Author: Modern Maids

Itchy nose, red eyes, headaches, endless sneezing…those of us who suffer from allergies know how bad they can be.

Even with the changes in seasons and different sources of allergies, you can avoid the worst of your allergy symptoms with regular cleanings. Especially if these cleanings are targeting allergens.

Regular, routine cleanings from a professional Austin maid service focus on disinfecting, vacuuming carpets, dusting furniture, and making the home look nice. While this might help your allergies, it’s often not enough.

For our Austin clients with the worst allergies, we’ll take it one step further with a focus on getting rid of dust, pollen, pet dander, and anything else that might trigger symptoms.

Here’s how you can clean your home for more allergy relief, no matter the season.

What are the most common allergies in your house?

Back up a minute, before we get to the process of getting rid of allergies…let’s discuss how they start. Allergy symptoms are triggered when your immune system reacts to a foreign substance that it thinks is a threat.

This could be anything from cockroaches (gross) to normal food items (aka the dreaded peanut allergy).

Here are some common allergy triggers for Austin, TX residents:

1. Dust Mites

Miniature, microscopic insects that cause inflammation, coughing, and wheezing? Sounds like something out of a Sci-Fi movie…but it’s actually dust mites. These little guys can wreak havoc on someone with allergies. Thankfully, dust mites can be removed through routine vacuuming and air purification.

2. Pet Dander

We love our pets…but the hair, dirt, dust particles, and pollen they track in? Not so much. Not only does it make our homes dirtier, but dander from pets can also trigger allergies. If you suffer from allergies, make sure to vacuum and clean floors regularly to get rid of these kinds of allergens.

3. Seasonal allergies

Spring weather is usually the culprit, but did you know that allergies can happen in any season? It just depends what the allergy is. However, for pollen sufferers (a very common allergy here in Austin), spring is the hardest time of year. Since pollen travels in the air, cleaning windows, doorways, and floors is crucial to protecting against seasonal allergies.

4. Mold

Mold is a scary one. It can cause allergies, yes, but long-term mold exposure can also lead to asthma or respiratory problems down the line. Mold thrives in wet, cool environments with high humidity (think the shower, basements, etc.). It releases spores into the air to spread, and can become a problem for years (or even decades) down the line if left untreated.

5. Food Items

Peanuts, soy, gluten…these allergies can’t be solved with cleaning (unless you’ve just discovered it, then you’ll want to clean out your fridge ASAP), but they can be dangerous. If you are allergic to something edible, keep it outside of your house and be wary of eating out to protect yourself.

Ok so this is what they are…but how do we get reduce allergies?

Cleaning tips that get rid of common allergens

Having an allergy can be rough, but the good news? Basic, routine cleaning can help you remove allergens from the home.

Start with these cleaning techniques to keep allergens out.

Vacuum

Vacuuming is always good cleaning practice, but during the allergy season? Vacuuming is a must. If you’re allergic to pollen or dust, you may need to vacuum once or twice a day to really get the benefits of it. For double the value, look for a vacuum with a HEPA filter that works to both clear dust and pollen from your home and filter the air.

Beat mattresses

This might feel like a dated technique, but pulling carpets and mattresses outside to beat them with a broom handle can rid them of dust, debris, and all kinds of allergy triggers. You probably won’t need to do this all the time, but it’s good to add in as a an added form of protection when you do a deep cleaning.

Wash clothes & bedding frequently

Pollen and other particles that cause allergies can get trapped in cloth. To reduce your exposure, especially during spring or fall weather when seasonal allergies are rampant, make sure to strip the bed and wash clothing, sheets, comforters, pillows, curtains, and even hair more regularly than you normally would. Always use warm or hot water when you clean bedding or clothes for allergy pruposes.

Dusting off surfaces & under clutter

A simple equation to remember for your allergies:

More dust = Worse allergy reaction

Keeping surfaces clean will reduce your sneezing and give you an overall health boost.

**Bonus tip: it’s easier to vacuum, dust, and keep your indoor rooms clean if you reduce clutter.

Disinfecting The Shower (and other wet areas)

Mold thrives in wet environments, so the bathroom is an easy target. To get rid of it, you’ll want to scour the shower tiles, bathtub, and sink with warm water and bleach (or, for a more eco-friendly alternative, white vinegar).

Other Tips To Keep Allergens Out Of Your Home

When it comes to getting allergens out of a home, cleaning is only half the battle. The other half? Preventing them from coming in and removing them from the air.

• HEPA filters – Airborne particles are hard to get rid of, unless you invest in a high quality fan or purifier with HEPA filters. This type of filter has been proven to be more effective against the average allergen, and can help keep your home free from spores and other microscopic triggers.
• Keep windows closed – Keep airborne spores outside your home by keeping your windows closed during allergy-inducing weather (and turning on your indoor fans with filters).
• Add in a humidifier or dehumidifier as needed – Dry, hot heat can irritate allergy symptoms and damp, cool air can grow mold. The first step in keeping your indoor environment safe is to adjust the moisture in the air.
• Consider treatment – If you’ve cleaned your home from top to bottom, put measures in place to fight against mold, pollen, or other allergens…and you’re still feeling sick, it might be time to consider treatment. It could be as simple as a hot steam in a shower to relieve symptoms or as extreme as prescription medications…talk to your doctor and decide what’s best for you.

If you’re one of the many Austin residents suffering from spring allergies…we’ve got your back. Modern Maids is happy to provide local cleaning services specific to your needs, from allergy-ridding or spring cleaning, to moving-in to a new home (or moving out), our maid service will make sure that your Austin home is a clean and healthy safe-haven for you any time of year.

Allergy sufferers: we’re here to help. Talk to a member of our expert team today to learn how a Modern Maids house cleaning or apartment cleaning can protect you from allergies, mold, and other health concerns.

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When you hire a cleaning service, you’re also hiring “less stress.”

No matter what service you’ve hired them for, cleaners are there for one major reason: to make your life easier (and better) with a bright, clean home. It’s simple. Your cleaning lady is there to help you.

They take cleaning off of your to-do list, giving you back more time in your day to focus on the things you love most. You don’t need to worry about having a clean home when they’re around…That’s why you hired a professional, right?

That’s why it’s so important to help them do their job right.

By taking a few simple steps before your house cleaner gets to your house (and keeping up with them between scheduled cleaning services) you’ll get the most value and peace of mind from every cleaning.

What To Do Before The House Cleaner Arrives

Preparing for your next professional cleaning boils down to some simple tasks. By delegating these chores to you and your family before your house cleaner comes, you are making it easier for them to focus on the thing you hired them to do: clean.

Stay one step ahead of your cleaner, and get the most out of every visit they make to your home.

Tasks That Are Better Left To You (Instead Of Your House Cleaner)

Ok, so what exactly do you need to do before the cleaner gets to your house? Here are some examples of household chores you should expect to take care of yourself:

• Tidy papers, or other clutter lying around the house. This might mean picking shoes off the floor, putting toys away, or any basic tidying in each room of the house.
• Homeowners will usually wash sheets and bed linens, though a cleaner might help with making the beds once they’re clean.
• Washing dishes can be done by the cleaning service, but this is probably something you won’t want them to spend their time on.

Tasks That Are Better Left To Your House Cleaners

What’s included with your maid service will depend on the company, but for the most part, you can expect your cleaning lady to use their cleaning time to:

• Sweep or vacuum (or otherwise clean the floor).
• Dust shelves and wipe down surfaces in the home.
• Disinfect the bathroom toilet, sink, and shower.
• Make the bed if the sheets are on the bed.
• Clean areas in your home that more heavily used by your family (the kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms)

Tips To Get The Most From Your House Cleaning Service

You’re paying for a service, shouldn’t you get the most out of it? When you spend money on cleaning services, there are ways you can prepare to maximize their time cleaning.

In other words, the easier you make it for the cleaners to do their job, the more they can focus on cleaning what matters most to you.

These tips will help you to get the most out of every professional cleaning service, whether you’re hiring them for the first time or they’ve been your housekeeper for years.

1. Let Your Cleaning Lady Focus On Your Top Priorities

The key to getting the most out of every cleaning service is to make sure every hour counts. Cleaners will search for anything dirty in the home over the course of their cleaning. Do you really them to clean your dishes? Or is that an easy chore you can handle yourself? Take some of these simpler tasks off their plates, and your maid will be free to clean your home’s top priority rooms.

2. Keep Pets Out Of The Way

We all love our pets, and your house cleaners might too…but your dog barking at the vacuum? Your cat chasing the broom? This will just waste even more cleaning time and distract your house cleaner.

By keeping animals in another room, or even out of the home during scheduled cleaning services, you are making sure that more time is spent cleaning than it is scratching the dog’s ears to calm him down. Make life easier for everyone and secure them in another room while your cleaning lady is working.

3. Leave Instructions For Specific Cleaning Needs

Don’t expect your cleaner to read your mind. Sure, they’re professionals with a lot of experience, but if you have a unique request, you’re going to need to explain it to them.

You can do this in a few different ways: by writing out instructions and leaving a note, telling the business when you call to hire them, or spending a bit of time when they first visit prior to them starting their full house cleaning.

4. Pick Up Clutter

It’s not easy to dust around clutter when you clean. Your maid will have to sidestep all your random stuff while they are cleaning, which will end up taking longer and could even result in someone getting hurt. Keep cleaning services quick and safe by picking up as much clutter as possible before the house cleaning starts.

5. Hire A Maid You Can Trust

You can prepare for weeks, but ultimately, it’s up to the cleaning service company to make sure that you get the most out of every house cleaning. When you’re hiring professional cleaning services, call and ask questions. What’s their process for vetting and hiring every maid? Do they talk to each cleaning lady and offer tips on how to properly clean on a professional level? Supervise house cleaning services? Do they have insurance?

Remember, for each house cleaning you schedule, you’re inviting a maid into your home. They’ll touch your personal items and interact with your family. To keep the cleaning stress-free, make sure that the house cleaning business you choose will send a cleaning lady you can trust.

Here at Modern Maids, we pride ourselves on hiring, training, and vetting the best staff in the area, Whether you’re in Phoenix, Dallas, Austin, Houston, or San Antonio…we’ll make sure that your cleaner’s the perfect fit for every cleaning.

Book a cleaning now to see the Modern Maids difference.

You’re going to love the way we clean.

Do you feel overwhelmed with the limited storage space at home? Worry not, there are unique storage ideas for small spaces. With little creativity, you can increase storage in limited space. That means you can still organize your home better with some creative storage ideas. When your home is organized better it makes the house cleaning more manageable as well. A win win scenario for the cleaners of the house.

How To Create More Space In Your Home

Reduce the clutter

Yes, you have read it right. First things first, get rid of the clutter to create more storage space in your home. Clutter drains energy, and it is a waste of time too. Spare some time every month to declutter your habitat to maximize storage space. However, you do not want to deal with all the mess in one go. Go room-by-room. An uncluttered space reveals itself and looks tidy and large.

Maximize prime storage

When you are looking for clever storage ideas for small houses, you want to maximize your prime real estate. What is prime space? Well, it is the space between your knees and shoulders or something that is the easiest to reach. The goal is to bring things before the visual eye because if something is out of plain sight, you tend to forget about it. So you want to store most frequently used items in visual sight.

Storage boxes

Bring home some additional cabinets or floating shelves that can easily fit in somewhere. You can store seasonal outfits under your bed in containers or storage boxes. A dust ruffle will hide the storage boxes from public view. What more do you want?

Buy an Ottoman to fit in extra pillows, books, and blankets. It’s easy to access and equally functional, adding up extra sitting space along with storage. Choose an Ottoman that matches with the feel of your home’s setting. What’s more, an ottoman even seconds as a coffee table.

Build tall cabinets that touch the ceiling

When you are still pondering as to how to create storage space in a small house, make use of the walls and install cabinets that touch the ceiling. This will give you extra room to store less frequently used stuff.

Wire pantry shelves are a great storage solution where you cannot fit in full-depth shelves. These make a perfect space-saving solution and aren’t just for pantry.

Behind the door storage

Perhaps you cannot ignore the space behind a door. When you are looking for ways as to how to create more space in your home, the behind-the-door spots cannot be overlooked. Think of the plethora of options you have with the doors in your abode. Seriously, doors can double up as storage units, where you can hide whatever you want to.

Clever Storage Ideas for Small Houses

• Choose bunk beds in children’s room to give them more storage space to hide their toys. It also frees up the floor space for play.
• Install a full length mirror on the door of your wardrobe so you do not need a separate dresser. This ensures your room appears larger too.
• Use the passageway to accommodate extra storage. The hollow area under the stairs gives you plenty of space to install extra shelves for storage.
• Add drawers under the dining table to store cutlery and table mats.
• Add abundant storage in the walls by mounting floating shelves. These storage ideas for small spaces on a budget are perfect for home office, kitchen, and kid’s room.
• The walls have plenty of space to store stuff in a kitchen in a small home. It is easy to set up a pegboard where you can hang frequently used utensils or a hanging pot rack. You may even use the space to hang an open shelf that will add visual appeal and make the space appear tidy. Built-in wall storage works as a showcase for accessories.
• Install wire racks inside the cabinet to increase storage space and make your kitchen look bigger and cleaner.
• Build pull-down racks under the cabinets to get instant access to essentials. These are great storage solutions for a small kitchen. Think of storage options and you can easily reduce the clutter in your kitchen with such creative space-saving solutions. You may buy ready-made racks or customize a wooden rack for holding knives and other knick-knacks that take up counter space.

If you are still struggling with storage ideas for small spaces on a budget, let Modern Maids professionals assist you. We are cleaning and organizing specialists with decades of experience in creating unique storage ideas for small spaces. What are you looking for?

From your beautifully stained hardwood floor to your coziest carpets, your floors are the foundation of your home. They hold your furniture and shape your rooms.

But even in the cleanest homes, floors are a catch-all for dirt, dust, and debris. It’s crucial to understand how they should be cleaned, and which tool is best for which floor type. Continue reading this professional guide by Modern Maids the best Austin maid service to find out more!

How to Clean Each Type of Floor

Before you decide if sweeping or vacuuming is better, consider the floor type. Some handle vacuums better while for others, sweeping is more effective.

No matter which type of floor you have, make sure you clean other parts of the room first (saving the floor for last) and clear the space of any furniture. Then, you can break out the broom and vacuum cleaner.

How to Clean Hardwood Floors

Cleaning hardwood floors is usually a multiple-step process.

First, do you have area rugs? If so, take a vacuum cleaner to them before moving them off the hardwood floor. Once you’re done vacuuming, you can also use a bar as a beater to further shake dust out of the rug. Note: this will release airborne particles, make sure to do this outside your home.

Once the area rug is removed, use a broom to sweep dust and dirt into a dustpan. Finish with a mop cleaning to polish and disinfect the hardwood.

How To Clean Carpeted Floors

Carpets are an easy way to cozy up the hard surface of many floor types, but they are also notorious for catching dust and debris.

For routine cleanings, a vacuum cleaner is the fastest and easiest way to get your carpets soft and cleaned.

But vacuuming only removes dirt and dust. For a deeper cleaning or carpets with stains, you might want to use a carpet cleaner and brush after vacuuming to wash the carpet.

How To Clean Tiled Floors

Depending on the type of tile, these surfaces can be fragile. Mostly, you won’t want to use a vacuum cleaner on them (unless yours has attachments that are specifically for tiles). Instead, sweeping and mopping are usually best for tiled flooring.

FAQ: Sweeping Vs. Vacuuming

Should You Vacuum A Hardwood Floor?

Certain types of hardwood floors scratch easily. There are floors that are made from more “hard” wood and those might be able to handle a vacuum, but we don’t think it’s worth the risk. For that reason, we usually recommend that you sweep hardwood floors.

What’s the best way to sweep?

Brooms work best as a fluid motion: grab the broom, extend it out in front of you and pull back towards you, catching dust and dirt along the way. Sweep starting from the corners and edges of the room and work down and out. Make sure to reach the broom under furniture, baseboard heaters, or anywhere else that might hide dirt.

What’s an eco-friendly way to mop my floors?

Are the ingredients safe for you and your loved ones? Using a homemade cleaner (like one of the ones on this list) is an easier way to know what’s going into your cleaners.

Which vacuums are best?

For the best and deepest cleans, search for a vacuum with a HEPA filter, strong suction, and a variety of attachments to clean every floor type. The HEPA filter can be pricey but it’s worth it. This will actually trap debris instead of recirculating it as dust back into the air.

Supplies For Sweeping or Vacuuming

No matter how you’re cleaning, here’s what you’ll need to sweep and vacuum properly:

• A good vacuum cleaner
• A sturdy broom and dustpan
• A mop

Ultimately, getting your house fully cleaned will come down to two things:

1. How efficient your cleaners are
2. How good you’re cleaning tool is for each job

Keep in mind that all of this comes at a cost. One of the reasons people choose to hire cleaners instead of doing it themselves is so they don’t have to buy all the tools (including vacuums).

Not to mention the fact that sweeping, vacuuming, and cleaning also takes up hours of time that you could be using to do things you enjoy.

Instead, see how much it costs to hire a cleaning service in Texas, and then reach out to a local company to see if they’re the right fit for you.

The team at Modern Maids is prepared with a strong group of cleaners and all of the brooms, mops, or other tools you need to thoroughly clean any hard surface, hardwood floors, or carpets in your home.

Don’t waste your precious time cleaning…boost your quality of life today by hiring a team of professionals to do it for you.

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Be honest: have you overlooked using a cleaning service in your apartment because you think it’s too small to need one? Or maybe it’s a rental, and you feel like a professional home cleaning is a waste of time in a space that’s not “yours”.

Here’s the thing though, regardless of whether or not you own your apartment, this is still your home. You come back here every night after work. It’s your refuge from the hustle and bustle of busy Austin, TX. There are so many benefits to using an Austin house cleaning service for your apartment.

Now that our houses also often serve as our office, home, and where we spend a lot of free time, it’s even more important to keep the space beautiful. Using a cleaning company will provide you with a healthy, cleaned space to live, regardless of size or ownership.

These are the top benefits of using an Austin, TX apartment cleaning service.

1. Routine Cleaning Services Keep Pests Away

Mice, ants, and even rats can become unwanted residents in our homes. Even if we’re clean people, there are spots we miss or overlook. All it takes is a couple of forgotten bread crumbs under the couch to have pests in the house. In a city such as Austin, it’s easy for rodents to spread.

Thankfully, the employees of cleaning companies are trained to spot hidden messes, dust, and dirt that attract critters. If you’re not sure how often to schedule a maid service, consider a weekly cleaning service to be sure that you are getting the thorough house cleaning you need to get rid of unwanted pests in the home.

2. Be Prepared For Short Term Rental Opportunities in Austin, TX

You’ve probably already noticed, but in Austin, TX real estate and tourism are thriving. The city is welcoming new residents and visitors every single day. This can be an opportunity for you, and you don’t need a full-fledged business to be able to make some extra income off of this. Plenty of websites now allow you to rent out your Austin house temporarily, making your extra cash and giving visitors a clean place to stay.

But, this only works if you have a clean house. When people are spending money to stay at your house, they expect a higher quality of house cleaning than they would if your friends were coming over. Hire cleaners from a local Texas company (who cater to the short term rental market) to clean your house and have it ready for paying guests.

3. Save More Free Time To Spend On The Things You Love

When you don’t need to worry about cleaning every day, week, or even month…you have more time and mental energy to invest in other things that you truly care about. Sure, you could spend weekends dusting, mopping, and vacuuming if you don’t want to pay a commercial maid service to do it for you, but think of all the hours you’re spending on chores. And even with all that time you’re spending, you’re probably not giving your house cleaning the same quality service that professional cleaning services would.

Instead, you could spend time with your family, enjoy one of your hobbies, work at your own job, or just enjoy spending time in Austin.

Call a house cleaning business to take back your time.

4. Have Better Relationships With Your Family Or Roommates

Have you ever lived with someone who had different cleaning standards than you? It can cause a lot of tension, and even arguments. Whether it’s amongst family members, a spouse, or a roommate that you’re not related to, it’s important to be on the same page about how clean you expect your house to be.

Using a residential house cleaning service can alleviate some of the pressure we put on each other to keep the space clean. It removes any emotion out of the situation, especially if there’s been some resentment building up over time.

By using cleaning services, you can enjoy the good hygiene and extra free time of having a clean home but without all the added stress of trying to schedule cleaning for multiple people.

5. Leave It To The Professionals

Here’s the truth: professional cleaners are going to be better than you at home cleaning. By hiring a maid service, you will enjoy all the perks that come with a cleaned home but without spending hours doing the work yourself.

Cleaning services provide a full home cleaning, and (if the business is good) they come with top of the line cleaners who know exactly how to clean, down to the last detail. If you use cleaning services regularly and the same maid comes to your home, they offer the added benefit of getting to know your space. Many cleaners get to know the preferences of clients and the home so that they can offer cleaning services that best fit your unique needs.

6. Routine Cleanings Can Cost Less Than Deep Cleaning Once In A While

When considering the price of a house cleaning in Austin, there a couple of different factors to consider. One is how clean your home is. If you’re just doing a deep cleaning once in a while in your space, it might cost more than if you had routine cleanings on a regular schedule.

If a maid is coming twice a month, the space will stay cleaned and might end up saving you money in the long run.

7. It Makes it Easier to Move

Are you the type of person who likes to move every year or two? That’s common in Austin, Texas where the red-hot real estate market makes it hard to stay in one place for long. If you’re using a weekly cleaning service, it’ll be easier to pack and move out when your lease is up for two reasons:

1. You’ll know where everything is (no endless searching for items you haven’t seen once in the last year) and
2. You’re more likely to get your security deposit back if the house is clean.

If you haven’t been using a routing cleaning service, you can always call us for a deep move in/move out cleaning.

Here at Modern Maids, we understand what it’s like to live, work, and play in Austin, Texas because we do too. For many of our maids, this is home too, so we treat our clients like neighbors (because they are).

Our trained team is focused on doing the job right and complete customer satisfaction. If you don’t feel like your home is spotless when we’re done with the job, contact our office and we’ll do everything we can to fix it.

With cleaning services in Round Rock, Cedar Park, and surrounding Austin, TX areas, Modern Maids can have a maid out to clean your Austin house as soon as you need.

Schedule an apartment cleaning today and see the benefits for yourself.

Having a maid come to clean your house can feel like a luxury for some families while for others, it’s an absolute necessity. Of course, coming back to a clean home after a long day of work is relaxing and rewarding, but hiring a cleaning service is more than that. Routine cleanings (done by a maid or housekeeper) keep the environment healthy, safe and free from bacteria and viruses.

How frequently you choose to hire cleaners is a personal decision, and depends on a lot of different factors. Some homes are cleaned every week while others only have a professional deep cleaning twice a year. Here at Modern Maids, we schedule regular house cleanings and suggest services based on our clients needs, including how tidy they are, their budget, how big their house is, and whether they have large families or pets.

Like everything in your home, the frequency of your maid cleaning services should be decided with your interests and lifestyle in mind.

Factors To Consider

Different lifestyles have different cleaning needs. It’s probably intuitive for most of us, but it’s good to think about the specific factors that might make your house messier than others.

1. Do you have pets?

This is usually one of the first things we ask about before we recommend cleaning services to our new customers. Because we love our pets and think of them as another family member, we don’t want to think about the added mess and expense they can add to our home. But the reality is that dogs and cats are one of the biggest factors in whether a home needs to be cleaned more frequently (usually every week).

For the most part, animals shed (leaving unsightly clumps of hair scattered around the house and stuck to furniture) and, if they spend a lot of time outside, can track in dirt and debris into the home. Even cleaner or hair-free dogs and cats add a little bit more mess to your house, all of which should be taken into consideration when determining which maid service is right for you.

2. Do you have kids?

Kids are another major factor to consider when deciding if you’ll want to hire a cleaning service weekly, every two weeks or monthly. Our children can bring so much joy to our lives, but they also bring a bit of a mess with them. Muddy shoes, food spills, and forgetting to pick up after themselves or do their chores means one thing: more cleaning for you. Unless, of course, you take some of that extra stress off yourself by hiring a professional to do it for you.

3. Are you a naturally clean person?

There’s no shame in admitting it if you’re not naturally tidy. Many of our clients hire us because they know themselves: they never learned how to clean up a household. Typically, messier customers don’t have a clean home unless they have a weekly cleaning. If you’re the type of person who naturally remembers to sweep, dust, and vacuum between your cleaners visits, then you won’t need a cleaning service as often.

4. What is your family’s lifestyle?

Think about your family and what you enjoy doing. Do you spend a lot of time outdoors, maybe just heading inside when it’s time for bed? If so, you might not need as many home cleanings. But let’s say you’re the kind of family who spends most of their nights cuddled up in the living room, eating popcorn and watching movies. Or maybe you have lots of little ones at home, and baking cookies leads to flour being spilled on a daily basis. Thinking about how you live and spend your days will help you to decide how often your home needs to be cleaned, and whether or not you need professional help.

5. Do you enjoy cleaning, or does it stress you out?

This is often overlooked: do you even like cleaning? If having to clean your house and do the related chores fills you with dread, the easiest solution is to simply let someone else do it for you. Hiring maids such as an Austin maid service or Houston house cleaning service will be the best gift you can give yourself and will have a huge impact on how much you enjoy your home. Also, if you’re not in good health, cleaning is one item you can easily take off your to-do list and leave for the professionals (allowing yourself more time for the rest and recovery your body needs).

6. Does your schedule give you time to clean?

If you work 12 hours a day, there’s no reason to force yourself to come home and clean the bathrooms. At the same time, for those who work a more demanding job and are out of the house most of the day, you probably don’t need your home cleaned as often. On average, if you work long days, you’ll typically only need a maid to visit every two weeks or so to keep it free from germs.

7. What does the maid service include?

If your maid service includes a complete deep clean every time they do a professional cleaning than you won’t need them to come as often. On the other hand, if the company you work with doesn’t provide you with everything it should for a professional cleaning service, then you’ll probably need them to come weekly.

8. What is your monthly budget for hiring a professional housekeeper?

While it is one of the most beneficial purchases you can make for your health and well-being, the truth is that getting your house cleaned by a professional is still a luxury. Consider your monthly budget before you decide to hire a house cleaning service, and don’t be afraid to shop around for different companies to get the cost that you feel most comfortable with. You can start by reading about how much it costs to hire a cleaning service in Texas, and then use that information to decide on a cost you can manage.

9. How big is your home?

Bigger homes usually take longer to clean and need to be cleaned more often. Mainly this is due to the fact that it’s easier to keep smaller homes clean, and so people will naturally do a home cleaning once a week or so without even thinking about it. Larger homes need the house cleaned more often and with more deep cleaning services than smaller ones.

Is Bi-Weekly House Cleaning The Best Cleaning Service?

Of course, this depends on your house cleaning needs. Usually, regular house cleaning services happen in one of the following ways:

• Weekly cleanings
• Cleaning every other week (biweekly)
• Monthly cleanings
• Move in & move out cleanings
• Deep cleaning every once in a while

On average, a bi weekly cleaning is the best way to keep their homes clean.

Still not sure how many cleanings you need? Give our office a call and one of our friendly team members can help you decide. We’ll review everything you need to know about having your house cleaned and what our maid service includes. Then, you make the choice about whether or not you want weekly cleanings, a deep clean, or something in between.

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It can feel overwhelming to clean your house. Looking around at all that needs to be done, how do you tackle it all?

By going room by room and step by step. Having a clean home is as simple as setting a schedule and sticking to it. Whether you’re cleaning a studio apartment in downtown Dallas or your dream house with the giant kitchen, 5 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms, cleaning is as simple as grabbing a cloth, some spray and starting.

Whether you have a smaller, charming home or a large sprawling mansion, you have to start somewhere. So which room do you clean first? And how do you know which room to do next?

Follow along with these tips to see the best way to clean your home, going from one room to the next.

Cleaning Techniques

Before you get started, make sure you understand how to properly clean each space. Most people think that cleaning is simple because it’s not made up of complex rules and problems. While cleaning may be simple, it’s not easy. There is a right method for each type of cleaning, following these house cleaning tips:

• How To Dust – Use a microfiber cloth to wipe down each surface and any items on them. Then, move on to dusting doorknobs, light fixtures, light switches or anything else that’s attached to the wall or ceiling. You might want to spray an anti-dusting or cleaning spray before dusting if you’re also planning to disinfect these surfaces. Do this dusting step first, before moving on to the floors. When you sweep and mop at the end, you’ll be able to gather all the dust and dirt that wasn’t caught on the cloth.
• How To Mop & Vacuum The Floors – First, put away any shoes, move area rugs and push the furniture to the sides. Then, use a microfiber cloth for your hardwood floors or a vacuum for carpets to mop up or remove dirt, grime and dust. If you’re using a bucket to mop, don’t forget to empty the dirty water and refill it with clean water regularly.

• How To Clean The Bathroom – The bathroom needs more intense cleaners to disinfect and remove bacteria. Wipe down all hard surfaces with a disinfectant, paying special attention to the toilet and sink. Use a scrubbing brush to remove mildew from the bath and shower and then, do the floors last.
• How To Clean The Kitchen – Similar to the bathroom, the kitchen needs special attention. Spend time wiping down the counters, backsplash, stove and the tops of any appliances in the kitchen. Then, move on to the insides of your microwave, coffee machines, ovens or any other heavily used items in your kitchen. If your fridge has removable shelves, pull them out and clean them in the sink before replacing them. Finally, mop the floors and allow them to dry.
• How To Clean A Window – Begin by using a glass cleaner spray and thoroughly coat the window. Then, wipe the window from top to bottom, taking great care not to miss any piece of the glass as you move to avoid streaking.

Clean Your Home In This Order

At Modern Maids, there’s an order to everything we do. This is how we provide the high quality, consistent service that our customers expect. To make our cleanings as efficient as possible, we go through each room in the house, cleaning from top to bottom, starting with the “harder” rooms first. We recommend you find a system that works best for you, based on how big your house is and how dirty they are. Before you start on each room, try to tidy up. Put away unused household items and clutter, and designate tasks for each room.

1. Clean The Bathroom First

The bathrooms are usually the hardest room to clean, and so they’re a great place to start. Work from the top down, wiping down surfaces, scrubbing out the sink, then the toilet, bath and shower, and finish with the floor. Follow these tips to sanitize your bathroom to make sure it gets the thorough cleaning it deserves.

2. The Kitchen

The kitchen is the next hardest place to clean in the house and also one of the most important. This is where we often gather as a family, sharing meals and making memories. Because it’s a top priority for our customers and tends to accumulate a lot of dirt, we usually clean the kitchen second. Here, the tasks will include giving any dirty dishes a wash, wiping each surface and scrubbing the entire area, from countertops to kitchen cabinets.

3. Entryways and Hallways

Once we start cleaning, we often clean the entryways and hallways as we go, including stairs, their railings and posts. Excluding the floor, which we vacuum and mop together for the whole house at the end.

4. The Living Room and Family Rooms

Similar to the kitchen, these are areas where we spend a lot of time relaxing, so they need to be done well. We’ll start by giving the media console and coffee tables a wipe down before moving on to dusting the shelves and vacuuming the furniture (if needed).

5. Bedrooms

Finally, we finish by cleaning the bedroom. Here, we’ll go through the same steps as in other rooms, but we’ll also make the beds, strip and clean the linens and focus on general tidying up.

By methodically going through each room, you can keep your cleaning on schedule and save yourself the time and worry of having to figure out what to clean next. This makes cleaning much more efficient, and usually, a lot more enjoyable.

Different Types of Cleaning

The rooms you clean first might change depending on the type of cleaning.

For the most part, there are two ways that people clean their homes:

1. A thorough, deep clean where your home gets cleaned from top to bottom. The kind we usually refer to as “spring cleaning”, where we move all the furniture away from the walls, make the windows shine and dust off the light fixtures we ignored all winter.
2. Cleaning regularly, either through scheduled maid services or on their own. These cleanings are a little less intense because they happen more often, either every week, two weeks or monthly.

If You Deep Clean Your House

If you’re deep cleaning your home, you might want to start with the harder or more tedious areas first so that the job gets easier as it goes on. Doing a deep clean takes time and effort and you don’t want to get overwhelmed.

To stay on task, just take the cleaning step by step and prepare your home before you start cleaning by taking the time to put away clutter, clear off surfaces and identify any extra dirty spaces that might need more time. Pro tip: the more you prepare for deep cleaning, the easier it will be.

Routine House Cleanings

Often using a maid service, regular house cleanings are the best solution for keeping a clean home all the time. Through designated tasks, routine cleanings create a warm, welcoming space to enjoy with your family as a group, without the stress of living in a messy space.

Modern Maids provides scheduled house cleaning services for apartments, homes, deep cleaning and move in/move out cleaning for Dallas, Austin, Houston, San Antonio and many of the surrounding Texas towns. To schedule your first cleaning, call us today.

House cleanings are one of the essential luxuries of life. They make a home feel warm, welcoming and they keep the people you love safe from germs, viruses, and bacteria. When you hire a maid service, you want to be sure that the price includes everything you expect.

A maid service will include a full cleaning of your home. Cleaning the kitchen, including cleaning inside the microwave, wiping the appliance surfaces, counters, cabinets and sinks. In each of the rooms the cleaners will dust all the surfaces, vacuum, sweep and mop. In the bedrooms they will make the bed and tidy the space. The bathroom cleaning will include the toilets, mirrors, showers, and floors.

Look back on your biggest concerns and what brought you to hire a maid. Outline these cleaning items on a list and think about how many hours you’ve spent on them. Then, consider that type of cleaner you’ll need. This will determine the cost of your service and what’s included, which we’ll discuss more below.

What Type Of Cleaning Service Do You Need?

Cleaning services are usually set up in a few different ways: deep cleaning services that happen once in a while (maybe every few months or annually), regular cleanings, cleaning before or after moves, or a one-time cleaning before or after events in the home (large scale parties or celebrations).

Deep Cleaning

Maybe your home is small, just a room or two, and doesn’t require a lot of upkeep. Or maybe you’re naturally tidy and don’t need as much help. In this case, a routine deep cleaning might be a better choice than a more regular monthly cleaning.

Routine Cleaning Services

These are the most common types of house cleaning services where a cleaner comes during a regularly scheduled time-frame (usually weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly).

Event Based Cleaning

Before you throw that graduation party or after you host your family for a week, these specially scheduled cleaning get your home back into shape.

Moving-In or Moving-Out Cleanings

Just move into a new home? Sometimes, a new home has not been left up to our standards. Rooms like the bathroom or kitchen can feel too gross to want to clean yourself. In this case, leave it to cleaning professionals. Hire a maid service to schedule a deep cleaning of the space before you move in, so you can feel comfortable the first time you walk in the door. For example, Modern Maids offers move-in and move-out cleaning in Dallas and Austin.

Full Time Housekeeper

A full time housekeeper usually has a different relationship with clients than ones who clean for an hour or two. These people often feel like a part of the family, and many stay on for years (even decades) when they find the right fit. This type of cleaning service will likely include more duties than a housekeeper who only comes to do the cleaning. While there are benefits to having someone to help with the laundry or dusting at any time of day or night, this type of housekeeping isn’t always the best fit. The cost is higher for live in housekeeping than it is for a traditional cleaner and, probably most important, you have to get along with these cleaners very well. After all, they live with you.

What Will A Standard Cleaning Service Include?

Professional house cleaners work in a variety of ways.

If you’re hiring a house cleaner or maid for a regular service, generally speaking, you can expect them to perform the following duties as part of the job:

• Use professional cleaning products on all hard surfaces to disinfect them and remove unwanted dust and debris
• Clean baseboards
• Dust light fixtures
• Move furniture to clean underneath and behind it
• Scrub the bathrooms (including the shower and toilet)
• Vacuuming all carpets in the home
• Make beds in the bedrooms

There’s no guarantee that your housekeeper will perform all these cleaning services. Exactly what’s included will vary based on the company.

What Costs Extra With House Cleaning?

These add-ons are often available if they’re not included in the original price for a home cleaning:

• Window cleaning
• Deep clean of appliances (such as scrubbing the inside of the oven or refrigerator)
• Laundry
• Stripping bed linens from bedrooms and re-making beds

Sometimes these additional services are included free of charge, but that’s something you should discuss with companies before you hire them. Usually, you’ll have to pay more for these duties to be included.

What Is Not Generally Included In A House Cleaning Service?

What’s not included in your cleaning service will vary. But on average, when it comes to the majority of housekeeping professionals, your housekeeper won’t do these as part of their job unless the company specifically mentions including it. The exception to this is live in housekeepers who stay with a family full time. This type of housekeeper may include these types of errands in their job, whereas a weekly or monthly housekeeper probably won’t.

• Taking care of kids or pets
• Grocery shopping
• Yard work or outdoor cleaning
• Furniture cleaning (for example, a stained couch cushion)
• Taking stains off surfaces (glass or hot plate rings)

While some services may offer this, it’s usually not included on the list of duties that housekeepers perform.

Common House Cleaning Questions:

How Long Does A Regular Cleaning Take?

Regular cleanings are a bit easier to predict than one time deep cleans. In this case, the maids have been to your home before. They know which floors take more time and the duties they need to get your home in perfect condition. Usually, you and your maid will have an idea for how long the cleaning will take by the time they come back for the second or third visit.

Do housekeepers do laundry?

Sometimes, it just depends on the cost of your cleaning service and your specific maid. This is a great question to ask when hiring your housekeeper, just to make sure you’re on the same page.

How Much Do House Cleaners Cost?

There’s a lot of factors that determine the price of a cleaning service, including:

• Location of the company (the cost to hire a cleaning service here in Texas is different than it would be in LA)
• How many rooms are in your home? And how many hours would it take to clean it (on average)?
• How big is your family? Do you have kids or pets? This can make it more likely that your home will need a more thorough deep clean even if the cleaning happens on a regular schedule.
• Does the cleaning company expect you to tip maids at your house? Or is that included in the service?
• How many of the more time-consuming rooms do you have in your home? For example, how many bathrooms will cleaners need to clean? Kitchens?
• What type of cleaning do you need? On average, a deeper clean will cost more than a light cleaning.

Some companies ask that clients pay by the hour, while others impose a flat fee for every cleaning. Usually, homeowners can see how much the cleaning service will cost after the first time they get a cleaner.

Is A Maid Service Worth It?

This is a personal decision, but consider this: the main job of your maid service is to give you more free time. That’s time to spend with your families, friends, and on the hobbies you love. Is that worth it? We’d say yes every time.

Stay connected with the cleaning companies you hire and outline exactly what you expect. This is your cleaning service, and as the client, you can likely determine if a maid service is right for you before hiring them. If the price doesn’t include the cleaning services you need, walk away. There are many companies out there who will prioritize the needs of homeowners, including the elite team of housekeepers at Modern Maids. We’re always willing to hop on a call and discuss our services with you, so you can feel confident that when you pay for us to do the job, your cleaner will cover every one of your wish list items.

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