On hands and knees scrubbing. . .

Normally you would want to talk about what your business does, Not what it doesn't do but this can be important for potential clients information. So at Hubbard's Maid Service, no, we do not get down on our hands and knees and scrub floors. For some that is an expectation but as a house cleaning business with employees that is a liability issue. We do require knees to the ground when cleaning baseboards and in standard size bathrooms its simply a matter of efficiency for one to get down near the floor and hand wipe it clean but other than that our cleaners don't normally get down on their hands and knees.
Our methods for cleaning homes & offices is that which maximizes efficiency and keeps costs down but sometimes one needs more, the need is for each and every grout line in a tile floor to be scrubbed. On a regular work day this is not something that our cleaners address but with special requests and added time to the cost agreed upon upfront we do have technicians who are skilled and willing to do this special type of cleaning on occasion. I would have really loved to have one of them scrub my grout on the day that I needed it but usually the owner of the company is last in line to be serviced so I was on my own. That being said I was impressed with the grout & tile cleaner by TileLab that I picked up at Home Depot. The results were impressive after a light scrubbing with a brush designed specially for grout. I took my time and sprayed the tile down and then proceeded scrubbing, about 20 seconds per grout line. I would then wipe off the cleaner after 20-30 minutes with a towel and it would already be lightened and several hours later it was lighter still. I found the results to last 6 months in high traffic areas like the kitchen.
Our company mops floors but sometimes you need a method that "restores" a tile floor. My suggestion then is to call a carpet cleaning company or a tile & grout cleaning company that can actually penetrate the tile & grout with sanitizing steam and then have it resealed. I've spoke with professionals who state you should have your grout resealed once a year. This is a great alternative for someone who feels their tile floors are looking dated or tired. You may not need to replace them, you just may need to have them steam cleaned. I've seen some tile floors restored by a carpet cleaning company and they looked brand new after the job was done which was much more affordable than having the whole floor replaced.
But if you want to do-it-yourself hands and knees, I suggest the grout and tile cleaner from Home Depot OR you can call our office and see if we have a cleaning technician available who is willing to do it for an additional cost.

Cleaning For A Reason

Hubbard's Maid Service technician with Cancer Survivor

 

This month is Breast Cancer Awareness month so on this day I want to talk about a charity that is near and dear. Our company is part of Cleaning For A Reason. It is the foundation that facilitates female cancer patients with maid service companies to provide free home cleanings. We are honored to be a part of it and we can always take on more patients. As per Cleaning For A Reasons guidelines; we clean the cancer patients homes once a month for 4 consecutive months while they are undergoing chemotherapy.
Hubbard's Maid Service Company pays for the cancer patients cleanings and our employees do get paid to do the work but if we would ever let them, they would do it for free in a heart beat. I hear that from our employees all the time. "I'll clean her home for free, I don't care. Just let me do it."
Their hearts are so big but they are employees and need to be compensated so our company pays for the cleanings. Everyone wants to go to work and know that their job means something. The impact that our cleaners have on these women who are fighting cancer is so incredible!  If you work as a cleaning technician for Hubbard's Maid Service you are not only solving people's problems (a dirty house), you are giving hope to people who need it most!

Have a loved one who is fighting cancer? She can go to this link here to apply for free cleanings.

Cleaning Out The Closet

I didn't take a "BEFORE" picture like I should have of my closet. It was not consciously intentional but subconsciously it probably was. I own a maid service & if anyone saw that master disaster my reputation might be at stake. It is a standard walk in closet and like a lot of people's closets it was a mess! Besides the bad lighting, inadequate iron shelving, and 8 year old ivory carpet that had turned, well brown, it was also being used as a catch all storage unit for stuff that I didn't know what to do with. I was depressed and my husband was even more depressed about our closet than I was. It did seem a bit extravagant to upgrade - I mean after all it's just a closet. Don't we need to spend money somewhere else like on a water heater, something practical???

Tell you what, it was worth every penny because it forced us to get rid of "stuff." My husband built shoe shelving that holds a certain amount of shoes and that's it. I had to choose what shoes I would keep and what shoes I would not keep and if I couldn't fit them on that shelf, I AIN'T BUYING anymore shoes or I would have to give away another pair and make way for the new. The closet has made us more organized which has reduced a great amount of stress & enhanced time management. Also, it is just beautiful to behold which I am beginning to realize that beauty is as necessary a commodity as say, a water heater.

Don't have a good "before" pic but you can see the yucky 8 year old carpet.

 

 

The closet kind of looked like this but unfortunately, not as nice, and you really had to see my junk to get the dramatic effect.


AND NOW COME THE AFTER PICTURES. . .

 

Husband's side, he installed LED lighting so you can actually SEE in there!

 

                                                Side of the closet - half is mine, half is his

 

                                            Shoe rack for me & drawers for storage for him
Notice the all wood hangers. Bought them at Walmart, I think they add a nice cohesive look to my wardrobe.

 

 

Cleaning Wood Floors In Savannah, GA

My husband is a handyman. In fact he own's a handy man business called Hubbard's Handyman in Savannah, GA. All husbands are wonderful but mine is especially because he can "do" things! Like replace the gasket on the dishwasher and install new plumbing fixtures. He can also install hard wood floors which he recently did in our bedroom which has also installed a healthy dose of serenity and oxytocins back into my life.

I refuse to give you a before picture of what my bedroom looked like but please forgive me, I do own a maid service here in Savannah, and it would just be bad for business if you saw it. I had white carpet that looked every inch of it's seven years of life. The bedroom was a cluttered disaster. Our bedroom has been for a very long time also an office for both of our businesses with employees coming and going & also now a nursery. The madness had to end! Not only that but we had the air quality tested in our bedroom and it was at very bad breathing levels. The cluttered mess of paper work, electronic cords, old carpet, and random furniture certainly did not help matters. Let's not even talk about how our bedroom was affecting our marriage!

My husband and I agreed that replacing the old carpet would reduce the bad air quality and would jump start a revolution to reclaim our bedroom, as, a bedroom. It was quite an expense but my 4 month old was already having a rattling in his throat from time to time and I did not want to encourage the development of allergies any more than I had unintentionally done so we made the plunge, or the investment, into our home to carry the wood floors from the main living area into our bedroom.

Wood floors being installed in our bedroom by Hubbard's Handyman in Savannah, GA

     
If you are interested in installing wood floors in your home here are a few bullet points from Hubbard's Handyman:

• If using manufactured hardwood, make sure the floor undeneath is completely clean and smooth before putting glue down.

• To avoid gaps take a piece of the wood floor, lay it up against the door jamb. Use that wood as a guide and angle a saw to cut the bottom of the door jam out so the wood will slide underneath the jam, trim, and 3 inches of base moulding.

• Make sure all the rest of the wood floors are against the baseboards within 1/2 inch or less to avoid gaps and allow the quarter round trim to cover.

Needless to say I am so pleased with my new wood floors! The carpet was so depressing and imaging what was lurking underneath all that padding over the years was internally disturbing in my mind. Since having the hard wood installed I can also say the house cleaning time has been cut in half. The reason is there is less dust to contend with. Carpet really collects dust like nobodies business. So that means the baseboards, sills, and blinds are less dusty and easier to maintain. Besides that it just "feels" clean. I never realized how down in the dumps I was about that carpet until it was removed and I had that hardwood floor underneath my bare feet. It was such a blessing to be able to remove ALL the dust bunnies under my bed with a wet mop in a matter of minutes. It was wonderful to look at the baseboards and not see dead bug carcasses trapped in the crevices where the carpet meets the wall. Keeping wood floors well maintained does not require alot of work as the less you mop them the better off they are. This may not work for those who have pets or a lot people living in the home but the less water that hits the floor the better. If you do mop them I would recommend a mop designed for flat surfaces that has a wide flat head that is covered with removable fabric you can take on and off and throw in the washer as needed. These are the types of mops our cleaners use at Hubbard's Maid Service. Cedar-O mops from Walmart work wonderfully for wood floors and they cover a lot of ground so you can mop quickly.
Besides plain water, there are many wood floor cleaning chemicals out there but for the most economical and eco-friendly cleaning solutions I recommend dish soap added to water. Just a drop or two is fine in a bucket, just make sure the mop head has been squeezed of most of it's moisture so you don't apply too much wetness to the floors. If you can resist mopping your floors except for once a month you will keep them from getting dull. If that is not sanitarily possible then mop only as needed. If you want to restore a little shine, you can use Murphy's Oil soap but use sparingly! a little goes a long, long, way!

We haven't completely removed our businesses from our bedroom, and our son still sleeps with us in there. We still have to navigate baby gear but the hardwood floors have been such a motivator we have been focusing on reducing the clutter with great success. My husband, Ashley Hubbard, of Hubbard's Handyman, has installed sanity to our bedroom and our lives.

The bedroom is still used as an office and a nursery but it is so much nicer! Love my new wood floors!

How Much Is Your Time Worth?

                                                                     Jedidiah & Myself

Wow! Since giving birth to my son, my time is much, much more precious to me. I get things done in the seconds, minutes, and occasionally the few heavenly hours that arrive in my life like diamond treasures. The things I used to do on my own time, time that I took for granted, I will never possibly be able to do again, at least for a long, long time. I have to analyze every decision I make as to how to get a task done, "how" being operative. Even as I sit here and write I am carefully measuring my words as I don't know how long before my son is going to wake from his slumber.
Money is tight for everyone these days but I fantasize about getting my hair professionally blown out once a week, heck I fantasize about taking a shower once a week! I love to garden and water my flowers and am now considering hiring a lawn service because I don't know when I would be able to water them in this soon to arrive hot summer. Things I would have done myself and enjoy doing now need to be delegated to others. If I can afford to pay someone else to do it, as a mother, it really makes sense to do so because time is precious!
A good example of that was April 15th when my son, Jedidiah, was dedicated to the Lord at the Sanctuary Church, in Savannah, GA. We had a wonderful reception that followed. It was wonderful because I had hired Joes' Homemade Catering, in Savannah to do all the work. We had seventeen guests over and let me tell you, to come in after church and host a party where I did not have to prepare one meal, serve one drink, and worry about plates, napkins, & silverware, etc nor do dirty dishes was worth every penny! Joe's Homemade did a wonderful job and made me look like the Hostess with the Mostess. I would never have been able to pull that off on my own. It made my son's reception party extra special.
It brought home the simple fact that paying someone to do a job that frees up your time is worth the money. Whether it be hiring a catering service, lawn service, dog walking service, or like my business, a maid service - being able to free up one's time is priceless.