough cleaning to add extra shine and beauty to your home. Any scuff marks can be easily scrubbed away with magic erasers or plain white toothpaste-not the gel. Toddlers’ artistic expressions on your painted walls will disappear using these methods as well. Give base boards a good wipe down as they tend to get the brunt of the dirtiness from weather ridden, muddy shoes. Doors need a thorough wipe down. Make the handles sparkle with some Windex.
3. Febreeze upholstered couches and chairs. Add extra freshness to the main gathering areas by spraying them down with your favorite fabric refresher. If you are stretching your dollars, make your own fabric freshener. Here’s a simple recipe: 1 part baking soda 1 part fabric softener 2 parts warm water Mix together and store in a clean, plastic spray bottle.
4. Organize pantry and dish cupboard. With all the commotion and extra helping hands in the kitchen during the holidays, cut down on chaos through organization. Make sure every dish has a place. All Tupperware items are matched with lids, baking pans are sorted, casserole dishes have matching covers, etc. Make serving utensils easy to find. Place tongs with tongs, whisks with whisks, etc. Make sure your food is situated in a common-sense order. Baking goods like baking powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, etc. should be in the same area. Canned goods in another section. Stack all pastas together. Unopened condiments should be stored together in the pantry as well. Friends and family will thank you for making your pantry easily navigable.
5. Give the bathrooms a good scrub. It is more than difficult to feel at home in a place where the bathroom is dingy and smelly. Break out the best cleaning supplies and start scrubbing. Begin with the tub and shower. Leave no spot unscrubbed! Don’t forget the shower curtain. Any shower caddies should be washed clean as well. Wipe downs don’t get all the germies off like a good scrub. Next attack the sink. No rings allowed! Scrub until it sparkles. Wipe down the faucet with vinegar or glass cleaner. Clean the mirrors with glass cleaner and a squeegee. After that, make your toilet bowl shine. Lastly, sweep, scrub and mop the floors. If any stains remain in the bathroom, grab a magic eraser. Even stains from years past may disappear!
6. Provide labeled drinking cups for guests. No one likes playing the “Guess Your Cup” game. Make it simple by buying disposable cups. Using a permanent marker, write the name of each guest on a cup. Or you could be a bit more festive, and make homemade guest cup tags for their drinking pleasure. One idea is to use glasses with handles and tie a ribbon around the handle and attach a name tag. You could also try making button drink labels. You only need two items-contrasting buttons and glue dots. Glue dots are sticky circles of glue mainly used in scrap-booking. Check out any of your local craft stores for this helpful adhesive. When the glasses are dry, attach a glue dot and embellish with a cute button. At the end of the night, you can just peel the buttons off.
7. Give All Floors the good once-over. The day before or the morning of your get together, vacuum all carpets or rugs. Sweep and mop all hard floors. This will put the extra clean twinkle in your holiday readying efforts. To avoid fall or winter debris from entering your home, place mats at the entry doors for visitors to shake off excess dirt. A shoe rack near the door could be a courteous way to encourage people to remove their shoes before entering. Never ask a guest to remove their shoes, just provide the option and a way for them to clean off their shoes before entering.
8. Prepare for Kiddos. If families with little ones are invited to your get together, provide a kid-friendly room with crayons, coloring books, kid books, toys, balls, parent-approved DVDs and other fun activities. Keep some extra sippy cups handy to prevent spills. Happy kids make happy parents!
9. For the ease of everyone, consider disposable table ware. Holidays are the best time for catching up with each other’s life happenings. Washing dirty dishes for 30 or 40 people can be time consuming. Why not make it simple and purchase disposable plates and silverware? No one has to wait for the hostess to begin fun games or activities that are planned. Just make sure you purchase large enough trash bags to collect all the trash.
10. Accent your house with seasonal decorations. It’s a little difficult to get in the spirit of the holidays in an un-decorated home. Spend a little time and money and add appropriate and eye-pleasing decor. Go with a fun, classy or modern theme, but keep the theme the same. Uniform decor has a “put together” sort of feel instead of a hodge podge effect. Decorations do not have to be expensive or extravagant. A little goes a long way.
11.Think happy thoughts. The house can be breath-taking, and the food mouth watering, but if the hostess is a sour-faced Grinch no one is going to have an enjoyable time. Preparing all the details beforehand instead of last minute can help avoid catastrophes that lead to a complete meltdown.
No matter the circumstances that come your way, keep a smile on your face and kindness in your words. Show all your guests love, hospitality and cheer. This, by far, will out shine the decor, yummy edibles, immaculate house and exciting activities.
Am I the only one who noticed that lately everyone seems to be having babies?!?! Talk about a baby boom! Being a parent is certainly a full time hands on and even sometimes challenging job. We here at Minch Professional Cleaning Service want to find ways to help make things easier on everyone. Here are a few things we recommend to help keep the germs away from your baby.
Toxic Chemicals: Always remember that the toxic effects of chemicals hit a baby or young child harder than they do adults because they are so small. Keeping a baby safe from the effects of toxic cleaners yet their room clean requires a bit of diligence and know how.
Disinfect: Babies put things in their mouths. Please make certain your baby’s pacifiers, sippy cups, teething rings etc are not made in China as many of these products contain lead. Never disinfect baby items with bleach or standard disinfectants. Disinfectants other than food grade distilled white vinegar and hydrogen peroxide are laden with toxic chemicals that cause far more serious ailments than the germs they supposedly kill.
Make sure your vinegar is food grade otherwise it is made from petroleum. Vinegar has been proven to kill more germs than bleach. To sanitize your baby’s pacifiers, teething rings and sippy cup lids, soak them in a 50/50 solution of water to vinegar. Then wipe them down with hydrogen peroxide and rinse with water. Don’t even think of outsmarting my system and mix the vinegar and peroxide together. The two mixed together neutralize the germ killing ability of the other.
Disinfect: Vinegar and peroxide are the best way to clean and disinfect baby’s room and things like diaper pails. Wipe down surfaces with the vinegar solution followed by the peroxide. Always date your peroxide when you purchase it. Any peroxide more than six months old has deteriorated past its prime. Use old peroxide to remove spit up off baby’s clothes or instead of bleach in your washer.
Essential Oil: When cleaning baby’s room with the vinegar solution add a drop of Pine or Rosemary essential oil. They are excellent cleaners as well as deodorizers, disinfectants and antiseptics. When you purchase essential oils buy only organic, Therapeutic, cold-pressed oils. Make certain they don’t contain filler oils and store the remaining bottle in the refrigerator in a closed container.
When washing baby’s cloths and blankets, do not use fabric softeners or dryer sheets as the chemicals soak into their skin and cause irritations. Instead pour 2/3 of a cup of food grade distilled white vinegar into the cup dispenser for fabric softener. It’s cheaper, works better and won’t soak into the skin where it can build up and cause health issues later in life.
Of course we recommend our maintenance cleans to help keep your entire house clean. We offer services where all green products are used for your child’s safety. Have a great week!
Are you wondering what to get your sweetheart this Valentine’s Day? Having a hard time coming up with something he/she will really love? No need to worry any further! We can help you with that! Did you know that Minch Professional Cleaning Services, LLC offers gift cards? Let’s be honest, who wouldn’t want the gift of a nice clean home to sit back and relax in? Our gift cards are offered in any denomination you prefer. Not sure how much to get your gift card for? No need to worry about that either. We have trained professionals available at the office who can help with that too. See how easy we can make this for you! Just pick up the phone and call today because Valentine’s Day is just around the corner 🙂
Minch Professional Cleaning Service, LLC is starting a new rewards program for it’s customers. It is a simple way for our customers to earn back money as they spend it. For every $25 a customer spends on a service, they earn $1 in Minch Money. Once customers have earned $25 in Minch Money, they can use that money on any of our services. One important thing to remember is that you can only use one $25 Minch Money at a time. In addition it can not be combined with any other offer.
Minch Professional Cleaning Service, LLC offers many different services. We do residential cleaning, commercial cleaning and construction cleanup. In addition, we also handle maintenance on all types of flooring including stripping, buffing, and waxing. Our staff is fully trained in all areas to ensure our services provided are the very best we can provide. Residential cleaning can be done on a weekly, bi-weekly and monthly maintenance cleaning schedule. Commercial cleaning is done on an as-needed basis which is typically set by the customer, and it can vary anywhere from multiple times a week to once a month. We schedule around the needs of our customers.
When the team at Minch Professional Cleaning Service, LLC decided to develop a rewards program, it was done with the intention of showing appreciation to their customers. Many of the current customers have been with the company for a long time, so it was important to find a way to show how much we appreciate them and their dedication to us. We all know times are a little tougher right now and the economy has it’s struggles, so this was a way to say that we understood that and that we value every single customer no matter how long or short they have been with us.
We have all said it at least once in our lives. “This year I resolve to get my house organized and clean.” It sounds really good when we say it too. Problem is actually following through with the statement. We know that we really do have great intentions but typically they start out strong only to fizzle as time goes on. Maybe it’s because we don’t actually set a plan up to use and follow up with. Well we want to help with that. We have put together a plan of action for you to follow so you can keep up with it. We know life gets crazy at times, but we simplified this plan as best as we could to help keep your home clean and organized.
This plan that we developed will help you distinguish between daily, weekly and monthly cleaning necessities as well as set organization goals. And the best part is if you happen to veer off course, its pretty simple to hop back on track. We recommend writing it out, maybe on a dry erase board. Truth is your less likely to forget about it, if it’s placed in a highly visible location. Here is a list of how we broke it down for you:
Daily:
There are a few things that should really be done on a daily basis. These things are simple and can be done throughout the day. They are: make the bed, put all dirty clothes into the hamper, wipe down sinks and counters in bathroom, open mail then toss/organize as needed, wipe down sinks and counters in kitchen, wash all dirty dishes, spot vacuum or sweep high traffic areas (if needed), and pick up any toys/clutter around the house.
Weekly:
Typically weekly chores have an assigned day to complete them. Assigning them to a certain day helps create a routine and in turn your more likely to keep up with them. Things to complete weekly are: laundry, changing bed linens, scrub stove top, clean kitchen appliances, disinfect counter tops, doorknobs and handles in kitchen and bathrooms, wipe down all mirrors throughout house, wash/clean any throw rugs, deep clean shower walls and tub in the bathroom, scrub toilets in bathrooms, dust all furniture throughout the house, vacuum all carpeting, sweep and mop all floors, sort through any paperwork that has accumulated during the week (file what needs to be and trash the rest).
Monthly:
Monthly cleaning is when you really have to get down and dirty. No it’s not fun but at least it’s only once a month. The things that need cleaning monthly are: clean the refrigerator inside and out, clean all ceiling fans, wash all floorboards, vacuum all furniture, wipe down walls as needed, dust all air vents, clean windows throughout the house, clean office areas (keyboards, monitors, etc), organize any family rooms or kids toys, and organize your paperwork that you have filed already (keep whats needed, trash what is not).
Organization Goals:
If you have an area or more that you want to get really cleaned up and organized, set up a realistic goal to achieve with it. Pick a day of the week and a time limit to work on it. For example maybe every Thursday for 2 hours you clean up the attic. Keeping it realistic is important. Life happens but it will happen much smoother if you are clean and organized.
It’s no secret that accidents come along with holiday parties. Whether it is a juice spill by a child or a grown man spilling his wife’s wine, the question always comes up “what is the best way for me to remove this stain?”, especially when a professional cleaning service in Bucks County won’t be able to get there right away. I have compiled through extensive research some sure shot ways to get red wine out of carpets this holiday season.
When dealing with carpet colors like light beige or white start by blotting the wine stain with a clean cloth or paper towel quickly to absorb as much liquid as possible. Then try diluting one tablespoon of ammonia in one cup of warm water. Get the stain wet with the ammonia and water solution, allowing it to sit for about five to ten minutes. After that use a clean cloth to again blot the stain, hopefully by this time the red wine will be gone.
Another home remedy that can help is table salt; sprinkle the salt onto the stain while the stain is still wet. As the liquid is absorbed, the crystals will begin to turn red or pink in color. Leave the salt on overnight or a minimum of six hours and then vacuum. In most cases, this red wine stain removal technique will work very well. Finally, moisten the wine stain again generously with club soda, blot the stained area and then sprinkle with salt, when the area is dry pull out the vacuum and clean up the rest of the salt.
If this does not work you may just need to call a cleaning service in Bucks County to put the finishing touches on the stain. But at least you know that you tried and didn’t let the wine sit and soak deep into the carpet. It always feels good to alleviate a problem on your own, don’t hesitate to ask for help from house cleaning companies in Bucks County.
Did you have a minute to check out the article in the Bucks County Courier Times where we are featured? It’s a very nicely written article that talks about cleaning your home while preparing to sell. We offer deep cleaning to assist with getting your home ready for showing. Take a minute to check it out~
There are many things to consider when choosing a cleaning service for your home or place of business. It is very important to be thorough and ask lots of questions especially since after all, your placing a lot of trust in the company. Some of the questions we recommend are:
How long has the company been in business?
Is it a privately owned company or a franchise?
Does the company have proper insurance and liability coverage?
How many cleaners per team and do they same cleaners come back to your home each time?
Do they complete background checks, drug testing, and reference checks on the staff?
Can they provide with a list of what is completed each clean?
What types of things are considered extra services? Are oven, refrigerators, and windows included? If not what are the costs of those things
Does they cleaning service provide the tools needed for the clean or does the customer provide them?
What forms of payment are accepted?
How is the schedule done? Do they give exact times? Do they do reminder/confirmation calls?
Always remember to never be afraid to ask any question. Check with the Better Business Bureau. Get the company’s references. Ask them to provide a proof of insurance, liability and bonding. This is your home/business and it is very important that you feel 100% comfortable with the company. Trust and communication are the keys to a successful relationship of any kind.
