5 Tips for a Perfect Patio Party
Want to throw the perfect party on your patio or deck this weekend? Molly Maid has some easy party patio tips to make your get together great.
Before the weekend arrives, Molly Maid recommends spending 10 minutes in your outdoor space around dusk. Ask yourself these questions in advance to prevent pesky party-pooper moments later:
1. Are the mosquitoes making you miserable?
Tell pests to buzz off by preparing the area with plants that naturally repel mosquitoes, such as marigolds and citronella. Both plants are low maintenance and citronella scented candles or torches are also fast fixes. In a 2010 study, students at Iowa State University reported that catnip was 10 times more effective than DEET, though only advised for homeowners’ without feline friends.
2. Will your guests be able to see where they’ve set their drink once the sun sets?
Night vision goggles are a definite “fashion don’t,” and so is a darkened deck! Make sure you have candles, solar lanterns or strings of white holiday lights to ease into evening and ensure everyone can safely navigate around – especially near stairs or elevated areas without railing.
Photo by: pwinn on Flickr
3. Could the night chill stop the fun in its tracks?
Don’t let falling temperatures send your guests rushing off too soon. A portable fire pit with a screen cover is an inexpensive way to keep warm while keeping sparks contained. Keep the fire pit at least 10 feet away from your house and trees, and place it on flat concrete or brick surface. For around $200 a piece, you can also purchase tabletop or floor standing heating lamps to linger a little bit later.
4. Does your deck décor need a makeover?
Your deck will deserve the perfect party title after some house cleaning and embellishment. First, use a stiff bristled broom to sweep the floor and use warm soapy water and a hand brush to remove sticky or moldy spots on your home’s siding. Next, add colorful pillows in weather resistant fabric to make your seating stand out and consider adding an outdoor rug to match underneath the table. Metal wall fixtures come in several finishes and designs. Find one that suits you to personalize your patio. Turn on some tunes suited to the crowd using a portable speaker system to set the scene for fun.
5. Is there enough space to place and eat those yummy hors d’oeuvres?
Does your deck have enough surface space for serving snacks? Folding tray tables and card tables don’t take up a lot of room yet add portable options that can be quickly removed once guests are finished eating. Consider moving a sofa table or moveable kitchen cart outside to store plates, cups, napkins, condiments and plastic ware.
Please share your favorite signature drinks, appetizers or songs for a perfect patio party in our comments section, and then share this post on your Facebook page!
Carpet Cleaning: Tips to Make Your Carpet Last
Do you have a love/hate relationship with your home’s carpeting? Carpeting can really add to your home’s appeal until you spill coffee or your favorite red wine on it. If you’re looking for carpet cleaning tips you’re in the right spot. Here are Molly Maid’s tips to make your carpet last:
- Use Welcome Mats. Carpet can really get dirty fast in homes where people don’t remove their shoes at the door. To prevent everyday dirt from becoming stains, use a welcome mat to capture dirt at the door and regularly vacuum those mats – and vacuum underneath them if possible.
- Keep Club Soda Handy. Not sure how to remove red wine or coffee from your carpet? It’s simple, but you have to act fast in order for it to work. Immediately after the spill, sprinkle salt on the area to prevent it from staining; pour the club soda on the stain but don’t oversaturate it; then blot (DON’T SCRUB) the area with a clean cloth until dry. This method works great with pet accidents, too.
- Groom Fido and Fluffy, A LOT. We know your four-legged friends are members of the family and they need special attention to make sure your home doesn’t turn into one giant hairball. Brush your dog or cat regularly to remove loose hair, and if you can brush them outside that’s even better; give them regular baths to keep the hair and dander count down; and put a large towel or sheet over your pet’s favorite chair or spot on the floor.
- Get in Line. Nothing shows off a well-cared-for home like lines in a freshly vacuumed carpet. If your carpet has no lines after vacuuming, it may be time to consider a new vacuum. Not sure how to properly vacuum your home? Don’t sweat it. We wrote on blog post about that, too: How to Vacuum: Yes, apparently you do need vacuuming tips!
- Bonus Tip: Did you know that in one hour a 135-pound woman can burn up to 180 calories vacuuming?
What do you think of our carpet cleaning tips? Have a tip of your own? Please share it in the comments box below.
You love mom, no doubt about it. Sometimes, though, you space on important dates or procrastinate until the very last second when needing to buy her a gift. If this describes you leading up to Mother’s Day, which happens on Sunday, May 12, by the way, get her a gift certificate for Molly Maid housecleaning services. And because gift certificates can scream “I forgot,” you should personalize it using one of these ideas.
Include a Poem
Your mom will love a poem written by you, whether you know how to write poetry or not. Simply put your sentiments down and make it rhyme. If you just can’t write, or don’t have time, borrow from a professional. The opening phrase from Edgar Allen Poe’s To My Mother gets the job done:
Because I feel that, in the Heavens above,
The angels, whispering to one another,
Can find, among their burning terms of love,
None so devotional as that of “Mother,”
Tuck the Gift Certificate Into a Card Made by You
Just imagine the look on your mother’s face when she opens up a handmade envelope to find a handmade card from you. It will take her back to your childhood, before you ever fought about clothes or getting the keys to her car. Simply stop by the grocery store and pick up construction paper in her favorite colors, glue and glitter. She will love it.
Include a List
Odds are mom has a long to-do list for her home, which makes giving a gift certificate for cleaning services the perfect Mother’s Day gesture. Include with it a list of your own making, one that includes all of the wonderful things your mom has done for you. Start with giving birth and end with the most recent nice thing she did to help you along in life.
Give It With a Framed Family Photo
Give the gift certificate with a framed photo of you and your mom. Choose one from your childhood if she doesn’t already have them hanging around your house. Or you can have someone else snap a photo of you two with your phone. This option will include a smidge of planning, but not much as you can email photos to many drugstores and warehouse clubs for pickup the same day. The photo will remind her of your thoughtfulness every time she looks at it.
Photo credit: mrsdkrebs on Flickr
Make Her Favorite Meal
How many breakfasts, lunches and dinners has mom cooked for you over the years? Say thank you by serving her a favorite dish and dessert. Yes, you could take her out to dinner, but it would mean so much more to host her in your home or to take over her kitchen. That way, you can spend time together while you cook, which gives her ample opportunity to offer advice. You know how much moms love to do that.
These ideas also work if you need a gift for the mother of your children, too. Enlist the kids in the project if old enough, or do it on their behalf if not. There are many resources online to help.
The Wayward Girls Crafts Blog offers this excellent how-to for quick and easy Mother’s Day cards your kids can make. They will be proud of what they make, and their mom will be touched by the effort.
The Blog Me Mom also gives directions for making Mother’s Day cards, with these adding paint and glitter to the list of supplies needed. Again, your kids will enjoy being creative, and your wife will treasure the pieces for many years to come.
If you can’t decide which of these ideas suits mom best, choose two or three and really make her Mother’s Day special.
For your home cleaning needs, call the professionals at Molly Maid. Call 1-888-583-6490 now to connect directly with your local Molly Maid. Each maid services team comprises bonded, insured, licensed and uniformed housekeepers who are regularly supervised. Click here to request service in your area.
3 Things Mom Really Wants for Mother’s Day
Article after article written by mommy bloggers and mainstream press brought the key findings in the PewResearchCenter’s Modern Parenthood study, released on March 13, 2013 to life, moms spend a lot of time working, caring for children and performing housework!
Time parents spend each week on paid and unpaid work.
Free Time
The popular website, Sheknows.com, surveyed their readers and reported what moms really want to receive on Sunday, May 12 as the gift of time! The confessions about wanting free time, a little pampering and a lot of appreciation make sense to us, as every year, Molly Maid sees a huge spike in service requests for our housecleaning service and gift certificate sales.
Pampering
We know you work hard! In 2012, Salary.com reported that a stay-at-home mom would earn $112,962 if she were paid average wages and overtime for all the tasks she does including laundress, janitor, driver, cook, facilities manager, psychologist, and the CEO of the household!
Molly Maid’s sweepstakes kicks off on April 19!
Giving mom a day off dedicated to anything other than those tasks inspired our “Mom Hates Grime. Give the Gift of Time” Facebook sweepstakes running April 19 – May 10. The grand prize includes:
- $500 of house cleaning
- One-hour massage from Massage Envy
- $100 gift card to the Melting Pot
Four runner-up prize winners will each receive a one-hour massage from Massage Envy, a day spa that rejuvenates your mind and body. Also, the first 200 entrants will receive our favorite cleaning tool, a microfiber cloth!
Appreciation
Show the moms in your life how much you care about them and how grateful you are for their contributions to your life. Check out some great cards we’ve pinned on our new Pinterest board called “Show Mom Some Love” for ideas to make a cute card at home or buy something unique online.
If you’re a mom, let us know what you want this year or share your perfect gift idea in the comments section!
In most homes, bedroom closets get more use than any others. You pull clothes, shoes and other items from them each day for work, school or play. Laundry bins also often live there. This daily use requires family members to keep their bedroom closet tidy or risk not being able to close the door. They can also benefit from a spring cleaning this time of year. Follow these tips to get your bedroom closets organized and keep them that way.
Keep. Donate. Trash.
Photo Credit: lara604 on Flickr
Start your spring cleaning project by pulling everything from your master bedroom closet and placing it in a keep, donate, or trash pile. With hanging items, you can leave what you plan to keep in place to avoid turning your bed into a mountain of clothes.
With “keep” clothes, shoes and accessories, send any that need refreshing to the laundry room or dry cleaner. Also make note of any bins or organizers that would make storing and accessing them easier. For example, placing scarves and purses in wire or clear bins allows you to neatly store them and access after a quick scan.
When considering what to donate, think back to the last time you wore or used an item. If you can’t remember, odds are you don’t need it. Certain clothes prove the exception to this rule, though, such as formal and recreational wear you only use occasionally but that still fits your body and style. Place “donate” items in shopping bags or even clear garbage bags; using clear bags helps you see quickly what needs to go to the donation center, not into the trash.
Place whatever you do plan to throw away outside in your trash bin to avoid the temptation of changing your mind. There should not be much heading this way, though, as old clothes make excellent cleaning rags and just about any pair of shoes could fit the feet of someone in need.
Closet Organizers
Photo Credit: closet factory 0n Flickr
As mentioned above, bins and organizers allow you to keep a much tidier bedroom closet. Stores sell entire closet organization systems, which include multiple shelves, drawers and racks, or you can make optimal use of the shelving you have.
If you have limited space, move warm weather clothes to the front of shelves and bars during spring-cleaning and tuck winter items toward the back after any necessary cleaning and bagging.
Move onto other bedroom closets in the home once you finish, grabbing the family member responsible on the way.
Keep Your Bedroom Closet Clean
Photo Credit: LizMarie_AK on Flickr
It would be nice to only have to do all of the above once a year, but you will find that seasonal cleanings like these make sense. You can combine spring and summer, as the clothing tends to be the same for both seasons, no matter where you live in the country. And a fall-winter cleaning works, too.
Once you have your bedroom closet in tip-top shape, set a schedule for certain tasks to ensure it stays that way. Choose a laundry day, a shoe maintenance day, and a mending day. Sunday makes an excellent day for doing laundry, as it allows you to start the week with all of your clothes clean and ready to wear. On that same day, also clean and polish any shoes that need it. The night of the week when your favorite TV show airs makes a great day for sewing back on any loose buttons.
Keeping your bedroom closets clean also allows you to get dressed quickly and get wherever you need to be on time. You also can maintain the floors easily, or have your cleaning service do so. You can’t vacuum or sweep around dirty clothes on the floor, after all.
Discover more helpful tips in our spring cleaning tips and checklists guide.
For your home cleaning needs, call the professionals at Molly Maid. Call 1-888-583-6490 now to connect directly with your local Molly Maid. Each home cleaning team comprises of bonded, insured, licensed and uniformed housekeepers who are regularly supervised. Click here to request service in your area.
Top 5 Ways to Get Your Kids to do Chores
Having a hard time getting your kids to help clean around the house? Rest assured, you are not alone…
There are many a child who miraculously become unable to do much of anything when asked to “clean,” “pick-up,” “take out,” or “wash” something.
Want to know how to motivate your kids to help with cleaning around the house? Here are our top tips:
- Motivation. There are varying opinions about leveraging the power of the allowance, but you don’t always have to motivate your children with money. What do your kids love to do? Depending on their age, think of what would really motivate your kids to get off their behinds and help out. More time playing video games? A sleepover with friends? A sweet treat?
- Consistency. Once your kids are motivated to help out, there needs to be a level of consistency over time in order to set expectations for your children. It’s not feasible to buy your kids a brand new video game every time he/she takes out the trash, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be consistent with what you present as motivation. Confused? Let us explain. Let’s say for every new chore your kids become responsible for i.e. taking out the trash or emptying the dishwasher, they get a larger motivational item i.e. new game, a night at the movies, sleepover, etc. and for every time they maintain responsibilty for that chore, you reward them with a small treat. One of our fellow Molly Maid moms created a “treat basket” that her daughters get to choose from every Sunday after they’ve completed their chores for the week.
- Music. Singing and playing music during chores is a great motivator. Young kids might like to sing the beloved Barney Clean-Up Song or jam out to their own tunes on their iPods.
- Competition. Who can clean up more toys? Winner gets a prize! Something as simple as that can get your kids to help out. A little healthy competition is good for everyone! Kid chore charts are also a good motivator for competition. Adding colorful stickers or stamps everytime a chore is completed can be reason enough for some kids.
- Threaten. OK. So threatening isn’t something we usually promote but depending on your parenting style sometimes you’ve gotta be tough. If your kids are being particular disobedient it might be time to lay down the law with some sort of: I’m going to count to 3…; or do you want a timeout?; or you’re grounded!
Here are some more kid cleaning tips from our very own Professor M of the Molly Institute.
What do you think of our top five cleaning games and tips for kids? Have one of your own? Please share with us in the comments section below.
Popular TV persona Mike Rowe and his newly-launched “My Dirty Jobs” cleaning product line is teaming up with us for My Dirty Jobs’ Mess Masters Contest!
The contest, which runs through May 6, gives parents the opportunity to share their kid and pet messes by snapping and sharing photos of them in action.
To participate, parents and pet owners take photos of their kid or pet and his or her dirty work and edit them via a Facebook photo editing tool. Participants will also have the opportunity to customize their images by choosing superhero personas to bring the Mess Masters and their messes to life. The best image will be awarded the grand prize one-year of free Molly Maid cleaning services.
My Dirty Jobs Mess Masters Contest
The Mess Masters Contest will focus on the epic household messes that Mess Masters themselves have created, and how to effectively take care of the mess by using My Dirty Jobs cleaning products in everyday cleaning.
“We are thrilled to be partnering up with Mike Rowe and his fantastic line of My Dirty Jobs cleaning products in search of finding America’s top ‘Mess Master’,” said Molly Maid President Meg Roberts. “Kids and pets can make a pretty impressive mess in very little time, so the contest is a playful way to have some fun with the topic.”
For your home cleaning needs, call the professionals at Molly Maid. Call 1-888-583-6490 now to connect directly with your local Molly Maid. Each maid services team comprises bonded, insured, licensed and uniformed housekeepers who are regularly supervised. Click here to request service in your area.
No room looks tidy with an unmade bed. It takes just a minute, so why do so many of us skip this chore? Organize your linen closet, then follow a schedule to make keeping your bed neat and clean a totally achievable task.
Get Organized
If you have a dedicated linen closet, or multiple ones throughout your home, then getting organized takes no time at all. If you do not, consider turning a hall closet into space for your extra bedding and towels.
Start the organization process by sorting through all of the linens you have. Set aside sheets, towels and other items you don’t use to repurpose or donate, if in good enough condition. Stick to three sets of sheets per bed and three towel sets (bath, hand and washcloth) per family member. Limiting linens helps prevent overflow and makes it much easier to find what you need to keep the house in order.
Now organize your linen closet, or closets, by bedroom, bathroom and season. So, put all sheets and comforters for the master bedroom in one stack, items for the kid’s room in another, and so on until all bedrooms and bathrooms get their own stack or stacks. Place out-of-season items, such as flannel sheets in the summer or beach towels in the winter, behind in-season items. Keep items you rarely use in plastic pouches to keep them fresh. You also can tuck a box of baking soda to keep linens from getting musty in humid areas of the country, and dryer sheets and scented sachets make for a lovely smell. Scented shelf liners work well, too.
When you add or remove items, put freshly laundered items on top and take the next to use from the bottom of the stack. This helps spread wear out amongst your sets.
Bonus tip: If you have yet to master the folding of a fitted sheet — and other than Martha Stewart, who has? — check out this step-by-step how-to on the topic. The article also includes Martha herself showing how it’s done.
Make the Beds Daily
Photo Credit: PoshSurfside.com on Flickr
Before leaving your bedroom each morning, straighten the sheets and tidy the comforter. Also fluff and replace all pillows. Waiting until after breakfast or just before you leave for work or school results in the chore getting skipped more often than not.
Bonus tip: If you have kids in the house, add “make your bed” to their list of morning chores and tie it to an allowance or prizes. You all will appreciate having a nicely made bed to fall into at the end of a long day.
Change Sheets Weekly
How often sheets need changing depends on their use. For example, do your dogs cuddle up with you at night? Then you definitely need to change sheets weekly. Even sheets that see less dirty paws can benefit from a weekly change, as it puts you in the habit of taking care of the chore on a regular basis. If you only do it every other week or once a month, it gets too easy to put off the task.
Bonus tip: If you do let pets sleep in the bed, keep a container of wet wipes in your nightstand drawer for a quick cleaning before bed. Doing so keeps your sheets cleaner longer — and your pets, for that matter.
By getting organized and setting a schedule for making beds, you give yourself and family members the best possible chance at tidy bedrooms. If you need help with the organization aspect or weekly or more frequent changing of sheets, we would be more than happy to help out.
For your home cleaning needs, call the professionals at Molly Maid. Call 1-888-583-6490 now to connect directly with your local Molly Maid. Each maid services team comprises bonded, insured, licensed and uniformed housekeepers who are regularly supervised. Click here to request service in your area.
The famous author of the beloved “Dear Abby” column, Abigail Van Buren was known for her wise words of advice. In terms of raising children, Molly Maid completely agrees with something she once said, “If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders.”Opinions about paying kids for chores runs the gamut from Dave Ramsey’s commission structure, which pays specific amounts for completed tasks to your grandfather’s stern words that paying kids to help with the laundry or picking up their room is hogwash! Only you know what reward system will motivate your child and teach responsible financial management.
There are three important takeaways you and your children will realize as household tasks are shared among everyone living in your home:
1. Cleaning isn’t one person’s job.
2. Everyone wants more free time.
Kids have busy schedules, and no one knows this more than parents who are frazzled from driving their kids all around town! By having children chip in with age appropriate tasks from putting their socks away to dusting, everyone in the house contributes to creating more free time.
Our customer testimonials regularly talk about the benefit Molly Maid’s professional house cleaning service gives them. Look at what Audrey in Texas shared recently, “It is so nice to come home after a long day at work and walk into a sparkling house and smell the crisp clean smell!!! Molly Maid gives me more free time to enjoy my weekends and evenings with my family and friends where I used to spend the weekend cleaning the house from top to bottom. What a gift! The gift of time!!! Thanks so much for what you do and the level of service you provide. I recommend Molly Maid to every busy person or parent!”
3. Build good habits and memories.
Will your son’s bed be made as nicely as when you do it, or will your daughter sweep every corner like you would? Probably not, and that’s ok! The biggest lessons kids can learn from pitching in is about everyone being responsible for messes made and taking care of the home. By starting young, you are building good habits your child will hopefully carry through their life. You can make the time you spend cleaning and the time you save cleaning together fun, which creates family memories to last a lifetime!
We’d love to hear what chores your kids complete at home, so share your comments and this post on your social media sites.
Unless you design your kitchen and pantry from scratch, you will never have the exact storage you want and need. You can increase your storage and improve overall organization, though, in your existing setup. Simply follow these five easy steps.
1. Go through your kitchen from top to bottom.
Pull everything out of cabinets, drawers and the pantry. Set aside items you never use, such as that juicer you got as a wedding gift and any other dusty appliances, dishware or kitchen tools. These make excellent donations to your local charitable organization or in an upcoming garage sale; just store them elsewhere in the meantime.
2. Create zones.
Think about the location of every cabinet, drawer and shelf in the kitchen and pantry, then reorganize so that items get stored near where they get used. In the pantry, consider dividing shelves and other storage space into zones. This excellent article on the Better Homes and Gardens website offers a plan for doing exactly that. Zones for baking, quick breakfasts, to-go lunches and easy weeknight meals keep your food items organized and make meal prep much easier. Zones get labeled so that anyone in the family can help with unloading the groceries and other supplies.
Photo credit: Monica’s Dad on Flickr
3. Add shelves.
Now that you have only necessary items in your kitchen and pantry, decide whether or not certain spaces need to be and could be reshelved. A handy family member or professional could easily knock out existing shelves and install a different number and configuration. Many older homes simply don’t have a setup that suits today’s families, and pantries often get reworked to meet modern needs.
4. Buy and use bins.
Once you have a general layout in place, hit the organization store or aisle for bins and other containers for grouping items. Clear plastic and wire bins make excellent containers for organizing items by zone, as recommended in step 2, and for general tidiness. Grabbing a bin with everything you need takes much less time than standing in your pantry hunting for separate ingredients, and if you know all bags and foils are in one bin, you don’t waste time searching for leftover containers after a meal. Be sure to measure every space for which you need a bin or other container before going to the store.
Photo credit: TinyTall on Flickr
5. Pick up and install other organization items.
While shopping the organization store or aisle, look for other items that can help you maintain a neat kitchen and pantry. Under-the-shelf wire containers hold smaller items, further increasing your shelf space, as can similar racks for the back of doors. Imagine having all of your spices easily accessible on the back of a cabinet or pantry door. Magnets and hooks also allow you to hang items for easy access outside of a shelf or drawer. You might want to also pick up a step stool if you don’t already have one to reach all of your newly organized areas.
If you need further inspiration and direction for optimizing the storage of your kitchen and pantry, check out these setups from a popular organization store. You can invest in such a system, or you can use the examples shown on the website to inspire a DIY version.
Once you have a place for everything and everything in its place, stress to your family members the importance of keeping the kitchen and pantry neat and tidy. If they don’t comply, you can simply hide their favorite food item to prove your point. Next time they put an item away, they might think twice about not placing it where it belongs.
For your home cleaning needs, call the professionals at Molly Maid. Call 1-888-583-6490 now to connect directly with your local Molly Maid. Each maid services team comprises bonded, insured, licensed and uniformed housekeepers who are regularly supervised. Click here to request service in your area.
