Cleaning Resolutions For You And Your Home

With the holiday season, we find ourselves, amidst the party preparation and the shopping, thinking about the challenges that the New Year will bring. We often contemplate large life goals and career opportunities that we will face, but keeping the house clean doesn’t often come up. Well, it should! A clean and tidy home is a fantastic foundation to help you be less stressed and more focused on your more impactful goals like your health and fitness, career, and family. In today’s blog, we’re going to help set you up for success next year and every year after with some New Year’s resolutions that you won’t want to dump after January. 

Resolution #1: Use Your Cleaning Time As A Workout Time

Get the most out of your New Year’s resolution to lose weight and work out more often while also keeping your home spotless! Turn your cleaning sessions into a workout so that you can feel good about getting more exercise while also keeping your home cleaner than it ever has been before. 

Resolution #2: Deep Clean One Appliance Each Week

This goes hand in hand with the first resolution. Deep cleaning anything burns a lot of calories and is hard work. Let’s deep clean everything, then! But, you don’t have to get overwhelmed by trying to do them all in a weekend or a single day. Spread them out over the year. Every major appliance should be deep cleaned at least twice a year, so book them out accordingly so that you can hit all of your home’s appliances two or three times a year by rotating them weekly. 

Resolution #3: Focus On Throwing Away As You Clean

As you clean and organize this New Year, ask yourself if you really need every item or piece of random junk that you come across. If you can get rid of something that you haven’t used in years or don’t even know what it goes to, then that is a huge win. The less clutter in your home, the less you will have to clean and organize! When in doubt, throw it out.

For The Road

Preparing for the New Year and staying ahead of the cleaning tasks at hand 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!

The Ultimate Cleaning Supply List for a Spotless 2025

If you’ve been to the supermarket lately, or tried to shop online, you may have noticed that there are a TON of cleaning products and accessories out there. In the spirit of starting the new year off strong, we wanted to put together a list of some basic cleaning essentials that you can purchase to ensure that your home or office is equipped to handle any cleaning task, next year or beyond! Let us know in the comments or on social media if you have any suggestions or additions to our list. We love hearing from you!

The Essential Cleaning Tools To Consider

We will get to the actual cleaning products later, but we first wanted to lay out some groundwork with these essential cleaning supplies. Some of these may sound like a no-brainer, but it helps to know that you have all of the supplies on hand that are called for in any given situation. 

Essential Cleaning Agents To Have On Hand

Now that we have the cleaning tools covered, it’s time to explore our options for the actual cleaners that are good to have around. This isn’t necessarily supposed to be an exhaustive list that will cover every situation, but it is a great starting place upon which more niche items can be added as you discover a need for them. 

With this mix of ingredients, you can make both an all-purpose cleaning spray that will be effective in most uses, especially around the kitchen. For a basic recipe, mix equal parts distilled water and white vinegar in a spray bottle and then add 10 drops of lemon essential oil and/or your other favorite essential oil like lavender, but lemon helps to kill germs and disinfect as well. For a toilet bowl cleaner specifically, we recommend getting a bowl and placing a cup of baking soda in the bow before adding about 3 tablespoons of distilled water. Start mixing until you get a thick paste consistency, you may have to add more water to get it where it needs to be. Place a generous amount of the paste on the end of your toilet cleaning brush and use it to scrub the rim and sides of your toilet bowl. Then, spray the paste with your homemade vinegar and water all-purpose solution and watch the bubbles go nuts! Once things have settled down, it’s time for a final scrub and then a rinse and you are set! The same paste can be used on tile and grout as well. 

For The Road

Putting together a full assortment of cleaning supplies 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!

Give Yourself The Gift Of Time This Holiday Season

The best gift this holiday season isn’t found on store shelves. It’s not in a package or a box or can be wrapped in any way. The best gift this holiday season is something we all have, but desperately need more of. That gift is time. Give yourself (or maybe a loved one) the gift of time this holiday season with our home cleaning services! In today’s article, we’re going to talk about just some of the top benefits of hiring a professional cleaning home cleaning company like ours. Enjoy! 

Saves You Time 

Sure, they say that saving you time is a good thing, but what does that really mean? Here is what you can expect to be able to do with a little bit more time on your hands in any given month, time that you would normally be spending cleaning and scrubbing various parts of your home. 

Reduces Stress And Boosts Mental Well-Being

They say that the two biggest stressors in life are when you are moving and when you are getting divorced, but no one ever mentions the third most stressful thing in our daily lives: keeping the dang house clean. If you hire a cleaning service, you can reduce the stress and complication of keeping everything clean on top of everything else you’re responsible for in your daily life. Maybe you owe it to yourself to treat yourself to a year of less stress?

Achieve A Higher Quality Of Clean In Your Home

Sure, when you are cleaning things yourself it gets done well enough, but what if a professional did it instead? As professional cleaners, they have access to better cleaning products, more up to date cleaning techniques and best practices, and more experience getting things perfectly clean. With a pro doing the cleaning, you will see the difference our expertise makes when it comes to just how spotless and perfect your home can get!

For The Road

Getting your home clean for your next big holiday party 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 Get Your Home Clean And Party-Ready For The Holidays

The holidays are such a bittersweet time. You are excited about seeing your friends and family that you may have not seen very often this year, yet there is so much planning and preparation involved in hosting, that it can add a large amount of stress to an already stressful time of year. In today’s article, we are going to help you get your home ready for all of the holiday hosting you’ll be doing this year with less stress and more downtime so you can finally take that peppermint hot chocolate break you’ve been wanting. 

Plan Out Your Cleaning Tasks!

This may not seem like a fun or interesting first step, but it is as vital as it is banal. Put together a quick checklist of the main things that need to get done so that you can stay organized and on track throughout your cleaning day(s). You will want to put a high priority on the high-traffic areas first and then on guest accommodation areas like guest bathrooms and bedrooms. Do this well ahead of time (if possible!) so that you can avoid last-minute rushing and stress to get everything accomplished. 

Declutter Before “Disinfecting”

Before you dive into the actual cleaning and disinfecting of your home AKA Party Central, you will want to tackle some or all of the clutter first. Remove unnecessary items from your countertops, tables, floors, beds, etc. Anywhere that clutter has piled up, it’s time to either trash it or put it away in a more permanent and organized way. 

Set Aside A Coat Room For The Party 

If you are going to be hosting a party that is on the larger side of things, then you will need a designated area to store and organize guests’ coats and bags and other belongings that isn’t in a main staging area. You may have to designate your own master bedroom for this if your guest rooms are being used by visiting guests. 

Deep Clean Essential Entertainment Spaces

If you can’t necessarily deep clean the entire house from top to bottom, focus first on the key areas you will be using for your entertainment. This includes places like the kitchen, living room, and bathrooms.

For The Road

Getting your home clean for your next big holiday party 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 The Grout Around Your Sinks

Your kitchen is, in many ways, the heart and soul of your home. It’s a great place to spend time with friends and family and to try out that new cookie recipe you’ve been dying to make, but it is also prone to messes that build up over time. Today’s blog is all about tackling that dirt and grime buildup around your kitchen sink in the grout area. Let us know your favorite cleaning techniques for scratching this one off the to-do list on social media, we’d love to hear from you!

Getting Started

This isn’t necessarily the toughest project in the kitchen when it comes to cleaning, but it is no small fry. The dirt and buildup that accumulates in grout can be tough to clean out and it can keep coming back with a vengeance if you’re not careful. Here are some basic supplies you will need in order to really knock out this cleaning job.

Do An Initial Clean

We know that the grout has gotten pretty dirty at this point. In order to get all of the deep down grime, you will need to first scrub off the top layer of more loose or cursory dirt. Spray the impacted area with some all-purpose cleaner or drop some concentrated dish soap on the area and then rinse it with some warm water. You can lightly scrub it with your brush as well. Make sure the area is fully rinsed off.

Start The Deep Clean

Take your baking soda and put 2 tablespoons in a small bowl. Add some warm water a teaspoon at a time until you have a thick paste that is just a little thicker than toothpaste. Apply the paste along the grout lines liberally. Let stand for 15 minutes. 

After it has set for 15 minutes, it’s time to add the vinegar and start scrubbing! If you have some vinegar in a spray bottle, that will help to evenly apply it to your paste. If not, then you can pour some onto a sponge or clean wash cloth that you can use to sprinkle around the baking soda paste.

Let the mixture fizz for a minute or two and then start scrubbing with your brush! The reaction from the vinegar should help to loosen any grout stains and the baking soda paste is a fantastic abrasive scrub that is tough on dirt but gentle on kitchen surfaces like tile and stone. 

Repeat As Necessary

Once you rinse away the baking soda and vinegar mixture, you may see some minor buildup left. At which point, you can either repeat the process or let it dry out and then try it again in a week. In the meantime, you can spray it with a 10% bleach mixture to help really kill off any mold or bacteria that has taken hold. 

For The Road

Getting your kitchen sink clean, especially around the grout area 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 Cleaning Essentials

It’s back to school time! Summer is coming to a close and the school year is about to start. This time of year is a great time to jumpstart your new routine that will help you move smoothly throughout the rest of the year. Yes, your kid’s school schedule and routine is very important, but we’re talking about your cleaning routine today! Read on to learn how you can set up a fantastic routine with the best set of essential cleaning items to help you get through the day and the school year with ease. 

Organize Their Rooms To Accommodate School Studies 

To get the house and your kids in order and ready to take on the new school year, you will want to start with your children’s home base: their bedroom. 

Set Them Up For Success!

After their room is organized and made into a nice study environment, you can help maximize their school performance potential by decluttering the rest of the house and setting up the kitchen to be their secondary study area if need be. Sometimes finishing homework and eating have to be done at the same time. Make sure the kitchen is also stocked with fresh brain-friendly foods like blueberries, strawberries, fish, and avocados! 

Bonus: Hand Sanitizer Travel Bottles

This day and age, it pays to be prepared, especially when it comes to keeping your kids’ hands germ free. Make sure to pack a few in their backpacks or even put one in their lunchbox to ensure that they have clean hands before and after they eat and have access to sanitization whenever they need it. 

For The Road

Getting your back to school cleaning essentials together 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 On Cleaning Your Yard And House From 4th Of July Debris

It is such a bittersweet time of year each year, but it has to be done. Nothing beats the thrill of lighting a fuse on a firework and watching it pop off in spectacular, fiery glory. Once the festivities are done, though, it is time to pick up the pieces, literally! In today’s article, we’re going to give you a handy step by step guide on how to safely pick up and dispose of your 4th of July fireworks. 

Before You Get Started: The Supplies

Even before you start lighting off your fireworks, you should gather your needed supplies in order to have them on hand when the time comes. You don’t want to be scrambling to find your safety gear at the last minute once the party is over. Here is what you will need:

Step 1:  Picking Up Spent Fireworks

After putting on your work gloves and filling up your buckets with water, go ahead and start gathering up the spent fireworks and any large pieces of fireworks that you can easily grab with your hand. Drop them in the buckets and let them soak for at least 20 minutes. If you’re done with your fireworks for the year, then you can even dump the unused ones as well to safely dispose of them. Keeping unused fireworks in your home is a fire hazard!

Step 2: Sweeping And Dumping Small Debris

Once you have the large pieces soaking safely in the water, you can start to sweep up the smaller pieces while you wait. If you think that some of these small pieces may still be hot, then you can just dump them directly into the water rather than into a trash bag for now. 

Step 3: Bagging And Storing

Once they have been soaking for about 20 to 30 minutes, you can take the fireworks out of your soaking buckets and place them into your heavy duty plastic trash bags (like ones used at construction cleanup) and then haul those bags away. Out of an abundance of caution, you don’t want to put those bags in your home’s trash can just yet. Let them sit in your metal bin or storage container overnight and then transfer them to your outdoor trash bin later, making sure to keep all fireworks outside and away from structures overnight. 

For The Road

Getting your fireworks picked up and put away safely 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!

Don’t Clean This Summer…Let Us Do It For You!

It’s summertime, and you thought things, schedule-wise would slow down: but this doesn’t seem to be the case. You still need to work, the kids have swim lessons, day camps and various play dates. Not to mention, the in-laws come to town in a week, and you leave town in two weeks.  Making arrangements for your in-town company, and putting the final touches on your vacation plans has you overwhelmed.  You’re supposed to be enjoying this time, but it’s hard to pause to even take a breather.  Well take that deep breath: breathe in, then out.  No: we weren’t trying to stress you out, we are just seeing things from your vantage point.  Now take another breath: we are here to help. With all the summer “fun” we can take some of the load off by taking care of your cleaning needs!

While you are sitting at the little one’s swim lessons, relax, we can be at your house doing a good deep clean for you. Or when you are shuttling the kids to their play camp or while you are working the daily grind, we have your household chores under control. 

Nervous about the out-of-town company arriving in town? Maybe you have an overly-picky mother-in-law who drops comments about the dust bunnies in the spare bedroom, or the sister whose house is always spick-and-span? Meanwhile you’re finding peanut brittle on your kids’ bookshelf from last Christmas… sigh.  First of all, we’re all doing our best, so you shouldn’t let anyone judge you.  Meanwhile, that’s easier said than done. Again, we are here for you. Contact us for a free consultation, and we can take the worry out of the time that should be devoted to reconnecting and building new memories. 

Now: vacation time.  The packing, the checklists, the last minute details and set-backs, all these things can lead to an overlooked house, and returning to chaos is not fun.  Keep all the fun in the vacation, and feel the relaxation continue as you return to a clean home.  Contact us, and while you’re on the beach or in the air returning, we can be creating a clean space for you to come back to. 

One last thought: summertime is a big move-in/move-out time.  If you are in the middle of the moving process, there is no doubt: stress is involved. Let us take care of that detail as you are dealing with the others. Or, do you have a friend or family member who is in this process? You could be the ride-or-die who shows up, rolls up your sleeves, and dives into that deep-clean process.  Or, you can contact us, and gift them a clean.  Either way, your kindness won’t soon be forgotten. 

So if you want to soak up the summer, outside playing rather than inside cleaning, don’t sweat it: cleaning is not for everyone, but it is definitely for us! Don't let your summer slip by without getting a good deep cleaning. 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 a fun and safe summer!

How To Clean Your Luggage For Summer Vacations

After travel, whether it be for business or pleasure, even unpacking can feel like drudgery, so the last thing we might think of is the cleanliness of our luggage. Instead we stow those suitcases away in the closet or even the garage. But once you pull them out again for summer travel, consider giving your bags a little TLC: it may be good for your health as well.

As Explorer.com points out, “considering how checked luggage is handled — exposed to all kinds of stuff like dirt, grime, bacteria, and even those mystery liquids on the tarmac — there's one thing your bag is probably longing for after any trip: a good, deep clean.”

So where does one start? The New York Times offered some tips: “To clean your hard-sided luggage, rub it down with either an alcohol wipe or a rag with a mix of dish soap and water. Avoid anything abrasive that might cause scratches. That's it. If you want to restore polycarbonate to something close to its original luster, try buffing it with a wax-based furniture polish.”

To clean the soft-sided luggage you’ll need these basic things. 

Soak a soft (likely old) towel in soap and water. Wring out the excess water and wipe down the case. 

In the instance of oil-based stains, sprinkle stains with water, then with baking soda. Once the soda dries, vacuum the luggage off.

For most other stains, dilute a tablespoon of laundry soap in lukewarm water and pat the stain. If this does not work, try again using mild dish soap and warm water and blot the stains once more. 

For especially stubborn stains, consider applying a non-toxic upholstery cleaner. Always follow the manufacturer's instructions.

For scuffs on plastic parts of luggage, try rubbing alcohol on a cloth. 

To remove scuffs from your luggage you will need these basic things.

For both fabric bags or hard-case luggage, use a damp cloth paired with a natural all-purpose spray, a homemade white vinegar-based cleanser, or gentle dish soap to remove marks.

For 100% leather luggage, research good leather-cleaning products. 

With running around various train stations, tram stations and airports, your suitcase's wheels might be the dirtiest part, since they come in direct contact with the ground. For this cleaning process, you will need:

For wheels, create a soap-and-water mixture, or spray the wheels with all-purpose cleaner, then wipe down the wheels with the cleaning solution. Roll the wheels over a microfiber cloth to dry them. 

To clean the inside of a suitcase, you will need these basic things.

Mist the inside of your suitcase with water and then sprinkle with baking soda. Leave the case open to dry. Once dry, vacuum up the baking soda.

By following these steps and maintaining your luggage, you can keep it clean for the next time you’re ready to pack up and skip town. Have other luggage cleaning tips? Let us know! 

Also consider giving the team at 208 Cleaning a chance to show you what experts and professionals we are in the cleaning world. 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!

Window Cleaning Guide

Spring flowers are beginning to bloom and the beautiful trees of the Treasure Valley are coming alive again in all the shades of green. If your view of spring coming alive is marred by dust and grime then you are probably looking through dirty windows. If it is time to change your point of view and get those windows from grimy to glistening we have a step by step approach to sparkly shiny windows. Making your windows sparkling clean involves a few steps and the right cleaning products. Here's a guide on how to clean your windows effectively and keep them cleaner longer.

Materials Needed

With our materials at hand we are ready to get to the dirty work of cleaning windows. We also recommend playing some tunes to help the cleaning process go by.

Cleaning Process

Step 1: Preparation

Step 2: Cleaning the Frame and Sill

Step 3: Cleaning the Glass

Step 4: Cleaning the Tracks

Step 5: Final Buff

Now that you're seeing clearly through your windows you will want them to stay that way! Here is a guide to maintaining that beautiful shine.

Regular Cleaning: Clean your windows at least once a month to prevent a buildup of dirt and grime.

Dust Prevention: Keep indoor plants away from windows to prevent dust from settling on the glass.

Shade Usage: Use window shades or blinds to block direct sunlight, which can cause dirt and dust to stick to the glass.

Sealing: Ensure that your windows are properly sealed to prevent drafts and the entry of dust.

Screens: Clean your window screens regularly to prevent dust and debris from accumulating on the glass.

By following these steps and maintaining your windows, you can keep them sparkling clean and enjoy the view outside without the distraction of dirty windows. Have other window cleaning tips? Let us know! The BEST way to ensure that your windows look the best they can is to hire the professionals to do the job. Give the team at 208 Cleaning a chance to show you what experts and professionals we are in the cleaning world. 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!