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Tag: residential cleaners

  • Don’t Miss this Critical Step on Your Party Planning Checklist

    Don’t Miss this Critical Step on Your Party Planning Checklist

    We’re coming into the ultimate party planning season. Holiday parties at home; holiday parties at the office; holiday parties at community halls – parties, parties everywhere! If you’re the one planning the party, there is one detail that you do not want to miss.

    That one critical detail? Cleaning the space where the party is happening.

    At Clean Club Calgary, we’re no strangers to party cleaning, so I figured we’d share a few of our tips and tricks to make this often overlooked step in party planning a breeze.

     

     

    What to Clean Before the Party

    There’s no doubt that you want your space to be spotless for the party – whether it’s at your house, the office, or a hall. In my experience, though, I would not recommend a deep clean prior to the party. After all, your place will require cleaning again within a few hours, rendering all your efforts moot. Another reason is that most parties typically happen towards the end of the day when the light is lower. This means that dust won’t show nearly as much and these kinds of details are not paid much attention to (unless, of course, you have big dust bunny balls floating around…that’s a different story). In addition, unless you’re opening your entire home, your guests will mix and mingle in one central area. Rather than requesting a deep clean before your celebration, consider the following to ensure you get exactly what you need where you need it most.

    • Main party area: Think of where most of the party is happening. Is it in the living room? Perhaps it’s in the dining room for a sit-down dinner party? Think of the flow of people traffic. Wherever it’s highest, this is where you’ll want to focus your cleaning efforts. If they’re not going into your bedrooms, downstairs, or into your private office areas, then do not worry about having these areas cleaned.

    • Guest bathroom: Whichever bathroom(s) you plan on allowing your guests to use, absolutely have these deep cleaned prior. That’s just the healthy thing to do. I also recommend putting a scented candle in there as this will contain any odours you don’t want sneakily joining the party. Not to mention, it creates an inviting ambiance to the bathroom itself.

    • Floors: You are going to want to spend the most time cleaning the floors, especially if you’re asking guests to remove their shoes. You do not want your guests to lift their feet, only to find that their socks have picked up dirt and other floaties (e.g., hair – human and pet alike) on them. You also do not want guests to step in something sticky on the floor either. That’s a holiday surprise that nobody wants. Focus on having nice, clean, shiny, well-vacuumed and mopped floors. 

    • Knickknacks: While you may not need to clean certain spaces, you may want to gather and put away knickknacks and other small appliances that are taking up space and won’t be needed during the party. In the kitchen, we recommend putting away the toaster, blender, and coffee machine (unless you’re using it), giving you more counter space. In living rooms, gather remotes, books, pillows, and other items taking up space and put them into containers/storage out of the way. This will ensure they don’t get lost or damaged, while also showing that it is a clean, well-organized space.

    • Create a feeling: Putting scented candles around your home (a safe distance from guests, drapes, and other flammable items, of course) is an added step to create a certain “togetherness” feeling. With these candles, you can then dim the lights a bit, which creates a cozy atmosphere for your guests.

     

     

    Don’t Forget the Kitchen

    I’ve hosted many team parties at my home. While I often make all the food myself, there have been times I’ve brought in a bartending service. I’ve also attended parties where the host has brought in a catering company to provide all the food for their guests.

    Whoever you choose to bring in, they will require space to set up and prepare their drinks/food. This is typically done in the kitchen. If you are bringing in one of these services, then make sure to give them counter space – clear any dishes off the counters, empty the dishwasher, and remove small appliances they do not need. This allows them to be efficient in their prep work, along with their serving and/or clearing of dishes. This also lowers the risk of them damaging any of your items due to lack of room.

    Unless you are having your party specifically in the kitchen, there is no need to clean it beyond the above, along with wiping down the fronts of your appliances and cabinets to remove any food splatters and fingerprints.

    If you’re looking for a bartending service, I highly recommend Bartendo. All they need is a place to set up their bartending station with room to put glasses out and prepare drinks. For fun, have a drink list ready for your guests to choose from. Some of the customized drinks that Bartendo created for us in the past included the Vacuum Cleaner and the Boss’s Favourite. Delicious!

     

     

    Think About the After “Party”

    The party’s wound down. The candles have been blown out. Carols may have been sung. Laughs were absolutely had as friends joined in celebrating another year. Now they’ve left and you’ve turned the lights on only to find…

    The after party clean up that remains! Yikes!

    THIS is when we recommend that you invest in a deep clean – including the areas of the house you didn’t have cleaned before the party. 

    Plus – who really wants to clean up AFTER the party?

    Whether you are or are not bringing in cleaners to clean the following day, there are a couple of things that I recommend you do either way:

    1. Put your dishes in the dishwasher and run it. This will help keep any food from sticking to your plates or needing extra elbow grease come the morning.

    2. Put any remaining food away, especially if you have animals who can easily access the counter (like my curious cat loves to do). This way the food won’t go bad, and you’ll have tasty leftovers the next day and your animals won’t run the risk of eating anything that could make them sick. No one wants to make an emergency visit to the vet the day after a party (or ever, really).

    A benefit to hiring caterers or bartenders is that they usually clean up after themselves. They clean their dishes and often put other dishes in the dishwasher. The Bartendo crew I used did this so all I had to worry about was wiping down my floors and other surfaces the next day.

    Chances are you’re so busy getting ready for a party, focusing on the tiny details to ensure your guests have a good time, that you really don’t want to worry about cleaning. Plus, even if you’re doing the bare minimum to clean your space ahead of time, this can still take up to three hours, time you could be using to prepare the food (or organize the caterers), set up sitting spaces, remove any knickknacks, and get yourself ready. Don’t stress yourself out by adding cleaning on top of everything else on your checklist. Bringing in a cleaning company to do a quick clean before the party, and a deeper clean one post party will allow you to simply enjoy the holiday fun before, during, and after you host.

     

     

    If you’re planning your holiday party and need support with the cleaning part of your to-do checklist, connect with us for a quote. We’re here to help you celebrate with ease.

  • The Nitty Gritty Difference between House Cleaning and Deep Cleaning

    The Nitty Gritty Difference between House Cleaning and Deep Cleaning

     This question is so common. I hear it all the time. The truth is that, yes, a regular house cleaning is absolutely different from a deep cleaning. While there are many commonalities between them, there are also some major differences.

     The primary one? The level of detail. A regular weekly or biweekly cleaning is typically engaged for maintaining cleanliness, while a deep cleaning, typically completed every 6 – 12 months, is more extensive. A deep clean gets into the darkest of corners, on top of all cabinets, and ensures we scrub like there’s no tomorrow!

     Let’s break it down even further and get into the nitty-gritty differences between a regular house clean versus a deep, deep, deeeeeep clean.

     

     

     What is a Regular House Cleaning?

    A regular house cleaning involves those items you would consider “weekly cleaning tasks.” These are the chores many kids (myself included) grow up having to complete before being allowed to go out and play. The main purpose of a regular clean is to maintain a certain level of cleanliness, one that meets your personal standards on a day-to-day basis. Most home cleaning companies offer this type of service on a weekly, biweekly or monthly basis.

    When the Clean Club Calgary team goes in to complete a regular cleaning the following items are often included.

    • Bathrooms – everything here is cleaned and disinfected as this is often the room that holds onto the most germs. I mean…have you ever really looked in your toilet? 

    • Kitchen – cleaning the outside of appliances, while scrubbing the sinks

    • Floors are swept, vacuumed, and mopped

    • Carpets and rugs are properly vacuumed

    • Mirrors and windows are wiped down and made to shine again

    • Surfaces, such as light fixtures, are thoroughly dusted

    • Disinfecting/Sanitizing the most-touched surfaces, such as doorknobs and other handles

    • Collecting and removing the garbage

    • And special request items, such as removing the dog’s nose art from the front windows.

     

    While each customer has their own requirements and special requests, the above are common regular cleaning options completed during a regular clean.

     

     

     

    What’s Involved in a Deep Cleaning Package?

    As mentioned above, the biggest difference between the regular maintenance cleaning and a deep cleaning is the level of detail in the cleaning (but never the quality. This always remains consistent). The easiest way to explain it is to think of a deep clean much like Spring Cleaning. This involves going from top to bottom, left to right in every room, in every nook and cranny. It is extremely extensive and pays attention to those often neglected and hard-to-reach spots, such as the tops of your kitchen cabinets or behind your oven. While a regular cleaning supports the overall health of your living environment, a deep clean takes it to a whole other level, often including vacuuming the air vents.

     We’ll dive into when you should have a deep clean in just a moment. Right now, below are the additional items often involved in a deep clean.

    •  Appliances (e.g. fridges, ovens, etc.)

      • Both the inside and outside of appliances are washed

      • Appliances are pulled out from the wall so we can clean underneath and around. This is especially important if you have animals as their fur tends to get sucked under and can impact how the appliance functions.

    • Furniture

      • All furniture is pulled away from the wall, where we then wash the wall, removing any stains and streaks the furniture may have left

      • We dust and wash the sides of the furniture

      • Upholstered furniture is vacuumed

    • Window and Blinds

      • While a regular cleaning may have a wipe down of the windows, a deep clean involves washing them with soap and water, squeegee and a sparkling cloth.

      • Blinds are dusted, which takes time as we go in between each vane to ensure an intense and proper clean

    • Tops of Items

      • We get on step ladders to wash the tops of kitchen cabinets and dust/wash ceiling fans

    • Additional Items

      • We wash, scrub, and remove all marks from doors, walls, and baseboards.

    Deep cleaning is much more labour intensive and can take anywhere from two-three times as much time as a regular cleaning because it is a highly detailed and intense approach.

     

     

    When Do You Need a Deep Clean?

    When starting with a new customer, most cleaning companies have a standard rule to always start with a deep clean. This ensures the quality of clean starts us off on the right foot. From there, we’re able to schedule a regular cleaning, knowing that the weekly/bi-weekly cleaning is doing an excellent job maintaining the quality of the deep clean we started with. After this, we recommend that you have a deep clean completed every 6 – 12 months.

    There are a few other situations that we recommend a deep clean for, including:

    What’s the Cost for a Regular Clean versus a Deep Clean?

    Unsurprisingly, with the additional time involved in a deep clean, the deep clean is more expensive and can range anywhere from $440 to $1300. To give you a better idea of where your cleaning cost may fall, the following breaks it down by sq ft.

     

     

    A deep clean is typically an all-day event, whereas a regular clean is usually between two-three hours (house size dependent). While you should always receive quality cleaning regardless of the type of clean, it really falls to the reason you need a clean that will determine which type of cleaning makes sense for your needs.

    If you are curious as to which type of cleaning makes sense for your next clean, feel free to reach out, book a quote and we’ll be happy to start bringing back some sparkle to your home!