Tuesday 25 October 2016

Home Cleaning: Tips, Precautions and Facts


After calling a home cleaning service in New Zealand, there are some necessary things you should do to make things favourable for you. On the day when the home cleaner is scheduled to come, clear away all clutter in your home, so that the cleaner will concentrate more on the actual cleaning job. It’s also good to give clear instructions to the cleaner if you want particular attention to be given to special areas of your choice.

Make some internet searching before hiring a home cleaning service to know if they are licensed and insured and whether there are any adverse online reviews about their house cleaning practice. If they have given contact references, you may also call them practically to know the authenticity of a cleaning service. Also ask them if their cleaning personnel are subjected to background checks and police verification.

Get Motivated to Clean Regularly with These Home Cleaning Tips

Declutter
First of all decluttering! Take three laundry baskets and walk across the master bedroom putting foreign objects (which don’t belong in the bedroom) into one of the baskets, donation items in the second basket and all garbage in the third.  All dirty laundry should go to the washing machine straightway. 
Now you’re ready for actual cleaning!

Dusting Made Simple
Easy and fast way to dusting is making sure that you start the task from the top to bottom and work your way from one side of the room to the other – never make the mistake of doing it haphazardly that’ll cause the dust falling on areas that you have already cleaned, and thus prolonging your cleaning time. 

Use a damp microfiber cloth for dusting the furniture, lamps, vents, above the door frames, light plates, etc. so that the dust won’t spread in the air. This is also applicable whenever you are cleaning a particularly dusty area- it’s recommended to mist the area with water before you start dusting out.

Master Bedroom Cleaning Checklist
Master bedroom often gets neglected as we tend to concentrate more on places more likely to be seen by a guest! What everybody actually needs is reality-based home cleaning and organizing methods to follow so that you can always maintain a certain degree of hygienic standards in your home.

Find below a few cleaning checklist for your master bedroom:
  • Wipe down walls and ceilings and vacuum up any cobwebs. Wipe down the light fixtures, switch plates and ceiling fan.
  • Clean the windows, window sills and window tracks – Spray a little bit of tea-tree oil on to the window sill area and let it sit for a few minutes before wiping down.
  • Dust and clean all furniture (tops, sides and bottom), picture frames, lamps and knick knacks. Keep baseboards cleaner with the help of a fabric softener sheet.
  • Wipe down the window blinds – clean your blinds thoroughly on both sides using a microfiber cloth and a mixture of one part vinegar and one part water.
  • Once you finished dusting all the surfaces, including furniture, decorations, fixtures, etc., that dust will naturally settle down on the floors. Now clean that dust from the floors too. While vacuuming the floor, reach under beds, couches, dressers and into the corners as far as you can.
  • Clean all bed linens, pillows & pillowcases, and comforter regularly. Fluff pillows daily to remove dust and dead skin cells. Also, ensure to air out the pillows often to freshen them up.
  • Clean and rotate the mattress – for mattress rotation guidelines, read our previous blog posts.
  • Declutter and organise your master closet – learn the art of getting rid of unwanted clothes and other stuff in your closet - try purging, sorting, donating, etc. so that your closet will look much organised. 

Know Your Home Cleaning Service
With Select Cleaning franchisees taking care of your home cleaning, we guarantee you complete peace of mind. Check out our website for the thanking messages from satisfied customers– you can see that our customers think we are the most affordable, quality home cleaning service in New Zealand.

So, whether you need a regular clean, a spring clean or specialised cleaning, get your free quote now by calling us on 1800 153 483. Or simply submit the form on our Website to receive a no-obligation free quote.

Tuesday 18 October 2016

How Do Busy Moms Clean Their House More Efficiently


If your partner is totally messy and you are a neat freak, things may go crazy at times. Generally, stay-at-home moms feel anxious and stressed over smart house cleaning.

If you are obsessed over a clean house because you have a toddler at home, you’re not alone! There will be toys, dirty clothes and crumbs of bread or cake scattered all over the place with young kids around.

Let’s share some quick home cleaning and organisation tips to keep your house neat and tidy in such a scenario.

1. Good to keep the kids occupied while you clean the house. Also, prepare a weekly cleaning schedule for efficient home cleaning. Both the things will give you peace of mind while you’re on the job. If the kids are engaged in some interesting activities, they won’t come disturbing you and you can concentrate on the cleaning. The weekly cleaning routine will make the task easier and things won’t pile up.

2. Some people will advise you to keep all the cleaning materials at one place; that’s a good idea of course, but an even better idea is to stock them up at more than one place, so your task will be accomplished quickly. 

3. Put the stuffed animals and other toys in mesh laundry bags and add them into the washing machine for a normal wash and rinse.  All the grime and dirt on the toys will be easily removed this way! Use cold water only and little detergent and you’ll have to run a second rinse cycle to remove all traces of the detergent.

4. Some moms find it easy to clean when the child is taking an afternoon nap, but some others say the moms also should have some rest time, and the ideal time is when the child naps! So, we’re leaving it to your choice how you prefer it.

5. Carry an empty laundry basket and declutter the rooms as you go around cleaning. You can also take help from family members to do small chores such as picking up toys, newspapers & magazines, cleaning off the table after meals, taking dirty laundry to laundry room, loading the dishwasher etc. This will save lot of time as you can concentrate on the main cleaning task without disturbances.

6. If you don’t have the time commitment that a deep cleaning would require, better don’t be a perfectionist in housekeeping! Believe in quick cleaning tips and do things as if your home looks organised. However, you know that everything is not alright and you’ll have to hire affordable house cleaners once in a while to compensate for the shortcuts. 

Why Do Moms Occasionally Need Professional House Cleaning?
If you have kids around in the home, it’s good idea to call a professional home cleaning service, provided it’s reliable and trustworthy.

It’s not right to think that a stay-at-home-parent will have to manage the house cleaning singlehandedly.  Morning routines, grocery shopping, caring for the kids etc. and if you’re also a working mom, then it’s nightmarish to do the house cleaning job too. In such a situation, if you try to manage the house cleaning, then you won’t get enough time to spend with your children and look after them properly.

In fact, you are not alone if you think that cleaning the house yourself takes away your precious time which you could have utilised for doing something important for the kids and your partner.

As you are a busy mom, you naturally find it difficult to allot time for house cleaning, and so this vital task normally goes into the back burner. This can compromise on hygiene matters and put the health of your family members at risk.

You may hate the home cleaning task, but a dedicated house cleaning service will have professionals who have a passion for doing it. That makes all the difference and it’ll have a great impact on the overall cleanliness of your home. If you need advice or want to discuss your home cleaning issues, feel free to talk to Select Home Cleaning in New Zealand and Australia – the most trusted service in the house cleaning sector.

Tuesday 11 October 2016

How to Ensure That You Are Not Using Cleaning Products with Harmful Chemicals?


Almost all medical journals say New Zealand has high asthma rates, with one in six adults and one in four children affected with asthma and allergic diseases. Some physicians indicate that low quality cleaning materials often contribute to the deterioration of indoor air quality, causing asthma and allergy symptoms.  

Surveys have shown that New Zealanders spend up to 90% of their time indoors. Even if you are working, you spend around 8 to 9 hours per day in the workplace. This highlights the importance of keeping the indoor air free from harmful chemicals, dust and pollen etc. When we’re spending so much time inside, have you ever considered that your workplace and the chemicals used to clean it could actually be affecting your health? Yes, it is; and that’s why the asthma cases shoot up.

About one-third of commercial cleaning materials consist of one or other substances that can badly affect people and the environment, the US Responsible Purchasing Network’s cleaning guide reported. This puts housewives as well as office workers vulnerable to health hazards. When people use these chemicals indiscriminately to clean their home, their presence in the air spreads to every nook and corner in the house and everybody breathes them in.  These harmful substances also get inside our body by absorption through the skin or through ingestion of household dust and chemical residues.

To support the harmful effects of harsh chemical cleaners, Spanish researchers also recently came up with evidence of everyday cleaning products causing asthma or other health problems. The Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Barcelona ascertained that cleaning sprays could be contributing to an increase in asthma cases in the workplace.

It’s thus very important to check what you or your home cleaning company are cleaning with. Here comes the need for looking into the credentials of the home cleaning services you depend on.Once you’re sure about the quality assurance of a home cleaner, you can also seek their advice on what everyday cleaning product you should use for your daily cleaning.

Quick Tips for 15-Minute Cleanups
  • First jot down a priority cleaning checklist.
  • If you got a message that guests are arriving within 15 minutes, think what you’ll be doing and follow it in an orderly manner. Your guests are sure to see places such as the kitchen, one bathroom, a gathering space like living room, and most probably the dining room.
  • Collect cleaning materials and equipment together at one place. If the cleaning materials are spread all over the places like the garage, underneath kitchen sink, bath area etc., then you’ll be wasting more time searching for them. So put everything in a basket and keep ready for easy use.
  • Then start from one corner dusting, putting away clutter, or easy vacuuming. Floors in common spaces and one bathroom should be given extra attention while doing the quick cleaning.
  • Prefer dry dust cloths to average rags for effective dusting of surfaces. If you’re in a hurry, only dust those areas that may be clearly visible to anyone.
  • If you can get help from children or your partner, guide them properly so that collectively you can achieve better result.
  • Clean the kitchen counter and bathroom surfaces with disinfectant wipes. Similarly paper towels come handy in drying wet surfaces. Also use them to buff surfaces so they get a nice shine and sheen.
  • Use nature-friendly air fresheners to impart a pleasant feeling to your guests as they stay with you for a while.

It’s thus obvious that getting into a cleaning routine is very important to have peace of mind. Putting aside at least 15 to 20 minutes to do some quick cleaning can make a huge difference in maintaining cleanliness and hygiene for a healthy life. For queries regarding home cleaning task, call the most dependable and award winning cleaning service in New Zealand on 0800 000 907.

Tuesday 4 October 2016

Cleaning and Organising Your Home with a Professional Touch


It’s a fact that the demand for domestic cleaning services is increasing every year as people look to outsource their home cleaning. Long working hours affect a significant number of New Zealand families, and one thing working parents find it extremely difficult is to manage their home cleaning task. The home cleaning companies in New Zealand nowadays possess costly modern equipment and their cleaning technicians have necessary skills and qualifications. So, getting a reliable, professional home cleaner is quite easy now.

Seven Cleaning Tips to Make You Smarter
1. Worried about mould problems? Clove oil destroys persistent mould spores. Add four drops of clove oil into one litre of water and rinse well. Use this solution to clean the affected areas and you’ll see that moulds won’t reappear.

2. Homemade cleaner for your glass windows: Take one litre of warm water in a bucket or a glass jar, and mix it with a tablespoon of cornstarch. Your glass cleaner is ready. Use it to clean the window with the help of a squeegee or rag. After the clean, dry the window glass with a soft cloth to see it sparkling.

3. How to keep ice and frost away from your car windows during winter? Believe us, many people don’t know this; perhaps you’re the first one in your locale!  Fill a spray bottle with vinegar (3 parts) and water (one part) and spray on to the car window when you need to park it outside overnight. 

4. Did you know that the water you remove from an aquarium while cleaning, can be used for watering the plants? It has nutrients to fertilise your vegetable garden. 

5. Body or hair oil stains on collars and cuffs of coloured shirts and blouses can be easily removed by rubbing hair shampoo on the stained spot. As the stain loosens, rinse it with water and then wash the clothes to see that the sticking disclouration has gone.

6. Many people get stung by spiders, and even snake bites occur from the shoes kept outside. Keep these creatures out from your gardening shoes or work boots by placing old stockings that closely fit over the top of them.

7. Everybody use candles at home. If it’s a costly one, you can prolong its life by placing it in the freezer for a day and night before lighting. Use a plastic bag to cover the candles before placing them in the freezer.  

How to Get Affordable, Quality Home Cleaning
Are you searching for an affordable and expert home cleaner? SelectCleaning now takes bookings for house cleaning in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Tauranga and Hamilton. You pay for your cleaning service only after the job has been completed to your full satisfaction. We can assure you that there are absolutely no hidden charges as you might have faced with other home cleaners in your locality! Simply tell us where and when you need the service, and we’ll send a home cleaner right over. Get absolutely spotless clean!

We do full home cleaning services - regular cleaning of your home, including bathrooms, kitchens, vacuuming & dusting. The kitchen and bathroom, two areas that need more attention, will be cleaned thoroughly beyond your expectations. Your house will have a fresh look and wonderful smell. We also do spring cleans, move in/out cleans, and special occasion cleans. For other cleaning services such as window cleaning, ceiling cleaning, exterior house washing, water blasting driveways & paths, we can arrange to have them done for you with known and trusted home cleaners.

Booking a home clean has never been easier- just dial 0800 000 907 or email us your cleaning requirement using the form given on the Select Home Cleaning website.