Best Way to Clean Your Car After Summer Traveling

What can we say? Sometimes it’s just easier to toss a wrapper or empty soda can on the floor of the car rather than to root around for the always elusive trash bag in order to get it “properly” disposed of. Hey, it can even be a safety issue to try to find the proper disposal bag while driving, so having a dirty car can actually be safer! In any case, we wanted to use today’s blog as an opportunity to help shed some light on best practices for cleaning up your car after it has been used all summer long for road trips, rides to family gatherings, and hauling the kids to various summer camps. 

Gather Your Cleaning Supplies

First off, you will need to gather your supplies before embarking on your cleaning journey. You will need the following at a minimum, and some items are marked optional if you want to gather them to help the process go a little faster. 

Start With The Basics: Clean Trash And Detritus From Interior

The first thing you will want to do is to take one of your trash bags and just go through every section of your car’s interior and toss out the trash and bits of junk that have accumulated over the last few weeks and months. Take out your floor mats and set them aside. Once your interior is junk free, then it is time to vacuum! Thoroughly vacuum the interior of your car making sure to get the foot areas and under each seat. Don’t forget the trunk!

Once the trash has been removed and the interior vacuumed, then it’s time to beat your rugs and replace them.

Wipe Down The Interior And Disinfect

Now it’s time to take your microfiber rags and use them to wipe down all of the hard surfaces of the car’s inside starting from the top and working your way to the bottom. Make sure to get all of the little crevices and areas in and around the buttons and knobs of your car. You can go the extra mile here and use special wipes that leave a thin layer of polish on your dashboard and steering wheel, but typically wiping it down with a clean cloth will do wonders. 

Once everything has been wiped down, then it is time to use your disinfecting wipes to wipe down your dashboard, steering wheel, and center console top. You can even wipe down the door handles and armrests as well, especially if they are a harder material like leather or plastic. Finished with that? Great, because you are officially done with cleaning out your car. It’s time to celebrate! Road Trip anyone? 

For The Road

Making sure your car is cleaned out after a summer of traveling is no small feat, but with a little preparation you can be ready for anything that comes your way this year. Contact us if you or someone you know may be in need of a residential or commercial cleaning service like ours. We can’t wait to hear from you. Give us a call or email us here. Have fun and stay safe out there!

Back To School!

Just like Christmas, it seems like we are saying it a few days and weeks earlier every year, but yes, it is absolutely back to school season. With all of the changes that come with the start of a new school year, it helps to prepare your home and your routine to accommodate your new busier schedule. In today’s article, we’ve put together some great tips for preparing your home to help empower you to best handle the back to school rush. Read on and enjoy and sound off in the comments if you have any tips or tricks you’d like to share!

Stage 1: Sanitization Of High Touch Areas

Sanitization is more of a way of life these days than ever before, but it is a necessary “evil” despite how much time it can take out of our already busy schedules. But, letting germs and sickness take hold in the home is worse by far, so we must power through and ensure that the germs are kept in check, especially during the school year when your children are exposed to and bringing home more germs than ever.

Keeping germs in check doesn’t have to mean that you must scour every inch of your home with bleach. You can absolutely prioritize and clean smartly in order to get the most ROI for your cleaning efforts. High touch zones should be sanitized through a 1 to 10 bleach to water ratio, or a 1 to 2 white vinegar to water ratio. You can use paper towels or clean microfiber cloth. 

Stage 2: Organization For School Readiness

Staying organized at home is crucial to helping your child stay organized at school. There are lots of things that you can do in order to help them stay organized, but we will focus on two very important ones. School supply organization and clothes organization. 

School Supply Organization

If you haven’t already, it helps to create a special dedicated space to your children’s school supplies. Whether it is a shelf or area of a closet or even a table or office area, if you can set aside a special zone for school supply organization and storage, it will help to set your child up for success every semester. 

Make sure to have extra school supplies on hand like paper, notebooks, pens, pencils, and the like so that they are always able to do their homework or complete a class project. It never hurts to have extra glue and scissors on hand as well!

Closet Organization

Clothes are going to be a major part of your children’s lives while in school. Since they grow so fast and outgrow clothes by the hour, it helps to keep everything organized for the new school year. 

Once you have everything in these piles, then you can start putting the clothes back in the closet ensuring that everything has its own place and that your child knows what to do when putting them away. That should help set your school year up for success!

For The Road

Making sure your home is ready for the new school year is no small feat, but with a little preparation you can be ready for anything that comes your way this year. Contact us if you or someone you know may be in need of a residential or commercial cleaning service like ours. We can’t wait to hear from you. Give us a call or email us here. Have fun and stay safe out there!

Best Tips For Getting Sand Out Of Your Carpet After a Beach Visit

Going to the beach and enjoying the sun and the cold ocean water is a tried and true summer tradition for many Americans. While you’re lying on the beach reading your new mystery novel while sipping on a drink with a tiny umbrella, you’re probably not thinking about how you’re going to clean up all of that sand that you and your family will inevitably track back into your house or vacation rental. In fact, we sincerely hope that while you are relaxing, reading, and sipping, that you’re thinking of the very best thing of all, nothing. So, let us do all the thinking about those everyday things like cleaning sand out of various places around the home while you relax and enjoy the sunshine.

Getting Sand Out Of Carpet

For the most part, getting sand out of your carpet won’t be an issue, except if you have children or dogs that also went to the beach with you. In that case, then you will definitely need to know how to clean sand out of just about every part of the house, including the carpet. 

Here’s some steps you can take:

For The Road

Being able to clean up every mess in your home for when you return home from vacation is no small feat, but with a little preparation you can be ready for anything that comes your way this year. Contact us if you or someone you know may be in need of a residential or commercial cleaning service like ours. We can’t wait to hear from you. Give us a call or email us here. Have fun and stay safe out there!

How To Clean Office Windows

One of the first things that you learn in any construction or woodworking job is that you have to have the right tools for the right job. It’s true in construction, it’s true in golf (you wouldn’t use a putter at the opening tee, would you?) and it’s true when it comes to cleaning office buildings. Many of today’s office buildings have large windows at the storefront area to allow customers passing by on the sidewalk or street to see the goods on display. Even office buildings have large windows in order to help get more natural light in during the day for employees. Large windows means that they are prone to attract dust, pollen, and other debris as the weather progresses and that brings about the need to constantly keep them clean and looking nice for your employees and for potential shoppers. So, in today’s article, we’re going to cover the basics that you will need in order to clean a set of large office windows. 

Option 1: The DIY Route

You can definitely clean your office windows by hand, but it’s a lot of work and you will need a specialized set of tools to accomplish it successfully and without leaving unsightly streaks and even scratches on the surface. Here is a basic kit of things that you will need in order to clean a large pane or several large panes of glass on a commercial sized window such as a storefront, cafe front, or restaurant viewing area. 

Option 2: Hire A Commercial Cleaner (Recommended!)

While we love the self sustaining spirit of the DIY’er, we also know that some jobs are better left to the professionals. Here’s a few reasons to not do it yourself. 

Less financial risk

Better quality clean

Faster job completion, less time interrupting your client’s use of the window space

For The Road

Cleaning your office windows is no small feat, but with a little preparation you can be ready for anything that comes your way this year. Contact us if you or someone you know may be in need of a residential or commercial cleaning service like ours. We can’t wait to hear from you. Give us a call or email us here. Have fun and stay safe out there!

How To Clean Your Camping and Hiking Tent

Hiking and camping is a great way to get out and enjoy the great outdoors while also getting a healthy workout in at the same time. Staying in shape and being healthy is a top priority for many Americans these days and what better way to stay on top of your health and fitness goals than by spending time in nature? Well, before you set out on your adventure, you must make sure that your tent is in good and proper order and is clean enough for you and your family to use. In today’s article, we’re going to explore some best practices you can use in order to keep your tent clean and in tip top shape.

Function Check And Inspecting Your Tent Before Your First Trip

The best time to clean your tent is at the beginning of the season before your first outing and after each extended camping trip that lasts more than two nights. At the beginning and end of each camping season, you should inspect your tent to make sure that there are no mold spots, tears, or broken zippers that may negatively impact your tent’s performance on the next trip. Here is a quick checklist of things you should inspect:

Cleaning Your Tent

Cleaning your tent is easier in a lot of ways than it is to do the full function and system check. You will need just a few common household cleaning ingredients which we will detail below. If you clean only one thing for your camping adventures this year, then let it be your tent as it can be the most important part of your kit to keep maintained. 

Cleaning supplies:

Cleaning Process

Mix the warm water and soap in the bucket. Make a very diluted solution because if it is too strong or harsh, then it can strip away your tent’s water coating layer. We recommend about 1 to 2 tablespoons of soap per gallon of water. 

Wet your sponge and dab and scrub soiled areas to remove most of the dirt. You may need to do spot cleaning with the toothbrush. Scrub the zippers inside and out using the brush and allow them to fully dry. You can use a paper towel or dry dish towel to dry off the wet spots or you can simply hang up your tent in a cool dry place like your garage or backyard during the day. 

After Each Camping Trip

Here are some best practices for keeping your tent in good working order that you can deploy after each trip.

For The Road

Cleaning your camping tent each time is no small feat, but with a little preparation you can be ready for anything that comes your way this year. Contact us if you or someone you know may be in need of a residential or commercial cleaning service like ours. We can’t wait to hear from you. Give us a call or email us here. Have fun and stay safe out there!

How to Clean Your Grill For BBQ Season

There’s some work that we HAVE to do, like our jobs and housework, and then there’s some work that we LOVE to do because it means that we get to have fun afterward. Cleaning your BBQ grill is definitely work that we love to do in anticipation for an exciting summer grilling and eating delicious food with friends and family. In today’s article, we’re going to cover some of the best practices for getting your barbeque grill clean and ready for action this summer. Sound off in the comments if you have your own tips and tricks to add or if you have any great burger recipes that you’d like to share. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Start With The Outside 

Since your grill has most likely been sitting dormant all winter (unless you also like to do winter BBQs!) then you will want to take the cover off and clean off the outside of your BBQ station. Start with an inspection of the whole thing from top to bottom. Look for things like cobwebs, insect nests, rust patches, and possible damage or cracks. Make sure that there are no wasps nests ready to explode all over you once you light the fire for the first time. Not pleasant! 

Get a bucket and some warm soapy water and a few rags or towels. We like to use a few tablespoons of dishwashing liquid per gallon of water, but you can use whatever soap you like for this part. Liberally splash your water mixture on the top of the lid and the sides. Take your rag and wash the top and sides and even the support legs and wheels. Really give it a detailed clean! 

Empty The Ash Trap

You may have ashes and other food cooking debris piled up in the bottom of your BBQ grill area from your last cook. Clear out all of the ash and debris and make sure that there are no rusted out or heat damaged areas that could be contributing to heat loss in the cooking area. 

Scrub The Grill Grates

Now here’s where the rubber really meets the road: The grill grates. This is your primary cooking surface and it is, by definition, touching everyone’s food, so you should take extra special care with this section. Here’s what we recommend. 

For The Road

Putting together a fun and memorable BBQ season is no small feat, but with a little preparation you can be ready for anything that comes your way this year. Contact us if you or someone you know may be in need of a residential or commercial cleaning service like ours. We can’t wait to hear from you. Give us a call or email us here. Have fun and stay safe out there!

Outdoor Cleaning Guide

There’s nothing like the first good weather days of the year. You can finally start to dust off your warm weather clothes and give your parka and raincoat a rest. The sun is finally out and the birds are happy, and so are you because the skies are not gray and cold anymore. But, one problem remains. After all of that rain and snow during the winter and early spring, your poor home’s siding and outside paneling is covered with dirt, debris, and cobwebs. Now is the perfect time to get the outside of your home ready for the summer entertaining season and summer weather. In today’s blog we’re going to go through a few different ways that you can tackle this task. Enjoy!

Start With Cleaning The Dry Things First

To start off, you don’t want to dive right into spraying your outer walls with a hose. You actually want to start dry then work your way to the wet cleaning. Using a long-handled brush, go around the perimeter of your home and scrape away all of the cobwebs and spider nests that you see. They will typically be around light fixtures, in nooks and crannies, corners, and high above windows around where the roof overhangs the side. Carefully wipe all of these spots down before starting to spray water. If you go directly to the water, it will merely smush the cobwebs against the side of your house without actually getting rid of them and you will just have to do it again later with a brush. 

Clean The Gutters And Soffit Vents

Keeping on the dry angle, you will then want to tackle your gutters and soffit vents (the vents that are set into the overhanging parts of your roof around the edges). Now is a great time to give them some TLC and they will help your home stay cooler in the summer heat. Soffit vents are an important part of your home’s HVAC health and if they are dirty or clogged, then they will not allow cold air to be circulated into your home’s attic which will drive your cooling bills up!

Now Spray The Outside

If you have a pressure washer or a garden hose with a good amount of pressure, then you are ready to clean the sides of your home! Give each side a good spray down starting from the top and working your way down. Be careful not to spray too hard as that can damage the paint or siding panels. After spraying, you may notice some patches of dirt or debris remaining. You will need to spot clean those with a bucket of warm water, a rag, and a few tablespoons of concentrated dish soap. Wipe down the affected areas and then spray again with the hose to rinse. And you’re done!

For The Road

Getting the outside of your home clean and ready for the summer is no small feat, but with a little preparation you can be ready for anything that comes your way this year. Contact us if you or someone you know may be in need of a residential or commercial cleaning service like ours. We can’t wait to hear from you. Give us a call or email us here. Have fun and stay safe out there!

Tips For Cleaning Out Your Garage

It’s hard to think of a garage as an essential part of the house since it is typically used much less often, but if left unchecked, it can get completely overrun with junk, dirt, and grime. Spring is the perfect time to think about finally making that move to get your garage not only organized, but cleaned and disinfected as well. Maybe this is the year that you finally can! That’s why we’ve put together some helpful tips and strategies that will hopefully inspire and motivate you to make your garage dreams into a reality. Let’s get started!

The First Step Is The Hardest: Completely Empty Out Your Garage

That’s right. If you’re really going to do it, then you have to do it all the way. Make sure you start out in the morning on a clear and sunny day and try to enlist as much help from friends and family as possible. Start by taking everything, literally everything, out of your garage and placing it in your driveway or in a safe area directly by the garage. This will allow you to thoroughly organize and sort everything and will allow you to actually clean your garage space. It seems crazy, but it will definitely help when it comes time to put everything back because you will have a clean slate so to speak. 

Now It’s Time To Clean And Disinfect Your Garage Space

Once everything is out of your garage, it’s time to start attacking the space with everything you’ve got. Start with sweeping the floor and vacuuming all of the corners and crevices. You’ll want to make sure to get all of the cobwebs and spider hiding places. 

Then you can start to disinfect the floor and walls in your garage, including the shelving. Get a bucket and fill it with a gallon of water and pour in a quarter cup of bleach. Use that to wipe down the walls and shelving of your garage. You can use a few scoops of laundry detergent in a bucket of warm water to use as a mop mixture for the floor of the garage or use your favorite mop mixture of choice that you have on hand. 

Sort Your Garage Contents

Now that your garage itself is cleaned and sanitized, you can sort the contents that you moved out onto the driveway before putting it all back in. You’ll want to go through and triage everything into piles for trash, donate, and keep. Once you have everything sorted into those piles, you can have a better idea as to how you will need to set up your garage to store the remaining items. This could mean buying more shelving to keep things off the ground or arranging your storage bins in a way that allows easy access and visible contents designations on the sides. A little planning goes a long way!

Now you can bring items in and put them in their appropriate places in a garage that is cleaned and disinfected. Enjoy your new clean and easy to navigate garage!

For The Road

Cleaning out your garage is a huge task, but it doesn’t have to be! With a little preparation you can be ready for anything that comes your way this year. Contact us if you or someone you know may be in need of a residential or commercial cleaning service like ours. We can’t wait to hear from you. Give us a call or email us here. Have fun and stay safe out there!

How To Make The Most Out Of Your Spring Cleaning: A Starter's Guide

Spring cleaning is a necessary evil each year, for sure. But, it doesn't have to be a dull or even un-exciting experience! You can make the most of it by looking on the bright side: if you do it really well the first time, then you don’t have to clean as often the rest of the year. In today’s article, we’re going to get back to our roots and cover the very core basics of what Spring Cleaning is. We want to show you the core things that you’ll want to do each year for Spring Cleaning so that you can start with an excellent foundation from here on out. Let us know in the comments if you think we should add anything or if you have any best practices that you’d like to share with the readers!

Getting Down To Brass Tacks: Make A List And Check Things Off As You Go 

One of the biggest reasons people fail Spring Cleaning is the same reason people fail to fulfill their New Year’s resolutions: They don’t keep track of their goals and progress. With Spring Cleaning comes a lot of moving parts, so to speak, so keeping track of them is essential to success. You can keep a list on your computer or smartphone or go old school and get out a notebook and clipboard. Make a section for every room in the house and put a checklist of tasks under it. Here is a basic checklist that you can use as a foundation for your list that we found on the web:

Do It One Room At A Time

Don’t get caught up in trying to do everything all at once. If you separate your cleaning tasks into each individual room you can more easily segment your cleaning and be able to complete each room faster rather than do something like sweep the entire house at once or vacuum every room at once before moving on to the next task. Break everything down room by room so that you can have several win’s throughout the day or days you’re doing your Spring Cleaning!

For The Road

Spring Cleaning can be a monumental and overwhelming task, but it doesn’t have to be! With a little preparation you can be ready for anything that comes your way this year. Contact us if you or someone you know may be in need of a residential or commercial cleaning service like ours. We can’t wait to hear from you. Give us a call or email us here. Have fun and stay safe out there!

How to Clean: Valentine’s Day Edition

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and it’s best you’re prepared as best as can be. No, we’re not talking about making sure you have a fun date planned for your partner and your chocolates and flowers are purchased. We’re talking about making sure that you have what you need on hand to tackle those tough Valentine’s Day related spills like chocolate or wine that could have the potential to sour an otherwise amazing romantic meal. If you’re prepared to tackle these stains, then you’re truly ready for anything this February!

How To Clean A Wine Stain Spill

Wine is an especially tricky stain to tackle. It’s so easy to spill, especially after you’ve had a glass or two of it and it makes an instantly noticeable stain that is tough to get out. Well, we have just the solution for you. Here’s how we recommend getting wine out of your clothes should it happen to spill while you’re out on a date or enjoying a romantic dinner at home.

Removing Wine Stains From Clothing

Immediately flush the affected area with lukewarm water followed by a rinse with a clear bubbly water like soda water or sparkling water. This will help the stain not set as hard or deep. Then, when possible pre-treat the stained area with a concentrated liquid dishwashing detergent like Dawn. Let that sit for 15 minutes to an hour. Wash in your washing machine at the highest heat setting appropriate for that garment type and include some color-safe bleach (oxygen bleach) or regular bleach for whites. Once the garment has been washed, review the stained area and see if it needs an additional wash cycle before drying it as drying it can potentially set the stain if it hasn’t been fully cleared out. 

Removing Wine Stains From Carpet Or Upholstery

Blot up the impacted area on your carpet or upholstery right away using a paper towel or clean microfiber towel. Make sure not to rub in the stain. Just gently blot placing light pressure to get the staining liquid to transfer to the dry towel. Acting quickly is key to help prevent the stain from setting!

Pour a little bit of sparkling water or club soda on the area. Blot that up again as well. Once it is more or less on its way to dry, then pour a healthy mound of baking soda over the affected area. Let that sit overnight until it has had a chance to pull up the moisture below. Then vacuum up the remaining mixture. This will help to pull the staining components out of the carpet for good. If you still see a hint of the stain, you can pour a little bit of white vinegar diluted with warm water and dish soap onto the area. Let that sit for a few minutes and then lightly dab that up with a towel. 

Removing Chocolate Stains

If you happen to get some chocolate on your clothes or your home’s carpet during Valentine’s Day activities, then we can help! First, start by removing any excess chocolate chunks by scraping the area with a credit card or dull knife. Use a paper towel at the same time to catch the chunks as they are scrapped off. You may need to cool it down with an ice cube or ice pack to make it easier to scrape off without melting. 

When working with carpet or fabric, make sure you do a patch test before using any cleaning detergents! Combine 2 tablespoons of liquid concentrated dish soap to 1 cup of warm water. Mix well. Using a spoon, gently apply the solution to the affected area. Let that sit for about 10 minutes. Blot up the remaining moisture with dry paper towels or cleaning cloths. You may have to repeat the soapy water blotting step a few times before it is completely clear. If the chocolate still doesn’t seem to be coming up, then consult your local cleaning professional like 208 Cleaning! We would love to help!

For The Road

Valentine's Day can be tricky, but it doesn’t have to be! With a little preparation you can be ready for anything that comes your way this year. Contact us if you or someone you know may be in need of a residential or commercial cleaning service like ours. We can’t wait to hear from you. Give us a call or email us here. Have fun and stay safe out there!