Greenapple Cleaning Services

Tip: Deciding on a house cleaning service is not a choice that should be made hastily.

An individual or individuals are entering your home and you need to trust them. Consumers should not only be looking for a sense of whether the company they are considering can adequately perform house cleaning services, they should also be looking for the company’s philosophy on it’s staff . In a recent national survey of Canadian insurance companies, over 35% of domestic claims come from commercial cleaning companies. The survey also concluded that most cleaning service companies are underinsured – protecting themselves from theft and/or damage of company property but not covering their customers adequately. In order to be bonded as a cleaning service in Canada, it is unnecessary to perform criminal background checks on one’s employees – therefore, the responsibility lies on the employer to perform the neccessary checks on an employee prior to allowing them to work in a customer’s home. This is a startling fact. As far as we’re concerned… this should be the number one question asked to a company you are considering, and it’s wrong to think that every company claiming to be a cleaning organization is in fact checking this.

Another thing we recommend to consumers is to ask if the products used by a company they are considering are safe commercial cleaners. You’d be surprised at the number of standard store bought cleaning products that contain harmful chemical elements. Bleach is one of the worst. It is possible to achieve a commercial grade clean through products that are 100% when used in the home and that have no harmful effects on the environment. Ask.

References – don’t hesitate to ask for them. Gauging the professionalism of an organization beyond the testimonials they post to their web site is a good way to determine who’s good and who’s not. Good organizations will seek that feedback to provide to new potential customers when and if asked and they’ll also have current or past customers to readily provide as references.

What other things do you look for? Leave us a comment and share some of your stories.

Toxic chemicals and poisons surround us in the home. It’s a shocking statement, but unfortunately, it’s a true one. When the label of a cleaning product says  that hazardous materials shouldn’t be poured down the drain or thrown away in the trash – this is a sign that said product is probably also not ok for exposure, ingestion, or inhalation to and by human beings. A common question is whether it is possible to truly clean a home without introducing toxic or chemical elements into the environment. Well, the short answer to that question is yes. As an Ottawa house cleaning company that specializes in the usage of environmentally sustainable and safe cleaning products when cleaning your home, we thought we’d share some quick tips for the every day stuff – the things you’d normally break out a bottle of Vim or Lysol for – with regular household items.

• Vinegar. It’s not just good on fries. Vinegar is a natural odor blocker. You can use it in a room with cat litter box and it will eliminate the smell.
• Vinegar and Baking Soda. Two relatively simple and common items in any household. Mix them together, and you have a powerful scrubbing paste that is both effective and safe.
• Water and Vinegar. Mixed together, they create a powerful surface cleaner, and it’s a great alternative to bleach when cleaning your kitchen floor.
• Lavendar oil! 1 cup water with 20 drops pure essential oil of lavender creates a powerful antibacterial spray that has an indefinite shelf life!
• Lemon or lime wedges and baking soda – halve a lemon or lime wedge, dab it in baking soda, and scrub your sink with it. This is one of the best ways to clean a stainless steel sink.
• Hydrogen peroxide. Use it as an alternative to brighten laundry instead of bleach!

Not everyone likes the smell of things like vinegar and not all of us want to transition into changes like this so quickly. Some of these suggestions require more work to be done. There are of course other alternatives. You can purchase cleaning products that smell good and don’t harm the environment.  There are certain seals and accreditations that indicate that a company has really done it’s homework in ensuring that a product is not only environmentally friendly or sustainable, but that it’s also non toxic and safe for your family. These include the Canadian Eco Logo, a seal that is applied to the concentrate Dustbane products that we use. You can view the entire list of Dustbane’s certified Eco Logo products here. You can also check out GreenerChoices for a rundown of the various credible logos and products that exists in the household cleaner and household disinfectant categories.

You can clean a home in an environmentally friendly and safe and non toxic way. Request a quote for an estimate on environmentally cleaning your home!

The summer is typically one of the busiest times in any home, especially if you have children. In between visits from a professional cleaner, you might want to consider some of these tips for summer organization.

1. Add a row of coat hooks to your garage or carport wall. Put everyone’s name above one of them. These are great places for everything from wet bathing suits, to shoes, to school bags. Below each hook, add a little plastic tote bag with handles. These can hold anything from flip flops to suntan lotion. Reduce the amount of clutter coming into the home.

2. BBQ Grilling Tools: Your grill tools are too long to fit into the most conventional of kitchen drawers. Install a pegboard near the BBQ and hang your grill tools before and after.

3. Water Toy Storage: Have a pool? Store your water toys in a rubbermaid bin with holes drilled in the bottom to drain water. Perfect for pool noodles or water toys.

4. Reduce closet clutter in bedrooms. 95% of people usually don’t put off season clothes away for half the year, but you’d be surprised how much space this creates in bedroom closets. Canvas bags are economical solutions for the storage of your winter and fall gear. There’s no use in having sweaters lingering in your closets when we’re having a heatwave.

5. Dedicate a space in the house for unused items: Instead of dedicating a whole day to trying to take inventory of the things that have no further use in your home, do it over a month. Keep them neatly in a space for the month and build on it as you find things.

6. Hold A Garage Sale: Instead of trashing the items to clear them out of the home – hold a garage sale on a weekend.

7. Out With The Old: Summer is a great time to take stock of toys and games that the kids don’t play with anymore. Take advantage of the opportunity to explain the benefits of giving the things you’ve outgrown to the Salvation Army or even to company’s like Value Village. Creating room in the house for new toys and