Why can’t weekends be spent catching up on rest or errands rather than scheduled cleaning, dusting, and scrubbing? You looked it up, and an average person spends approximately 12,896 hours cleaning in their entire lifetime. That’s too much. It’s time to find a home cleaning service, whether it’s for one-time cleaning or scheduled cleaning moving forward. But where does one start to find a competent and trustworthy home cleaner?
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What Are the Benefits of Hiring a Home Cleaning Service?
Before you make the jump, you are wondering what are the benefits of hiring someone from the outside to clean your home. You’d be amazed at the many ways a home cleaner can improve your life.
For example: You had a major remodel, and you had no idea how much dust it could create. It’s time to bring in the pros for a thorough one-time clean! Is game night on Thursday? Fantastic – you can host with nary a thought, thanks to your regularly scheduled cleaning! Weekends at the farmers market? You’re always up for it because you don’t have to reserve all of Saturday to clean your bathrooms and kitchen.
It has long been proven that a sparkling home can improve your mood, whereas a messy home can increase cases of depression. Additionally, a clean home can spark creativity. Maybe you will paint that masterpiece! Less time cleaning gives you more time to do what you want. And with dust mites and allergens kept to a minimum thanks to regularly scheduled cleanings, you’ll feel at your best, ready to take on new and exciting challenges!
Does Having a Clean Home Really Make You Happier?
Whether you hire a home cleaning service to visit your home with regularly scheduled cleaning or you prefer to have them come in for a special one-time cleaning, statistics show that clean homes make people healthier and happier. How? There are four significant ways.
1. Having a clean home reduces the risk of allergies and allergens.
When you have scheduled cleanings, your home cleaning service will rid your home of dust, dirt, and allergens and reduce the risk of mold and potential mildew toxicity. Studies show that nearly two-thirds of adult-onset asthma has been caused by mold and mildew found in water-damaged buildings.
Common symptoms of this include:
- Allergy symptoms
- Fatigue
- Headaches
- Muscle aches
- Headaches
- Mood swings
- Skin irritation
Selecting a one-time cleaning by a professional green home cleaning service to get you started can help to get your home on the right path.
2. When you have a home cleaner, your stress is reduced.
Having a home that is cleaned regularly is a clear path toward stress reduction. It is well understood by the medical community that stress is a direct link to many adverse health issues, including chronic diseases such as heart disease, digestive issues, and diabetes.
Additionally, you are less likely to make healthy lifestyle choices when you are under continual stress. Research has proven that when people have clean homes, whether by their own hands or by virtue of a professional home cleaner, they are more likely to choose good, healthy food and exercise. Conversely, those individuals living in homes cluttered and not clean tend to make less wise choices for their mental and physical health.
3. Your sleep is improved when your house is clean.
Serious health conditions like autoimmune diseases, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and depression can all be worsened by poor sleep. Studies have linked poor sleep to cluttered homes because the brain can’t relax in chaotic surroundings. The brain links the clutter to unfinished work and finds that it can’t “turn off” in the same manner that it would be able to if the home was a landscape of calm. Scheduled cleanings or a one-time cleaning would set your home up for success and a good night’s rest!
4. Having a clean home reduces the spread of germs.
With scheduled cleanings keeping your home sanitized regularly, you will notice a reduction in spreading germs from person to person. Even if you choose to have a one-time deep cleaning seasonally and then do weekly cleanings yourself, you will be lowering the risk of your family getting ill. Nothing says happiness like good health!
Top 9 Things to Look for When Hiring a Home Cleaning Service
Like most people living in the United States, you are looking for a home cleaning service. The US Department of Commerce stated that 80% of two-income households are expected to use an outside home cleaner within the next few years.
There are several factors to take into consideration, including:
- Reputation
- Experience
- Cleaning method and supplies
- Rates
- Services
- Insurance
- Rules
- Contracts
- Cancellations
1. Ask for referrals – Just like with anything else, people love to complain. You’re certain to hear bad stories about a home cleaner, but you might not have heard about the sterling reputations, so ask! If you know of people who have scheduled cleanings with home cleaning services, ask them if they are happy. Many home cleaners offer referral bonuses, so your friends will be sure to recommend good home cleaning services to you!
2. Longevity – How many years has the home cleaner been doing houses? You might be comfortable helping someone get a start in the industry with a one-time clean, or you might want to utilize a home cleaning service that has a lengthy track record. What sort of experience do they have in the industry?
3. Green cleaning vs. traditional cleaning – Green or eco-cleaning has grown in popularity as people and home cleaners are turning away from the harsh chemicals used in many traditional cleaning supplies. Ask what type of cleaning the home cleaning service utilizes to see if it matches with what you would like for your home.
4. Price – Rates can vary widely depending on where you live. You’ll want to find a house cleaning service that fits your budget and schedule.
Factors used for determining the rate might be:
- Home size
- Number of bedrooms and bathrooms
- Number of home cleaners
- Location
- Type of clean
5. Specialty cleanings – Certain companies will offer services outside the norm, such as carpet cleaning, move-out cleaning, upholstery cleaning, or window washing. If you need specialty services such as these, be sure to ask the house cleaning service in the initial call.
6. Accident coverage – When looking at home cleaning services, it is essential that you make sure they have liability insurance and that they are bonded. This is to protect you in case anything is accidentally broken during a scheduled cleaning.
7. Company rules – Upon speaking with the home cleaning service, discuss what their policies are regarding things like rescheduling, smoking, pets, and children. Also, learn if there are any items that they will not clean, like pet waste, so you can set expectations. It is essential to ensure your policies align with the home cleaner so there are no miscommunications later.
8. Legal obligations – If you are signing a contract when hiring a home cleaning service, read the entire document carefully. You will want to pay special attention to items like refund policies, cancellation fees, and accident coverage. You want to be certain not to be stuck with a company or home cleaner if you are unhappy.
9. Refunds and cancellations– Check to see the refund and cancellation policy with the home cleaning service before committing to a one-time cleaning or setting up scheduled cleaning. While some home cleaners will give you a full refund, others may not give you any refund or may only give you a partial one. It is important to be aware of their policy before committing to an appointment.
Are There Different Types of Home Cleaners?
You’re on board and ready to hire a home cleaning service. But now you have a new decision to make – what type of home cleaner? In the industry, you can usually opt between going with an individual cleaner or hiring a cleaning company. Both have their pros and cons.
Considerations when Choosing an Individual Cleaner
When you look at an individual cleaner, you may have a slightly lower price, but you also don’t have the same coverage if your home cleaner is ill or otherwise unable to make the scheduled cleaning appointment. Also, an individual home cleaner may not have as much flexibility with scheduling as a home cleaning service will, with more people at their fingertips. And you will need to check to see if they have liability or accident coverage should anything break.
Cleaning Company Considerations
A home cleaning service will charge a higher amount due to extra business expenses, but they will be able to cover your scheduled cleaning appointments if one person is out. However, you may not have the same personalized relationship that you might find with an individual home cleaner, as they may not send the same team out each visit, or your favorite cleaner or cleaners may leave the company. As a benefit, home cleaning service companies need to be insured and their employees bonded, which gives you a sense of safety, should anything accidentally be broken while they are at your home.
Traditional vs. Green Cleaning
When considering what kind of home cleaner you would like to hire, you will notice that there are two kinds of home cleaning services when discussing the products and methods that they use:
- Traditional cleaning
- Green cleaning
What’s Traditional Cleaning?
When we discuss traditional cleaning, we are talking about home cleaners that use products that you would find on supermarket shelves. These are brands that most people are familiar with and have grown up using.
Traditional cleaning methods might mean that when your cleaning service comes for your scheduled cleaning, they would use a different product for each task. One type of cleaner for the bathroom, one for the kitchen, one for tile, one for the floor, and so on. Not only does this add up to the items that you’re purchasing and storing, but many of these contain ingredients that are worrisome. Aside from that, many release pollutants, such as volatile organic compounds (VOC), into the air, accumulating into smog, affecting both the air we breathe in our homes and our communities.
What Makes Green Cleaning Different?
You may have heard the term “green” thrown around, especially at the grocery store where they no longer offer plastic bags, but what does it have to do with cleaning? As it turns out, a lot. The green cleaning industry, which was $17.90 billion in 2017, is expected to grow to $27.83 billion by the end of 2024. That’s a large market for people switching from traditional products to green products, but what makes a product green?
Generally, 3 things will be considered:
- Is it biodegradable?
- Does it create less waste?
- Are the ingredients non-toxic?
With these three questions in mind, you can find green cleaners (and cleaning methods) that not only leave your home sparkling clean but also the environment. Green cleaning reduces allergens, creates less packaging waste, focuses on biodegradable and Earth-friendly products, and is safe for people and pets.
Green cleaning services utilize things like HEPA filtration vacuums and microfiber cloths along with these non-toxic products to give you a thorough cleaning without harsh chemicals and detrimental effects. Improve your cleaning and improve your life with green cleanings.
How Often Should I Have My House Professionally Cleaned?
You know you want to have a home cleaning service come to your house, but now you need to decide how often. Do you have a one-time cleaning and then see if you can keep your house neat after that? Or do you sign up a home cleaner for a scheduled cleaning, having them come every week or maybe once a month? How do you decide?
Several factors should go into your decision. First and foremost, how much do you clean your house now? If you find that you clean your house often and you are only looking for a home cleaning service to do a one-time clean, then you may want to book them seasonally. If, however, you need more help, then you will want to consider regularly scheduled cleans.
Once you move into the realm of regularly scheduled cleaning, there are still more decisions to be made – do you want weekly, biweekly, or monthly cleans? You will want to consider three factors: your budget, the level of cleanliness you desire, and how much you are willing to clean. Once you have found the home cleaning service that you feel comfortable partnering with, discuss which scheduled cleaning will work best for you.
No matter what type of home cleaning service you decide you need, contact Pure House Cleaning to get your house in sparkling shape. Pure House Cleaning serves the communities in and around Seattle, Issaquah, and Leschi and will help keep your home looking its best while also offering a green cleaning that fits both your budget and schedule.
It is with great pride that Pure House Cleaning stands by its commitment to green cleaning. Please take the time to browse our website to discover more about green cleaning, some quick cleaning tips, other coverage areas, and more.