Professional Housekeeping & Cleaning Tips

4 Housekeeping Tips For a Cat-Friendly Home

by: Love My Maids | July 23, 2019

Can you imagine life without your favorite feline? Of course not, and we’ve got four housekeeping tips that make it easy to share your home with a cat. Keep reading for some tried and true ways to make everyone, including your four-footed friends, feel welcome in your home.

Perks of Pet Ownership

Pets are marvelous companions, and most pet owners can’t imagine living without them. Along with being a devoted friend, a cat might very well improve your health. Research into the connection between people and pets reveals that sharing your life with a cat can:

Lower your stress and blood pressure
Decrease anxiety
Pumps up the immune system and,
Encourages socialization.

Scientists also believe that cats and dogs can detect illness in their people. Perhaps as a result of their fantastic sense of smell, animals can alert their owners to such things as low blood sugar and an oncoming epileptic seizure. It’s also possible for your cat to sniff out cancer.

There are so many amazing life-enriching things that come from opening your home and heart up to a cat. Let’s look at four of the housekeeping tips that will help you to live happily with your cat for years into the future.

Four Housekeeping Tips When You a Cat

Cats bring joy into your home, but they also shed fur on the furniture and turn the indoor air a little stinky on occasion. Keeping an immaculate house might seem like a lost cause when you live with pets. Here are some tricks that make keeping a clean house a doable goal, no matter how many pets share your life.

1. Invest in a Tape Roller

Even a short-haired cat sheds their fur at a fantastic rate and keeping up with fur deposits on furniture and clothes can seem like an overwhelming task. We recommend that you purchase several tape rollers and make it a habit to roll the tape over upholstered furniture several times per week.

2: Use an Enzyme Cleaner for Stains and Odors

Buy a big bottle of an enzymatic cleaner like Nature’s Miracle to tackle urine and vomit accidents. Every cat owner knows that kitty pee has a terrible and long-lasting smell. Modern pet stain removers are very effective at destroying horrible odors and stains.

3. Bring the Outdoors Into Your Home

There isn’t a more pleasant way to bring the outdoors into your home than by adding live plants to your indoor spaces. Make sure that any plant you choose is safe for a nibbling feline. Read here for a list of pet-safe plants to liven up your home.

4. Keep the Litter box Pristine

It’s impossible to maintain a pleasant environment if you slack on litter box upkeep. Not only will your home have an underlying foul odor, but there’s also an excellent chance that your kitty might boycott a dirty litter box.

Consider adopting a new friend

Now that you know a few housekeeping tips that make sharing rooms with a fluffy friend a less time-consuming chore, we hope that you’ll consider adopting a new friend. There are homeless animals ready for adoption throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area. You can also help to improve the lives of animals by volunteering your time and talents to an animal rescue organization.

Lastly, life with a cat does require more housecleaning, but the rewards of pet ownership far outweigh the extra work. Our housekeeping tips are a great way to begin creating indoor spaces that work for both you and your pets.

We have extensive experience caring for homes that include all types of pets. Contact us at Love My Maids for help with all of your house cleaning needs.

The Best Way To Clean Blinds And Save Time In The Process

by: Love My Maids | July 5, 2019

Let’s face it; successfully battling Texas heat comes from closing the blinds to keep your indoor spaces comfortably fresh. That said, living with the window blinds closed is much more pleasant if they stay clean. Read on for the best way to clean your window blinds and still have time to enjoy lazy summer days.

Dirty Blinds

Vinyl blinds can get surprisingly dirty. Things like

grease
pet hair
dust and dirt

tend to find a home on unsuspecting vinyl window treatments.

The result is that living spaces that look clean might actually harbor dirty blinds. Happily, it’s not too difficult to clean your shades so that they’re in tip-top shape as they go into a summer of heavy use.

Quick cleaning

Vinyl blinds that aren’t too dirty won’t take too much time and cleaning effort. Here is an environmentally friendly cleaning method that has the added benefit of removing yucky odors from your home.

1. Pour one part water and one part distilled white vinegar in a bowl

2. Open the blinds

3. Dip a clean sock into the vinegar mixture

4. Carefully move the damp fabric over each slat

Vinegar is an effective cleaner due to its acidity level. It does a terrific job of removing dirt and dust from vinyl blinds, and since it’s a natural deodorizer, your house will smell better after you’re finished cleaning.

The Best Way To Clean Blinds in the Kitchen

Our speedy vinegar cleaning method isn’t always the best way to clean greasy vinyl blinds. The vinyl blinds that hang in your kitchen get covered in sticky substances that require a more in-depth cleaning method.

For a step up from merely wiping down your blinds, Architectural Digest recommends that you dust each slat with a microfiber cloth and then go over each slat with a damp cloth and a bit of dishwashing liquid.

Some window blinds are so dirty that you’ll need to work harder to achieve a deep clean. To tackle greasy blinds:

Vacuum each slat to remove as much dust and dirt as possible
Remove them from the window and place them into a bathtub filled with warm water and soap
Do something fun for an hour
Use a fluffy towel to dry each part thoroughly

The Spruce recommends using white shoe polish to the rope and tape areas of the blinds that aren’t freshened by the deep cleaning.

A benefit of doing a deep clean is that you may not need to do it more than once a year. In the meantime, minor maintenance should keep your window blinds in good shape.

Rely on the Professionals for Your Wood Blinds

Why not treat your wooden blinds to a professional cleaning? The professionals here at Love My Maids know how to make wood window treatments shine. Investing in a summer deep clean is a simple way to make sure that every room in your home is ready for the new season.

Lastly, the best way to clean blinds depends on your needs. A slightly dusty shade may need a light dusting while a greasy one will benefit from a long soak in the bathtub. Contact us at Love My Maids, and we’ll help you to love spending time in your home this summer.

Grandma Was Right; Cleaning With Vinegar Is a Terrific Idea

by: Love My Maids | June 19, 2019

Have you ever noticed that your mom and grandmother know a lot about terrific cleaning methods that don’t drain the family budget with expensive products? One of the best of the tried and true traditional cleaners is vinegar. Read on to learn why generations of Texas families have known that cleaning with vinegar is the key to a spotless home.

Benefits of Cleaning with Vinegar

White distilled vinegar is the most reached for choice for household cleaning and consists of approximately ninety-five percent water and five percent acetic acid. Since it’s acidic, you can count on vinegar to clean and disinfect many of the surfaces in your home. Other benefits of cleaning with vinegar include:

Low cost
Environmentally friendly
Huge variety of uses

Indeed, with all of the benefits that come along with using white distilled vinegar to clean, it’s no surprise that homeowners are more and more often reaching for a jug of the stuff on cleaning day. Let’s look at five great ways to use vinegar to keep your home in tip-top shape.

Five Places To Use Vinegar When Cleaning Your Home

One of the things that make vinegar stand out from other cleaning products is the sheer number of ways that you can use a little vinegar to clean your home. Here are five places in your home that could benefit from a white distilled vinegar washing.

1. Dingy Tile Floors

Floors will find their shine after a thorough mopping with a bucket of vinegar and water. Consider adding a little bit of lemon juice to the mix for a fresh scent that lasts for days.

2. Dishwashers

Dishwashers are a must-have in any home, but they also have a nasty habit of picking up some truly awful odors. You can eliminate the sinus-clearing stink by placing a cup of vinegar on the top rack of a dish free dishwasher and running it through a hot water cleaning cycle.

3. Rings Left on Wood Furniture

Do your kids forget to use the coasters that you so carefully placed on top of your antique coffee table? All that you’ll need to do to remove the white ring drink stains is a little vinegar and olive oil. Mix the same amount of vinegar and olive oil and rub it onto the drink container rings with a soft cloth.

4. Urine Smells and Stains

Tired of spending so much money on those fancy pet urine removal products that you can only buy at a specialized pet boutique? The next time that your baby has an accident on the carpet reach for the vinegar and a cloth. Networx recommends that you

gently blot the wet pee spot with a cloth or paper towel
cover the entire pee stain with a misty vinegar spray
relax for around ten minutes
rub the vinegar up with a clean cloth.

5. Odor Removal

Of course, you love hosting your family and friends to a night of fun and food but do you like the odors that linger on into the next day? One of the most effective, not to mention easiest, ways to erase foul odors in your home is to place a bowl of vinegar in the smelly area. Trust us; a small bowl of vinegar will take out even the most robust smells.

Vinegar Isn’t For Everything

Before you enthusiastically attack all of your cleaning jobs with a bottle of vinegar, we do need to admit that vinegar isn’t the right choice for some of your needs. For example, you should keep vinegar away from marble countertops and some hardwood floors. Read here for more things that don’t respond well to vinegar.

Lastly, cleaning with vinegar is a smart thing to do if you want an environmentally friendly and effective cleaner. In a time when we’re all appreciating ways in which we can de-stress and minimalize our lives, there is something beautiful about reaching back into the past for a no-fuss cleaner that works.

Love My Maids excels at making it easy for you to maintain a beautifully cared for home. Contact us for information on our expert cleaning services.

5 Fantastic Ways to Clean With Microfiber Towels

by: Love My Maids | June 5, 2019

People everywhere are using microfiber towels to clean up all sorts of household messes. These soft towels are super user-friendly and will tackle many of your household chores with ease. Here are five of the reasons that you should stock up on microfiber towels today.

First, let’s look at some microfiber towel basics.

Benefits of Microfiber

So many people are discovering that fluffy microfiber cloths pack a bunch of perks into their small size. Some of the most significant advantages to cleaning with this material include

Absorbency
A vast number of uses
Chemical-free cleaning
A long life span.

A Green Cleaning Choice

Who wants to use unnecessary chemicals to clean a house? If you’re looking for a greener cleaning option, you don’t need to search any further than the microfiber towel. As microfiber towels contain polyester, they aren’t exactly eco-friendly. However, since you don’t need to use any added detergents along with the fact that the cloth lasts a long time it is a greener cleaning option than many of the things that people typically use to clean.

Proper Care of Your Microfiber Cloth

Proper care is the trick to a long-lasting towel. Wash it in warm water with a mild detergent. Avoid fabric softeners. If possible, it’s a smart idea to air dry your microfiber towels. If not, make sure that you keep them out of a hot dryer.

For stinky towels, TODAY suggests putting them into a mixture of boiling water and baking soda for up to fifteen minutes.

Five Ways To Use Microfiber Towels in Your Home

Now that you know more about microfiber towels, here are five ways to freshen up your home.

1. The Shower and Bath

Keep your shower and bathtub sparkling by wiping them down after each use. Microfiber cloths are incredibly absorbent, and you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to prevent the streaks and spots that occur when your shower and bathtub air dry.

2. Mirrors and Glass

Shine your mirrors without using anything but a microfiber cloth and a bit of water. Kitchen Stewardship also notes that you can add a bit of vinegar to the water if you want a little bit more cleaning power.

3. Furniture Polish

Why buy furniture polish when a microfiber cloth does a great job at picking up the dust that inevitably accumulates on all of the furniture and knick-knacks in your home?

4. Dry Your Hair

Did you know that a microfiber towel does a superb job of drying hair? From human hair to dog hair, proponents swear that you’ll get a quicker dry time with less rubbing needed when you switch out your cotton towel with a microfiber one.

5. Baseboards

Make your mama proud by using a microfiber cloth to clean all of the baseboards in your house. We won’t pretend that cleaning baseboards are a fun job, but it’s easier when you wipe them with the cloth.

Lastly, microfiber towels are an excellent choice for all of those quick cleaning tasks that keep your house in shape. You’ll find those quick touch-ups are all that your home needs to look its best when you invest in regular maid services from Love My Maids. Contact us, and we’ll get started giving your home a spotless shine.

How A Maid Service Can Help You Sell Your House

by: Love My Maids | May 22, 2019

Are you planning to put your house on the market and you’re looking for ways to make it sell faster? While there’s no denying that selling a home is a stressful experience, you can lower your stress level by hiring a maid service to keep your house in immaculate condition. Keep reading to find out some of the super perks of using a maid service to help sell your home.

Why a Move-in Condition House is Worth it

Real estate experts say that homebuyers covet a home that is in move-in condition. One of the best ways to give buyers the feeling that they could move right into your house is to keep it spotlessly clean throughout the selling process. A beautifully maintained home often sells faster and at a higher price than less well-kept homes in the same neighborhood.

Perks of a Maid Service

Now you know how giving your home a thorough cleaning before you put it onto the market can benefit you in terms of selling time and price. With that in mind, we’d like to recommend that you consider hiring a professional maid service to keep your home in sales shape while it’s on the market. Here are five of the perks of letting a cleaning pro do the heavy cleaning of your soon-to-be-sold house.

Save time

Between living your daily life and handling all of the details of your upcoming move, time is in short supply. Hiring a cleaner to do all of the tough cleaning tasks is a terrific way to save time so that you can use your precious free hours doing something fun.

High Quality

Of course, you know how to clean. However, did you know that professional maids know lots of ways to make sure that your house makes a fantastic first impression on buyers? Keep in mind that buyers are hyper-aware as they tour each area of your home. It pays to invest in a comprehensive cleaning of your home before a potential buyer walks through the front door.

Immaculate Kitchen Appearance

The kitchen is often the most important room when it comes to selling your home. Count on buyers opening all of the cabinets and appliances. The professionals at Love My Maids, for example, are masters at eliminating grease and food debris from every surface in the room until your kitchen sparkles.

Dependability

Can you imagine your stress level if your real estate agent tells you that a buyer wants to tour your home right away and you realize that you haven’t cleaned up the pet hair covered furniture and flooring in a few weeks? When you schedule regular maid service, you’ll have comfort in knowing that your house is always only a quick touch up away from pristine.

Save money

It costs money to keep your home on the market. After all, you’ll need to

Make mortgage payments
Pay property tax
Pay for your utilities
Maintain the house for the length of time that it’s for sale.

Since there is evidence that super clean homes sell faster, it’s smart to make a modest investment in professional cleaning.

Lastly, make your move easier by hiring a maid service to keep your house in a super tidy condition. By investing in a regular house cleaning service, your home stands a high chance of selling quickly and for more money than it would if you had struggled with keeping it clean. Contact us at Love My Maids for help in selling your house.

Make Summer Entertaining Simple With Home Cleaning Services

by: Love My Maids | May 8, 2019

The summer months bring endless opportunities to entertain your friends and family in your home. If you’re like most people, you’d rather spend time figuring out the details for a backyard barbeque than cleaning the house. Keep reading for tips on how professional home cleaning services can help make this summer’s parties your best.

Host with Confidence and Leave the Home Cleaning Services To Us

The key to comfortably hosting a party rests in knowing that you’re ready to welcome all the guests into your home. A super clean house is a terrific confidence booster and will let you focus on your hosting duties instead of wondering if people notice an errant dust bunny hiding in the corner.

Here are five house cleaning tips that will prepare your house to roll out the welcome-to-the-party mat.

Flowers at the Front Door

Who doesn’t smile when being greeted with colorful flowers? Try putting some beautiful flower pots near the front door so that your guests experience a floral sensory delight as soon as they get to your front door. If you have extra energy, consider planting a heat happy plant, like Victoria Blue Sage near your entryway.

Wash the Windows

Nothing announces a beautifully clean home quite as effectively as sparkling clean windows. You can do it yourself with an equal mixture of hot water and vinegar. Since cleaning windows can be an exhausting job, give yourself a treat and include this job in the list of thing that you hire out to home cleaning services.

Put Away the Clutter

Think of your living areas as a stage for your party and remove all of the little things that don’t fit into the overall theme. We’re not saying that you should box up all of your favorite things just because they don’t fit into a fiesta theme. Rather, walk through the parts of the house that guests will visit and put away items like:

athletic gear
toys
old newspapers
the novel that you’re reading for your book club.

Deep clean

Once you’ve put away excess belongings, it’s time to deep clean the party areas. Forget about all of the rooms in your home where the guests won’t go and focus all of your attention on making the party rooms shine. Put on your favorite music and start

washing
dusting
vacuuming
mopping
polishing until everything sparkles.

Too overwhelmed picking out party decorations to worry about deep cleaning?

Contact the professional cleaners at Love My Maids. We have a selection of terrific and affordable home cleaning services that are sure to get your house ready for a fantastic gathering of friends.

Bring the Scent of Summer Indoors

Your house will smell pretty amazing after a deep cleaning. There are some additional ways to bring a little bit of the smells that signal summer into your indoor spaces. Vases filled with fragrant flowers are a delightful way to deliver the best of nature’s beauty indoors. Read here for some more ideas about natural ways to capture a summertime smell for your party.

Lastly, there’s nothing more special than spending time surrounded by your friends and family, and the summertime is a perfect time to host a party. Invest a little time and energy into making sure that your home welcomes all of your guests with the positive vibe that springs from a clean house. Better yet, leave the heavy-duty deep cleaning to us and contact Love My Maids for home cleaning services.

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