Hello! Can you believe we have Christmas right around the corner? Of course we had to bring some cleaning tips before Christmas!
This is the most beautiful time around the year. You get to spend the holidays with your family celebrating Christmas (and New Year’s Eve very soon!) you have only this week to get your home ready!
As we always mention, make sure to check our professional cleaning service in Dallas if you wish to remove stress and spent this week getting your home ready for Christmas!
But if you find some free hours during this week you can try cleaning and tidying up your home during this week, or even during Saturday morning, before you get to enjoy your Christmas dinner.
Let’s find some quick cleaning tips to make your home spark before Christmas!
First Step: Take a Look Around the House
When you have a lot going on, it might not be easy to quickly spot the areas in your home that need some care.
We are in a very special moment which is Christmas time, so you have to take extra effort into thinking about all those hidden areas and corners where you might need to vacuum, clean and tidy.
A nice, easy trick is to enter each room and quickly scan for 30 seconds until you find the most “out of place” item. Fix it and then return again to fix the next item in the line.
Flat, large surfaces usually create the biggest impact when you clean a room. This includes floors, countertops and tables, for example.
Tidying up and wiping those surfaces can create a big impact, especially if you don’t have a lot of time.
You may have a lot of rooms and not enough time. In this case, focus on the kitchen and the living room, and the guest bathroom. Those are the three essential areas that you and your guests will likely spend time at.
Of course, if you have any particular plans or activities, include those areas as well (e.g., your backyard or a guest bedroom).
Set Up a Christmas Cleaning Day with Your Family
Cleaning becomes much easier when you have extra help, and it can even become something that you can enjoy as family time!
Dedicating an entire day (or even just the morning) and treating it as a “cleaning day” can help you save a lot of time. In a way, it is easier to make quick decisions and carry out your cleaning tasks.
Besides, as we all know, Christmas is the perfect time for decorating and spending quality time as a family.
You only have a few days left so make sure everyone is available that day for some deep cleaning!
There are many schedules and ideas to sort out your cleaning tasks in a way that is effective and fair to all members of your household, including kids!
As we were mentioning earlier, flat surfaces are usually the ones creating the biggest difference between a messy home and a clean, fresh one.
Each type of floor has different cleaning instructions. Between carpet, ceramic and hardwood floors, you have completely different steps to clean and sanitize, for example.
The most important steps for cleaning your floors are: using the right vacuum cleaner (e.g., avoid the beater bar brush attachment in parquet, laminate, tile and vinyl floors to avoid scratching).
Also, make sure you don’t use excessive water, as you don’t want humidity to soak into the floors. Pay special attention to excessive humidity as certain areas of North Dallas can become extremely humid during this time of the year.
Whenever you are mopping try using as little water as possible, and also rinse and wipe several times. Open up your windows to let some sunlight and airflow into the room.
Remember to check our blog with all our tips for different types of floors, such as Carpet Floors, and Hardwood Floors.
Clean Your Windows Before Christmas Time
Windows are often left behind in the cleaning calendar. If you can squeeze in this cleaning task within your schedule, it would be great for your household!
Depending on where you live, this may or may not be a great time for cleaning windows, because of the weather. Contrary to popular belief, you can clean your windows in a rainy day.
In fact, if you do it on a sunny day, you run the risk of having the sun dry your cleaner too quickly and leave streaks. Just make sure it is not as windy to avoid a lot of dust floating around and sticking to your shiny windows.
To clean windows, you can use hot, soapy water to start with. Use a microfiber cloth to spread your cleaning solution in a circular motion.
Don’t forget to place an old towel under your windows to absorb any excessive water.
To achieve that streak-free look, you can use a one-part vinegar, two parts water mix for general cleaning.
Wipe again with a microfiber, lint-free towel several times until it is completely clean. You might need to apply the vinegar/water mix again until the soapy water is completely rinsed off.
Organize Your Cabinets and Drawers Before Christmas
Now that you are getting closer to Christmas time, this is a great opportunity to organize your kitchen and your pantry.
Sometimes we save too many ingredients, canned goods, herbs and spices that we don’t use at all or that are already expired before we notice.
Besides, in order to prepare your favorite Christmas dishes, it would be helpful to clear out your kitchen before you start with your cooking.
You can try different organization system to help you out with your pantry: lazy susans, baskets, glass jars or containers are all effective and simple solutions. It will look cleaner, more organized and easier to spot the exact ingredient you are looking for.
Of course, the same goes for cabinets and drawers. Nowadays you have drawer dividers, trays or even plastic boxes to help you keep everything under control.
Deep Clean Your Fridge
Speaking of organizing your kitchen, this could be the perfect opportunity to clean and sanitize your fridge and make some space for your favorite Christmas dishes (and the leftovers!)
Always start by unplugging your fridge and removing all your food items, as well as drawers and shelves.
To clean your drawers and shelves use soapy water and a large sponge. If you haven’t cleaned your fridge in a while, you can add white vinegar or baking soda to further clean and deodorize your fridge.
Place a large old towel at the bottom to absorb excessive water.
Don’t forget to wipe the inside of your fridge as well, using a microfiber cloth damp with hot, soapy water.
If it has liquid stains such as tomato sauce or meat juice, you can use a steam cleaner if you have one, or a concentrated dish soap and hot water mix to quickly remove any stains or residues.
Remember to leave plenty of room for your Christmas meals and you can also leave half a lemon on a small plate to absorb odors as much as possible. You can also try mixing one teaspoon of baking soda and a few drops of lemon juice or lemon essential oil.
Bonus Tips: Add Some Décor After Cleaning
What is Christmas without some beautiful decoration? After all the important surfaces in your home have been cleaned, vacuumed, and sanitized, it’s time to add a few Christmas items.
It’s likely that you have small knick-knacks that have collected dust and you’re afraid of damaging them. In this case, it might be easier to soak all of them in hot soapy water. Make sure they are safe to wash (e.g., porcelain or plastic items without any electric wiring).
To make things easier, you can choose different tools: a steamer, a pressure washer or even a small toothbrush can help you remove dust and dirt from with delicate items.
Choose your décor items very carefully, as you don’t want to overwhelm your rooms. Items that are easy to clean and store back afterward should have simple shapes and be resistant.
A great trick is to add a nice fragrance with a Christmas touch. Cinnamon, vanilla and pine are popular choices this time of the year. You can choose floor deodorizers or candles with these scents, for example. That will give your home a fresh and clean touch, even if it wasn’t deep cleaned in the first place.
Conclusion
Christmas time is coming very soon. We hope these tips helped you tidy and clean your home in a very small time frame.
Because time is scarce, remember to take at least 10 – 15 minutes to come up with a plan for each task/room. Then, try to add as many family members and friends as possible to finish in a heartbeat!
If you’re like me, that phrase sends chills up your spine. My immediate response is “what’s wrong?” or “what did I do?”
Don’t worry, no one’s in trouble. I have good news.
With the nostalgia of the holidays fresh on my mind, I’ve been reflecting on the last two years. I was talking to my friend from Florida the other day and she made a funny comment. She said, “We’ve all been through so much. The last three years have been a class on collective grief and loss. Ask someone what’s happened since the pandemic started and they’ll get a glossy look on their eyes.”
Funny right? We all survived. We made it through. But it’s all a haze. This experience we went through which we’ve collectively kind of muted from our memory. We know it happened. That cannot be forgotten. But the specifics feel hazy, nebulous, fuzzy. It’s a weird experience that unites us. We know it happened. It was recent, but the memory is hard to pin down.
Unless we work to dust if off. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been reminded of so much I can be grateful for in my life. My wife, my kids. My business, my staff. You.
Candidly, we’re here because of our hard work AND your support. Covid hit and we were thrown against the ropes. So many of you paid for services that you didn’t receive. So many of you helped us stay afloat.
With things calming down, we’ve been able to move forward. We haven’t just stayed in business; we’ve grown. Your support in promoting us, in sharing with your neighbors, friends, and coworkers, has helped us not just survive but thrive.
With that in mind, this Thanksgiving, I want to say thank you and offer a small gift of appreciation. We are not raising prices anytime soon.
I belong to a group of business owners that meets regularly. In one of our recent gatherings, one owner remarked that raising prices now was kind of expected. Inflation, social unrest, general societal uncertainty. Everyone expects to pay more right now.
But we aren’t doing that. Why? First and foremost because it’s the right thing to do. We run an efficient business and your loyalty deserves a reprieve from all the higher prices these days. Above all other factors, it’s the right thing to do to hold our prices where they are. A recent congressional testimony revealed that 54% of higher prices is driven by corporate greed. Businesses just want to make more money. Well, some do. We could raise prices, but we aren’t going to. Why? Because that’s not right. That’s not who we are. And you don’t deserve to pay more just “because.”
Secondly, I want to encourage gratitude in our community. Did you know that positive online reviews lead to bonuses and extra accolades for our team? If you leave a positive Google review for your cleaning associate or team, it means something. We reward quality work. It’s not just “nice.” It means recognition here. We pay for performance. We acknowledge hard, quality work. And you can let us know when that happens.
I could go on and on. But I won’t. With Thanksgiving just days away, I want to extend a heartfelt Thank You. We’ve all been through a lot. You. Your family. Our community. And yet here we are, still moving forward. It hasn’t been easy or neat or clean or tidy. Life is messy. But here we are, plowing forward together. And while life is messy, we are grateful you let us make your home a little less so. From myself and the entire team, we wish you a very bright and happy Thanksgiving.
I’m excited to announce that Monse has accepted a promotion at Dallas Maids as our General Manager. Truthfully, it is not so much a promotion, rather it is recognition for what she has already been doing for a long while at Dallas Maids. Monse basically promoted herself by taking on additional responsibilities and doing what was necessary to ensure Dallas Maids continued to operate at a high level, serving our customers and staff.
Monse ~ General Manager
Monse has been us for over 2 years. She has earned this position, but not overnight. She has taken a step every day to prove herself as a trustworthy, kind, empathetic, and hard-working team mate and leader. Monse’s journey has led her to be here, as our new general manager. But it started some 2 and half years ago.
Monse joined Dallas Maids in 2020. She was an office manager that had a particular zest for getting the job done while also helping customers feel seen, respected, and important. But before I knew that, I remember interviewing Monse with our team and thinking she would be perfect for the job. She had naturally risen in rank at her previous places of employment, to hold key positions of management. And from her interview, I could clearly see why; she was exceptionally professional, well-spoken, genuine, a natural leader. I just got a good gut feeling about Monse.
She was hired.
I’m so glad I waited to see her character. I’m so glad I listened to my gut and that she has called us her team because she would soon prove how invaluable she was to Dallas Maids.
She hit the floor running. (Monse, thank you for reading the Operation Manual before accepting our offer!) For a brief time Monse moved to Emily’s Maids. Her experience, charm, and desire to provide a quality service helped Emily’s Maids grow.
Once an opening appeared, I gave Monse and option of returning to Dallas Maids. I was thrilled she came back. She has been an excellent team leader and is driven to ensure work gets done. She has even helped with our recruiting efforts, introducing us to Nelly (Emily’s Maids) and Edith (Dallas Maids). As you all know from working with Monse, she loves to laugh and connect while also working hard together. That vigor and passion has been critical to our success as the Dallas area’s most highly rated and awarded cleaning service in Dallas.
It is that tenacity, that spark, that has brought Monse to this new path on her journey.
Today, we take a minute to honor Monse. Her work, her smile, her compassion. And we also take a minute to learn from her. She has walked a journey of a thousand miles at Dallas Maids to become our new manager. But that journey wasn’t clear or obvious the first day. It all started when she woke up her first day and made the choice to work hard, stay the course, and do her best.
That is what we are celebrating today. Not just the work she has done, but who she is. Monse, we are proud of you and so excited to be on your team in the next leg of our journey together.
Hello! It’s been a long time since our previous article, and we wanted to come back with something we’re sure you will find useful: a Fall Cleaning Checklist!
It’s fall season right now! This year went by so fast, and what better way to celebrate than to clean our home?
Fall is one of the most beautiful seasons. At this point, you have probably started using your fireplace again, preparing warm drinks, and changing your decoration.
But everything has its ups and downs. Leaves start to gather in your backyard, your windows get dirty faster, and your filters and drains might get clogged before the season ends.
Depending on where you live, the winds can start to carry more dust mites, lint, and allergens from plants, which will go right through your window. For example, Dallas has low air quality, and it gets worse during fall because the temperature drops and there is less sunlight each day. We all know good airflow and sunlight are the worst enemies of mold and mildew, so keep that in mind.
Here’s how you can go through each area and get your home looking beautiful during fall!
Step 1: The Kitchen
Fall is a great time to declutter and clean your cupboards inside out. Many people buy canned goods and other items during Christmas, and this is the perfect time to check if you have any items expiring soon.
If you have the time, take everything out and clean your empty shelves thoroughly. This task is ideal for seasonal or occasional cleaning. For laminate shelves, you can use hot, soapy water.
Scrub with a non-scratch sponge, then wipe with a damp cloth and wipe again with a dry cloth. Remember to let shelves open and have them receive plenty of sunlight and airflow.
For wire shelves, you can use hot, soapy water and a large soft-bristled brush, along with a soft toothbrush for hard-to-reach areas.
For wooden shelves or other delicate areas, make sure you use very little water. A good mix for wooden surfaces would be a two-part white vinegar, two-part mineral oil, and one-part lemon juice. Wood needs to be moisturized and sanitized often, which is exactly what you will accomplish with this mix.
You should also take this chance to clean your appliances, too.
Next, you have to clean countertops, islands, and individual items. Leave countertops for the end because all the grease and dust will fall naturally to flat surfaces. An electric air duster and a steam cleaner will be great for removing grease and dust.
Besides, it won’t harm to add a little décor! As you know, fall is all about using warm colors, and nature-related items.
Fall Cleaning Tips for Outdoors
You are probably going to have a lot of work in your front yard and backyard during the fall. As we mentioned earlier, you’re going to see leaves and dust more often in your home and even more so outdoors.
For example, your garden tools are probably going to be used and dirty more often. In the first place, you should clean your gardening tools after every use, to remove soil and dirt.
Ideally, you would use a water hose and let them sit in the sun for around 30 minutes or until they are completely dry before storing them back. You might need to use a stiff-bristled brush to scrub any stubborn stains.
Another important area is your deck. This is the perfect time for you to deep clean it, remove any mold or mildew growth and apply a protective coat before winter.
It’s best to do this on a sunny day, as you would want the deck to dry fast after you’ve finished washing. As for the strategy, a pressure washer would be ideal here. Cleaning with water (wet vacuums, steam cleaners, pressure washers) is effective but you are using the most harmless chemical available!
Besides the pressure washer, you will need oxygen-based bleach (OxiClean) and an oil-based wood stain. They are better than water-based stains because they will soak into the wood instead of just sitting on top of it.
Mix one cup of OxiClean and two gallons of water. Apply to the deck surface, using a sweeping brush. Let sit for 15 minutes and then rinse with your pressure washer. Make sure you don’t step too close to the deck to avoid leaving water streaks.
Wait 24 hours and then apply your wood stain with a roller brush. Again, make sure it is a sunny day or, most importantly, that it’s not going to rain for the next 24 hours.
Next on Your Fall Cleaning Checklist: Your Bedroom
As we mentioned earlier, dust mites and allergens increase during fall. If you have noticed that your sleep quality has decreased or that your allergies have gone through the roof, it’s probably because your furniture needs some cleaning!
Anything with fibers is prone to absorb dust, dirt, and dead skin. We are in contact with those surfaces constantly (beds, sofas, armchairs), so it’s best to keep them clean and sanitized.
Start by vacuuming your mattress at least once a week (although twice a week should be the norm), and your entire bed once or twice a month. There is so much dust that falls naturally to the sides of your bedframes, but luckily you just need to wipe it out.
Usually, a clean cloth damped with white vinegar works for most surfaces.
You need to deodorize your mattress from time to time, too. Sweat and dead skin carry a lot of bacteria, and it’s going to leave an unpleasant odor soon. Baking soda is a great choice as it is easy to apply and remove, and it is a mostly harmless chemical agent.
Once every two months would be a reasonable frequency. For keeping track of this easier, you can make it each 6 weeks, which means that you can do it every time a new season starts and then 6 weeks after that.
Living Room
Your living room is the heart of your home, and it makes sense to focus on this area during fall, especially if you are having guests soon.
First, make sure you declutter your living room. If you feel your room is cluttered or looks overwhelming but you can’t point out the reason, it might be because you have too many décor items, or they do not complement each other and are too particular.
If you want to switch things up, it might be better to choose what you are going to put in your living room and then clean or vacuum items.
Then, deep clean your floors and walls, paying special attention to corners. Around this time, cobwebs need to be removed.
Your sofas and other seating need to be cleaned too, for similar reasons as your bed.
As you know, vacuuming is really important to clean porous surfaces. With a wet and dry vacuum, you will be able to absorb a lot of dirt, sweat, and bacteria from your furniture, especially if you haven’t cleaned it this way. If you use one of these vacuums, make sure that you have a sunny day ahead so that your furniture can dry quickly.
Fall Cleaning Tips for Your Bathroom
Next on your fall cleaning list: the bathrooms. We all know they are one of the most dreaded areas for cleaning. As we mentioned earlier, during fall the temperature drops and humidity can increase. Bathrooms are humid because of all the plumbing, and they are also quite cold, and they receive little to no sunlight.
But there’s no need to worry! As long as you clean and disinfect surfaces to keep mold and mildew under control, everything will be fine.
For starters, you need to deep clean your surfaces and your components. A one-part water and one-part white vinegar mix is usually effective for general cleaning and killing mold as well. Use a few drops of soap to remove grease as well.
For your shower, leave a mix of baking soda and liquid hand soap, until you form a paste. Leave for 10 minutes and scrub with a large broom.
If your grout is looking grayish, brown, or black, it might need serious scrubbing. Try applying a mix of bleach and water, leaving on the surface for 10 minutes, and then scrubbing with a hard-bristled brush, or a drill brush attachment.
You might need to re-caulk surfaces to stop moisture and water from getting between grout or holes in your bathroom. On a similar thought, you can take this time to buy a new mat that absorbs water more efficiently and that dries faster. And if you find one that is also fall-themed, even better!
You already know that a clean smelling house is a game changer. Here’s a pro tip: add one or two candles with fall-inspired fragrances, especially if you have guests coming over. You can light candles 30 minutes before they arrive and turn them off right before they arrive, or just leave them burning if you want to. This will help with odors and ensure your bathroom smells clean and fresh.
Whether you work from home or not, it’s always nice to have a clean, organized space to use your computer, read a book or keep up with your agenda.
And fall is a good time to give it a fresh vibe to your office! You can start by decluttering old books, receipts, and other items you no longer need in your office. Try to keep flat surfaces as empty as possible to work comfortably. If you are struggling with keeping your workspace clean and organized, only buy any containers or organizers after you have decluttered.
Now it’s time for cleaning. Start by vacuuming surfaces. A workspace tends to absorb a lot of dust, especially in the corners and hidden areas. If you have a handheld vacuum cleaner the process will be much easier.
Because this is a bit of a deep cleaning, you can take the time to add a bit of grease or mineral oil to your drawers and cabinets. You will notice the difference right away!
You will also need to wipe all surfaces inside out. The type of cleaning product will depend upon the material. You can follow the same process as your kitchen for laminate, wire or wooden surfaces.
Don’t forget to wash your windows! In your workspace, you need as much sunlight as you can, and a dusty window won’t be enough. A one-part vinegar, one-part water, with a few drops of essential oil, will be more than enough. Remember to follow an S pattern when washing your windows or other glass surfaces.
Last but not least, check your light fixtures, wipe any lamps and replace bulbs. Many people overlook this step, and you are going to need them to work at their best.
Conclusion
We hope you enjoyed our fall cleaning tips. This season is ideal for deep cleaning before winter and Christmas time arrive. Dedicate some time and love to your house and it will look clean and fresh for your guests and your family!
No matter the case, remember you always can count on Dallas Maids if you need a professional cleaning service in Dallas, North Dallas, or Frisco.
Hello, we hope you guys are having a great week so far! Today we wanted to talk about a less-than-common topic which is hiring house cleaners for your maid service in Dallas.
This is why we wanted to create a special article where we discuss all we know about hiring new staff as a cleaning company. Not only we’re sharing our best tips to get professional, qualified, and highly skilled professional house cleaners, but we’ve also contacted several cleaning companies in the Dallas/Fort-Worth area for their input.
There are many maid services with plenty of experience in this field, and we find their knowledge and advice incredibly insightful and helpful.
Before continuing, we want to thank our fellow cleaning companies in the DFW area that collaborated with us for creating this article, with their invaluable insights and tips.
What Will You Find In This Guide?
In this article, we will discuss how many resources it takes for hiring house cleaners, including human resources, monetary resources, and time. We will compare different hiring methods and procedures to find out the most effective ones.
We hope this helps you, as a fellow business owner, because hiring new staff is always a challenge, especially if you’re just getting started on your cleaning company. You risk hiring employees that are unreliable, unskilled, dishonest, or just spending too much time, money, and energy in the process.
In this guide, all the methods that we mention will give you a better understanding of how much it is costing you right now to hire a new house cleaner and learn how to find the most cost-effective solution for your company.
We recommend that you grab an agenda, make a list of pros and cons for each method, and choose one or more methods that you will try until you find your best fit.
The Cost of Hiring House Cleaners in Dallas
We spoke to several cleaning services in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to see what their preferred hiring strategies are. And we also posed them with a question:
“What’s your acquisition cost for each new hire? “
This is a great question because if you know exactly how much it costs you right now to hire a new employee, then you will know if other alternatives are more cost-efficient than your current one.
Keep in mind that the recruitment process is long, and it has many steps before they start working: from creating the ad itself, to sorting out potential candidates, interviews, and training. Along the way, many of your potential candidates will not be able to continue through the hiring process for whatever reason.
Insights From Our Fellow Cleaning Companies
Thanks to the insights from our fellow cleaning companies, we’ve heard that the acquisition cost goes anywhere from $0 and goes as high as $1000. This depends mostly on the platform that is used, but each comes with pros and cons (which we explain below).
Now, this is obviously a huge margin! $0 or $1000 is a huge difference in your budget, especially if you are getting started with your cleaning business.
Based on the seven cleaning businesses that collaborated with us, the average cost we got was $264 for each new hire. A higher cost is usually associated with online recruitment platforms or external recruitment services, but this could end up being actually cheaper than free recruitment options.
Keep this in mind: time is also a huge money investment. Free alternatives usually offer a lot of applicants, but the pool is so wide that you will invest a lot of time and energy filtering the best applicants. Recruitment services can represent a monetary cost, but they do most of the filter process for you and offer potential employees according to your needs and requirements.
We will go through each recruitment platform down below where you can compare the pros and cons.
Using Hiring and Recruitment Platforms
There are many online platforms maid services can use for hiring house cleaners, such as Craigslist, LinkedIn, and Indeed. They have a massive reach and are well-known. Indeed and Craigslist are paid, while LinkedIn is free with a “promoted” paid alternative.
The cost for posting a hiring ad on Craigslist is $45 per category (you can choose more than one) in the Dallas area. LinkedIn uses a pay-per-click method, which means that they will charge you whenever an applicant clicks on your job ad.
Indeed was one of the most popular options for our fellow cleaning companies.
“We use Indeed exclusively, we run Indeed ads” says Ginger from Love My Maids, a home cleaning service in Arlington, Fort Worth. To Ginger, Indeed is more effective than hiring using word of mouth (i.e., hiring house cleaners that are friends or family of your current ones).
“We receive enough applicants through indeed, though the ad spend can be costly if we are trying to hire quickly.” Adds Drew from Prairie Maids House Cleaning, a cleaning service in Grand Prairie, TX.
As for DFW Cleaning Co., a premium cleaning service serving the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, “we’ve used Indeed in the past, Facebook posts, and Craigslist before, and word of mouth too”.
LinkedIn charges around 5$ per click, but this varies depending on the type of job, location, etc. However, LinkedIn is a platform that is oriented toward professionals with a higher level of academic education. Therefore, it is not an ideal platform to search for professional cleaners for your maid service.
Hiring House Cleaners With Social Media
Social media, mainly Facebook, is a great way of reaching potential employees. The most common routes is to post Jobs using the Facebook Jobs platform, or to post ads on private or public Facebook groups. You also have the option of paid Facebook or Instagram Ads.
On Facebook, you can find many groups that are created to help people learn about work offers in their area. In this case, search for Facebook groups in the Dallas/Fort-Worth area.
The demand can be really high. The profile of the worker you’re searching for does match the use of Facebook, both as a work finder and as a social media platform.
However, here is the downside: because pretty much everyone can apply to your job offer, you are going to have a massive number of applicants that you will have to sort out on your own.
This brings us back to the original issue because you will still have a significant number of resources for sorting out your applicants, either time and energy (doing it by yourself) or money (by hiring a recruiter to do it for you).
The cost of using Facebook or Instagram Ads depends on the number of people they reach. Same as hiring platforms, the cost is pay-per-click and it varies depending on the area.
“We hire people from Facebook groups, but it is a hit and miss”, says Samuel from HomeMaid Cleaners, a house cleaning and maid service in Dallas, TX.
While at Prairie Maids, they use “local Facebook groups and Facebook mom groups”, among other recruitment techniques.
Saul from Family Cleaning Services, a professional cleaning service in Grand Prairie, TX, uses Facebook posts as well as Instagram posts.
Using an External Recruiter Specialized in Hiring House Cleaners
Another option is to hire an external recruiter (whether that’s a person or company), especially one with experience in the cleaning industry. This recruiter is not part of your payroll, but it is rather a 3rd-party service.
No strategy is perfect, but this one offers many advantages when compared to cons.
Money is certainly an important factor to consider here. However, consider that hiring specialized services is, in a way, a much safe investment than trying to do it on your own. This is because they already have the experience and the optimized procedure for hiring.
An external recruiter takes care of both finding potential candidates and filtering them according to the profile you are looking for. You might be looking for housekeepers with certain years of experience in the cleaning business, or that have trained others, for example.
Next, if you decide on looking for an external recruiter, you come across the challenge of finding a good one. This is no different than any other product or service that you acquire: you have to make an informed decision first. Start by checking whether this person or company has an online presence. This includes a website, or a profile on Yelp, Google, or Angi.
Many freelancers work as recruiters, so check their services at Upwork, Fiverr, or Freelancer. In this case, it might be harder to find recruiters that specialize in cleaners. The good thing about these platforms is that they include ratings and comments from previous clients, just like Google or Yelp.
Make sure they are clear about what they offer, what they do not offer, and what is the cost of the service and the payment options (e.g., is it a fixed cost per new applicant? Is it a monthly subscription?
Having Your Own House Cleaner Recruiter
This could be helpful if you are growing very rapidly as a company. This means that your current workers are happy with your company and stay with you and that your growing business needs more people to hire on top.
However, if you are not expanding and are instead struggling to hire new people constantly in order to replace quitters, you should find out first why is this happening. In this situation, it is not ideal to hire a recruiter.
The turnover rate is extremely expensive for your company, in all areas: money, time, and energy. This also impacts your reputation as a company: no one wants to work with a cleaning company where cleaners don’t last more than a month.
The longer your employees stick to the same customer, the more trust they will have in your service. After having the same cleaners for months (or years) the chances of them switching companies are much lower.
Besides, the longer your employees stay with you, the more you will get to know them as professionals. This means that you will be able to work on their weaknesses and polish up their strengths. All with proper guidance and management, of course.
The other option for having your own recruiter is to have you or someone from your staff take the role of a recruiter. Although this has some benefits (you won’t have to hire someone new, and the role can be “active” only when needed), it will take some time nonetheless, especially if that “temporal” recruiter is not familiar with this process.
Besides, it will take time away from this person to fulfill their everyday tasks. Make sure that this person has plenty of time available to dedicate their time to this process.
The Process of Hiring House Cleaners
As we mentioned earlier, there are many steps that you have to consider for the hiring process. The purpose of this list is to remind you of every step of this process, considering that every part will demand resources from your company, whether it’s time, money, or energy. A basic hiring process includes:
Creating the ad (whether that is written or with a flyer),
Reviewing and sorting the first batch of applicants,
Contacting them and/or interviewing them,
Inviting the final candidates for training with a senior cleaner and/or supervisor,
And, repeating the process.
Creating the job ad
Creating the ad is not hard, but you need to think carefully about what you are including here. You want to go straight to the point and let them know what you are looking for, what requisites are a must, and what you are offering as a company (in terms of salary and benefits).
Think of everything that is legally required for your applicants in order to be part of your company, and any other requirements (e.g., having a car, and/or a driver’s license). Be clear about your salary offer and working hours. You don’t want to waste anyone’s time here by being dodgy, dishonest, or suspicious about your job ad.
In the Dallas area, many cleaning professionals will be native Spanish speakers. Creating an ad that is in both English and Spanish is a good way to connect with them.
You can use an automatic translation service, but they are often inaccurate and can make your ad look unprofessional or not serious. If possible, have someone that is a native speaker translate the ad for you.
Creating a flyer is a good idea because we all know that a captivating image grabs our attention faster than plain written content. However, you will need someone with basic image editing and/or graphic design knowledge to create a customized job ad for your company.
Remember that even before creating the ad, you need to be very clear on what you are looking for. It might take you a few hours and a meeting or two to decide the requirements and benefits that will be included in this job position.
Reviewing the first batch of applicants
Even if you were clear about job requisites, you are still (hopefully) going to get a very large number of applicants, but many of them will not be ideal for your company.
For this step, you will require someone that knows the list of requirements and benefits from A to Z. Besides, they should have a clear understanding of the profile your company is looking for in an employee, both as a professional and as a human being.
House cleaners require a lot of positive personal traits (honesty, good communication with managers, fellow employees and clients, responsibility, and many more).
Keep in mind that, during the entire process, you will need someone capable of answering any questions your applicants might have.
Otherwise, they will either walk out if their questions are not being answered, or they will keep moving forward until they learn a work requirement that they were unaware of previously. This will force them to quit the hiring process, which means that you wasted resources on someone that was not a good candidate in the first place.
Many online services offer an automatic answer to the most common questions (mostly related to payment/work schedule/benefits/requirements).
Contacting and interviewing potential house cleaners
Now that you have a list of potential house cleaners for your company, it’s time to contact them and conduct one or two interviews. At this point, any automated sorting processes will not be effective and you will require human people to select your candidates.
This is because at this point you are trying to learn who they are as a person, their background, and the pros and cons of hiring them. You are probably going to answer many questions from them at the same time, and (hopefully) set the next interview and/or a training day.
Again, many of your applicants in Dallas will most likely be native Spanish speakers, so someone bilingual is a must for this process.
A hiring process is sustainable in the long term if you focus on quality, not quantity. Although understandably, you are trying to hire new workers and grow as a company, especially at the beginning, you need to be patient and not take rushed decisions or bend your own hiring rules too fast.
This next step requires a recruiter that is capable of learning a bit more about each applicant. Good workers do not necessarily mean that they are ideal for your company in the long term.
Besides training, this is probably the most demanding step in terms of resources. You will have to contact each applicant, set a time for an interview, conduct that interview and then discuss the results. You might even have to conduct a second round of interviews.
For this process, you will need someone in your team that is bilingual, has the time and energy to conduct interviews, and is quick on their feet to ask all questions that rule-out any candidates that are not ideal.
Inviting the final candidates for training with a senior cleaner and/or supervisor
This step is similar to the previous one. At this point, you will have ruled out most of your non-ideal applicants.
You will have to schedule a training day (s) with a senior cleaning professional and/or supervisor, that is already working with you, of course.
They will be in charge of assessing and teaching the trainees, which will take some time for them, of course, as they will perform a professional cleaning service, besides the added time for explaining and performing each cleaning task. You will have to pay the trainees for their time, of course.
At this point, it’s helpful to realize how many candidates meet the requisites for your company. Out of dozens and dozens of applicants, perhaps less than 5 end up being hired. And they still have to follow an evaluation period (you should have a three-month evaluation time for new hires).
Think of an estimate of hours it took from yourself, external or internal recruiters from your company, and the cost per hour. This will give you an idea of the cost that it takes you to hire a single cleaner.
David from The Maid Place, a house cleaning service in Frisco, TX and surrounding cities, gave us an interesting approach: they find new applicants by word of mouth, and they do not use external recruiting services. “Our employees were trainees at one point, then they got to being a trainer and found helpers, which then became trainers, and so on.”
What to Look for When Hiring House Cleaners
Knowing exactly what to -and not to- look for when hiring house cleaners is very important. Again, you don’t want to waste your time or your applicants’, and constantly confirm that your applicant fits the position and the requirements that you need.
Depending on the structure of your company, they might need to have their own car or drive someone else’s car, for example.
Even if they fit all the essential requirements, it’s still challenging to find good workers. Here are some tips:
First of all, look for people with plenty of experience in the cleaning & maid industry. This means they are already trained and know how to clean. However, they will need to follow training to ensure they are performing to your company’s standards.
Second, look for individuals that have stayed at the same company for a long time. Look for workers that are stable at their jobs, as this comes with many benefits which we already mentioned.
Third, look for people with good heart. Nothing is more valuable than having good people in your company. They will get along with employees, be respectful to customers, and will create a healthy work environment.
Besides this, remember that you, as a company, also need to offer good qualities.
According to Anthony from Maids 2 Match, a maid and house cleaning service in Dallas, TX, “Always be hiring would be a major key”. He also recommends to “find house cleaners that already have experience so they don’t need any further training”.
What to Avoid When Hiring House Cleaners
There are some red flags that you want to avoid when hiring house cleaners.
As we were discussing earlier, always look for quality before quantity. This is a common mistake among new companies and companies that are thriving and that have too much business. Don’t “settle” for cleaners that do not meet your standards.
Your company will last long if you start growing slowly but with top-quality workers. It takes so much time and energy to build a good reputation, and just one bad experience to tear down all that effort.
Cleaners that have cleaned on their own or for family members are not a good choice. This is because there is a higher chance of them “stealing” your customers, especially after forming a bond with them.
It is common to hear cleaners “suggesting” close family or friends as new hires. Again, bad idea. If there is a problem with one of them (or if things just don’t work out professionally), then the other one is likely to quit as well.
Last but not least, do not hire people that did not last long in their previous jobs. Remember that new hires are a significant cost of resources (training time, money, energy) and if they are likely to quit soon, it’s just not worth it.
What to Offer To New Applicants as A Cleaning Company
So far, we’ve mostly talked about what to look for and the steps to take during the entire recruitment process.
However, it’s just as important to think of what your company has to offer to these potential new members of your team. The recruitment, interview and training process is not only a process to see if your employee is a good fit for your cleaning business, but it is also a way for them to see if you are a good company that they want to work for.
According to HomeMaid Cleaners, some of the most frequent challenges you will face are “finding the right fit” and then “keeping and retaining the talent”. Here are some insights from our fellow companies:
It’s important to be clear about instructions and expectations from them. The owner of DFW Cleaning Co., says she prefers to “over-communicate if they don’t understand” and “be transparent about what they expect”.
No one knows how to fix their mistakes if they don’t even know what they are doing wrong in the first place.
Saul from Family Cleaning Services advises to “have good communication” as well, and “pay them for what they deserve”. From The Maid Place, David recommends this: “pay them fairly throughout the year, provide them with bonuses, give them weekends off. If you pay them better than other companies, they will stay. Simple as that.”
For Ginger from Love My Maids, it’s important to be understanding and patient with your applicants. “Sometimes the best employees do not have great interviews. Don’t judge a book by its cover”.
Last but not least, Anthony from Maids 2 Match suggests having an “online guide for trainers”. This will speed up the process and allow you to train them in a consistent way.
Conclusion
We hope all our fellow cleaning companies in the Dallas/Fort-Worth area enjoy this guide. Not knowing what the best recruitment strategy is can be frustrating and scary, especially if you are just getting started with your cleaning business.
After all you’ve read in this guide, you will have noticed by now that no recruitment strategy is perfect. We have so many different options now for hiring house cleaners, so don’t be afraid to try all of them!
They all have pros and cons. Some of them are free but might represent a pool of candidates that is too wide. You will need a lot of time and energy to filter them out.
On the other hand, you have paid services, whether they are job posting websites or recruitment businesses. They will give you a list of profiles with the exact requirements you are looking for, but they are paid, although the price range is big enough.
Take your time and do your research until you find the method that works best for your company.
Again, we want to thank all our collaborators for this article. It’s really important to support each other and we hope we have the chance to collaborate once again in the future. Thank you so much to DFW Cleaning Co., Family Cleaning Services, HomeMaid Cleaners, Prairie Maids House Cleaning, Love My Maids, The Maid Place, and Maids 2 Match.
Remember you can use the contact form to let us know if this guide helped you get new amazing house cleaners for your company! We always love to hear from both our customers and fellow cleaning services in Dallas.
Here’s the deal. We have a couple of slow days and really want to help our cleaning artists stay busy doing what they love most – making your home sparkle! So we have this last minute special just for you…
Order a deep clean for Tuesday 27th or Wednesday 28th and get a $50.00 Gift Card and a free Gift Basket.
Just call (469) 487-6669 or, if booking online, select “deep clean”, and leave a note under “Anything else the Cleaner should know?” mentioning this special or call .
Gift basket will be left at home upon service completion and gift card emailed after payment is received.
Order now because this special is limited to the first 8 people that book a deep clean on 9/27 and 9/28 of 2022.
Thank you for giving us a chance to serve you.
~ Dallas Maids happiness team
P.S. Rather have a deep clean this Monday, instead? Order a deep clean for this Monday, the 26th, and get a $75.00 Gift Card, minus the gift basket.
P.S.S. We’ve expanded our business hours to provide more convenient service for our amazing customers! We’ll be up until 10pm weekdays and from 9am to 1pm Saturday taking orders.
Hi! We’re back with another article and this time, we want to talk about something you guys have been asking frequently: how to clean stainless steel appliances. As a cleaning service in Dallas, we often get our clients to ask us what’s the secret to keeping their appliances looking shiny and spotless.
Well, today we’re giving you tips to maintain your fridge, oven, stovetop, and other stainless-steel appliances clean while avoiding common mistakes.
Stainless steel is a beautiful, timeless material, but every material has its pros and cons. In this guide, we’ll talk about the do’s and don’ts of cleaning this material, and the steps to do it properly. Let’s go!
What is Stainless Steel?
This material is an alloy of iron, a type of metal commonly used for cookware and accessories. It was created to be resistant to rusting and corrosion, which makes it perfect for items that are constantly near water and humidity.
This material looks beautiful and elegant, and it’s super easy to clean as well. If you take care of it properly, it can last for many years. Most modern appliances nowadays are made of stainless steel.
Stainless steel, however, is sensitive to permanent stains and marks if cleaned incorrectly. And, of course, many cooking appliances get food and grease stains over time. But don’t worry! Keep reading to find out how to -and not to- clean stainless steel.
How Not to Clean Stainless Steel
Before we jump into the cleaning instructions for your appliances, we want to talk about the common mistakes when choosing cleaning products and techniques.
Let’s start with cleaning products and tools. With stainless steel, you need to be careful with abrasive tools, such as steel wool.
You should avoid products that contain ammonia as well. Ammonia is an alkaline agent capable of cleaning, but it is not recommended for these types of surfaces.
Stainless steel appliances are coated in a layer of plastic. Ammonia can damage the protective coating and with that, the humidity will affect the surface, creating rusting with time.
The same goes for chlorine-based cleaning agents, such as bleach.
It’s important to avoid water as well, especially if you have hard water. If you live in Dallas, for example, your water is likely hard, meaning that it has a higher amount of minerals such as calcium and magnesium.
With time, these microscopic minerals will scratch the surface. Besides, water itself will create streaks with time.
Another common mistake is to wipe in any direction. Like wood, steel also has a grain, but much smaller. When wiping or scrubbing your appliance, always wipe with the grain. This way, you will avoid streaks and scrub the dirt out of those microscopic crevices.
Last but not least, do not let your appliances air dry after cleaning. Although this is usually a good tip, air-drying stainless steel will cause streaks and spots. After cleaning use a dry microfiber cloth and buff the surface until it’s dry.
How to Clean Stainless Steel
After you’ve read about the improper cleaning techniques and products, it’s time to read what you should do when cleaning stainless steel. Here are some general instructions:
First, remove all large particles of dust and lint. This is the first step because, if you start scrubbing the surface with a cleaning agent, you will bring those small particles back and forth, and you might scratch the surface.
Of course, a specialized stainless-steel cleaner would be the ideal choice. Glass cleaners work great as well. You can wipe first with a stainless-steel cleaner to remove all the gunk and grime, and then a second pass with glass cleaner to get the residue.
But there are other homemade alternatives. For example, vinegar and olive oil is a popular combination, and these are both harmless, effective agents. Vinegar, does the cleaning job, while olive oil adds a protective coat and removes fingerprints and streaks.
If you don’t have olive oil, you can use orange essential oil. This works just as nicely, and it leaves a pleasant, fresh fragrance.
Baby oil is another option, which is just really scented mineral oil.
For any of these cleaning alternatives, remember to let them soak on the surface for 10 minutes before wiping, to ensure their effectiveness.
Always apply in a small, inconspicuous area first in case there is any negative reaction (staining, streaks). Make sure the surface is clean and dry. If you need to, remove big crumbs and stains first with a clean, slightly damp microfiber cloth with one or two drops of dish soap.
You don’t want the surface to be soapy, so make sure you use a small amount to pre-clean the surface. Many times, using plain dish soap will be more than enough, but it might not give you a spotless result.
How to Clean Stainless Steel Appliances
By now, you know how to clean this material. But we think it’s important to add specific instructions to appliances. An oven has different cleaning needs than a fridge, for example.
Let’s read the best strategies for cleaning stainless steel appliances.
Clean Your Oven
Stainless steel ovens are meant to be cleaned as such on the outside, but on the inside, they require a different approach. This is because you also have to deal with baked-on grease and food.
The Oven is one of the most dreaded appliances to clean. This is because many people tend to postpone their oven cleaning for way longer than it should.
For cleaning your oven on the outside, follow the vinegar and olive oil trick.
You just need to apply around 1 tbsp. of white vinegar onto the microfiber cloth. Wipe with the grain and then repeat the steps, but this time with olive oil. Just apply a few drops on the other side of the cloth and repeat the process.
To clean the inside of your oven you have the traditional route which is to use an oven cleaner. Although effective, oven cleaners are known to be abrasive, and they release toxic fumes.
First, you need to prepare a cleaning solution for your fridge. The vinegar and olive oil solution will work perfectly for this. Just repeat the process you did with your oven.
A little rubbing alcohol is great too, and the smell goes away as soon as it evaporates, so it’s just a matter of seconds.
Clean Your Sink
The biggest challenge you will face with your sink is that, for obvious reasons, there’s always water running and this can cause water streaks, as well as hard-water deposits. As we mentioned earlier, hard water causes white, powdery residues that do not look good.
Fortunately, sinks are created in a way that they are more resistant to more abrasive scrubbing. If your sink looks dull, stained, or decolored, like it has lost its shine, then follow these tips:
Use baking soda to remove large grease and food stains. Baking soda is abrasive enough to be effective, yet soft enough to avoid scratches.
Just sprinkle baking soda on the surface and wait for 15 minutes. Then, add a bit of hot water until you form a paste, and use a non-scratch scrubber to rub the surface. Rub in a circular motion with medium intensity.
If your sink has too many scratches, you can buy a scratch remover kit. These are kits with (usually) 3 or more types of sandpaper, a polishing agent, and a cloth.
Stainless-Steel Maintenance and Prevention Tips
Now that your items are clean and shiny, you must be thinking they are going to be full of fingerprints and watermarks soon. How can you avoid this?
First of all, get used to grabbing your kitchen appliances from their handles or a single corner. It might take you some time to get used to it, but you will notice the benefits soon. Fingerprints are going to happen sooner or later, but it will be easier to remove them if they are in a small area.
If you find any scratches, try using a microfiber cloth with distilled water first, and wait 10 minutes for it to dry. You can’t use tap water because hard water, as we mentioned earlier, will only make the problem worse.
If the previous trick didn’t work, use toothpaste to remove them. Just apply whitening toothpaste on a toothbrush, brushing softly. Remember to follow the direction of the grain. Wipe with a slightly damp microfiber cloth afterward.
Last but not least, remember to apply stainless steel polish about 4 times a year, to ensure it stays protected from rusting.
Conclusion
With these cleaning tips, your stainless-steel appliances will look and feel great! Remember to follow our kitchen cleaning tips as well. It’s important that the entire kitchen looks great, not just the appliances.
And don’t forget to visit our booking page, if you need a professional cleaning service in Dallas.
We hope you enjoyed this article and we’ll be back soon with more cleaning tips!
Dallas Maids has been a member of ARCSI since 2018. ARCSI, the residential arm of ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association, is dedicated to improving the standard of professionalism in the residential cleaning industry. With ARCSI membership, members position their businesses as the professional, trusted, and experienced resource their customers need. ARCSI provides members with the resources, connections, and tools they need to succeed and be profitable.
ARCSI, the residential arm of ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association, is dedicated to improving the standard of professionalism in the residential cleaning industry. With ARCSI membership, you will position your business as the professional, trusted, and experienced resource your customers need.
ARCSI and ISSA provide members with the resources, connections, and tools they need to succeed and be profitable. ARCSI and its members form a vibrant community, supporting one another and sharing knowledge for the advancement of all.
We know that the current pandemic continues to cause challenges for your business. At ARCSI, we are able to provide our members access to resources that can help your business survive the pandemic. We know that our residential cleaners are essential workers – and we want you to be protected and prepared.
