You may or you may have not noticed yet but your kitchen is one of the busiest areas in your house. But more than that, the one area in your kitchen that is mostly used is the kitchen countertop. And with this being said, did you know that your kitchen countertop harbors dirt more than what your eyes can see?

You Use Your Kitchen Counter Everytime

With or without your knowledge, you’re using the kitchen counter even if you’re not cooking. This is the area where you put a variety of items such as mails, newspaper, bags of groceries before and after unpacking, your cellphone, and other things while waiting for your coffee to brew. In short, you use the kitchen counter too often and probably harbors dirt too.

So, you might say that you wipe down your kitchen counter before and after you cook. But is that enough? The truth is when we say dirt, it’s more than just what our eyes can see. And we know that you’re not intentionally dirtying your kitchen, who does that? However, the point is dirt can always occur. We always have to be vigilant in maintaining the cleanliness in our private space for our health safety, especially that there’s still COVID-19.

Healthy Kitchen Habits To Start From Now On

1. Sanitizing Kitchen Counter

Regular cleaning and sanitizing are two different things although both have one ultimate goal which is to eliminate viruses, germs, and bacterias. But you must consider having the time to sanitize your kitchen counter aside from regularly cleaning it.

According to Dr. Charles Gerba (also known as Dr. Germ), a typical kitchen counter is dirtier than a toilet seat. He also added that people do not clean their kitchen counters as often as they should.  Dr. Gerba is a microbiologist and professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson. 

He also pointed out that, ‘in most cases, it’s safer to make a salad on a toilet seat than it is to make one on a cutting board.’

So in order to clean your kitchen counter, you should wipe it down with a disinfectant kitchen cleaner and paper towel, and then throw the paper towel away after use.

2. Change Sponge, Scrub Brush, and Dishcloth Often

A sponge helps the dishwashing liquid soap thoroughly clean the dishes, a scrub brush gives more force if a visible residue needs to be removed, and a dishcloth helps dry the dishes. In short, they are cleaning tools. But these cleaning tools also harbor dirt if not washed thoroughly. Also, they get worn out too overtime. So, replace them often.

3. Clean Your Kitchen Sink

Splashing water and rinsing the sink is not enough to drive the dirt down the drainage. You should sanitize your sink also to eliminate the dirt. You may read our recent blog about how to clean your kitchen sink.

4. Don’t Let Your Pets Walk On the Kitchen Counter

We all love pets. And prohibiting them from walking on the kitchen counter doesn’t mean we don’t love them anymore.

Cats carry pathogens that cause toxoplasmosis from their litter box. It is not harmful to them but can hurt us, people, especially pregnant women which can cause birth defects.

Need Help On House Cleaning?

If you need help cleaning your home whether it’s on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis, you can always reach out to us. My Marvelous Maids has been providing quality house cleaning services in Aurora, IL, and its surrounding area.

It’s officially the holiday season already. While others only prepare a week before Christmas and New Year, many are already preparing without them knowing. There are those who have been ready and preparing for the ‘ber’ months while others are after Halloween. But the main point is, we’re all excited about these two particular events annually.

Even if we’re not expecting guests coming over for the holidays, we are still sure that our home is clean. With or without the house party or guests coming over, you’re somehow challenged with the idea of cleaning your home.

On the other hand, why not consider hiring people to do the cleaning for you?

Hire A House Cleaner And Focus On The Holiday

Hosting Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve dinner party is fun. It’s a memorable experience as you plan the menu, cook for holiday dishes, and gather around after in the living area of your home to chit chat and open gifts. However, it’s not all about the fun as pressure also comes along while doing the preparation, and still exists after the party is over for the reason that maintaining cleanliness is a must.

Before the main event, you suddenly might have to clean everything at home before the guests arrive. And after the party, you’ll take care of and re-clean the place. When was the last time you wiped the surface of your kitchen, cleaned the guest room, or vacuumed the flooring of your place?

In this matter, let cleaning professionals handle these things for you so you can just focus on holiday shopping, putting on holiday decorations, and cooking the best dishes you want to eat! Letting someone clean your house would at least take out the stress you feel. Plus, they will ensure a cleaner, healthier, and comfortable home for you.

When To Hire A House Cleaner To Come Over?

Actually, holiday cleaning varies. The decision is up to you but at the same time on the availability of the house cleaning professionals. You must consider that aside from the fact that many homeowners hire them during peak season, they also have their lives too and want to spend a private moment on the holiday. So, it is best to reach out to them and discuss until both parties reach an agreement on when to come over to clean and what type of house cleaning service you want from them. Do you need regular cleaning or deep cleaning? Perhaps, a custom house cleaning for the holiday is needed, right? So communicate with them.

But the one thing you must consider and very important is to book early. Also, consider a post-holiday cleaning too. Remember that after the big event, your house needs to be taken care of again.

The Benefits Of Hiring A House Cleaner During The Holiday

One of the benefits you will get when you hire a house cleaner is that you can save time. Like what we mentioned before, while the house cleaning professionals are doing their work at your home, you can focus on other things to prepare on the holiday.

You will also save your energy on other pressing matters for the holidays such as to think of dishes or meals to prepare for the family or guests, buy gifts for them, and relax, relax, relax before the clock hits 12 midnight (for Christmas or for New Year).

You can save money. Yes, it is true that hiring someone or people to clean your house is not for free. But the truth is you are also saving money instead of buying cleaning materials as the house cleaners are often bringing their own cleaning equipment. Plus, what they have are the right cleaning tools.

Lastly, they are professionals who are trained and have the knowledge to properly take care of the cleanliness of your home. We, at My Marvelous Maids, have a team who are not just ready to clean but also know how to. Our house cleaners are well-trained to do the cleaning tasks to ensure you have a cleaner and healthier space in your house.

There’s no denying that Christmas can be the main highlight season of the year for many people. And for some, it can be the time where their house becomes the busiest — present shopping and gift wrapping, time for decorating, cooking foods, family members coming home or visiting, and having parties. Furthermore, a week after this, New Year follows.

Basically, this is the time of the year that the majority of us choose to spend time at home, right? However, before Christmas day comes, it’s better for us to have our home prepared for this event by having our private place clean — with or without guests coming — for our own comfort.

How To Make Your House Holiday or Christmas-Ready?

Before you start putting your fabulous tall Christmas tree and ornaments, it is much better to have your house cleaned first. Why? It is because most of the time when you’re putting your decor it may require some home rearrangements. And because of this, it’s much better to take this opportunity to do some house cleaning. This will help you have the holiday spirit shine in a cleaner and comfortable space.

We know saying, and planning it sounds easier than doing the tasks which is why we’re giving tips on how to make your house cleaner to have a great and stress-free holiday.

Clean Your House Thoroughly

Let’s get to the point without any filter. You might have not noticed it, but once you start moving things in your living spaces like a couch to have an area for your Christmas tree you will start to see corners that might have not been given enough attention before. This is the reason why you need to clean your house first before you start decorating for the holiday.

It’s also good to put attention to your kitchen. It would actually be going to be the busiest area once you start cooking meals during Christmas Eve. It is important to have your kitchen clean and ready before cooking.

Prepare the guest room(s) and closet for guests coming in if you invited them for the holiday. For sure, you’d want them to have a great stay in your home, right? Make sure that you have the guest essentials needed considering that most people don’t want to travel with a lot, especially if they’ll just stay over for a few days.

Clean Your Holiday or Christmas Decorations

There’s no denying that the reason why you want to start decorating is to make your house have a holiday vibe. On the other hand, the decorations you’ll be using have been stored for about a year in the storage. This means that dust and cobwebs started to build up to your decors. And you don’t want to display dirty items, right? So it’s better to have and make sure that they’re clean first.

On the other hand, if you’re purchasing new decors, please be sure to clean and disinfect the items first. Especially, that we are in a situation of cleanliness really matters because of the pandemic. It is better to be safe than be sorry.

Declutter

Since you’re going to start to take out holiday decorations from the storage or purchasing new ones, it means that there’ll be additional things going to be present in the areas of your house. And sometimes, it can make your living spaces congested.

So what you need to do is to declutter some stuff to accommodate the decorations you’ll be bringing in.

Our Best Tip

Either you can do speed cleaning, regular cleaning, or deep cleaning to remove the dust, cobwebs, and stains. The main idea is for you to have a clean house this holiday season.

If in case you don’t have time or need a helping hand to do this, you can always count on us to provide you our house cleaning services. My Marvelous Maids are offering regular and deep cleaning services ( but there’s more) in Aurora, IL, and its surrounding areas.

A clean house brings peace of mind, comfort, happiness. That is a fact! You probably have already read a bunch of house cleaning tips, techniques, and guides to drive those clutter away and bring your private space back to its pristine condition. And congratulations if you’re applying all of what you’ve learned. However, we sometimes forget to clean the cleaning materials. Otherwise, it doesn’t serve its purpose as a cleaning tool. One best example is the vacuum cleaner that we have in our own house.

A vacuum cleaner is such an effective house cleaning equipment to take off the dirt and small debris stuck on the surface and on the floor. However, it doesn’t matter which brand or how expensive it is if at the end of the day you don’t find time to clean it. If it remains uncleaned, sooner or later, it won’t function properly anymore which will lead to not being useful for cleaning your house.

In this blog, we would like to share with you an effective way on how to clean a vacuum cleaner.

How to Clean Your Vacuum Cleaner

1. Clean the canister

Did you know that a routine of just simply emptying the canister doesn’t actually clean it? That’s right. The canister needs more than that. The grime can actually build up over time because of the dirt left.

A detergent powder can do the trick by washing the canister gently. But make sure to air dry completely before putting it back.

2. Wash of replace the filter

There are vacuum cleaners that have a foam filter. You should wash it! And once you finish cleaning it, make sure to dry it before putting it back.

On the other hand, please be mindful that there are vacuum foam filters that cannot be washed. Check the manual or instructions guide of your vacuum cleaner to be sure. There’s also a specific instruction there if a replacement is needed and on how to do it.

3. Remove the dirt in the hose

There is dirt that doesn’t actually get into the canister when you’re using the vacuum. Some of them are stuck in the airway or the hose because over time it causes blockages. Make sure to inspect the hose also to wash and clean it. To do this properly, check the manual guide.

4. Never forget to clean the brush or beater bar

Most of the time, long hair is stuck in this area. And this causes the beater bar not to work properly. Cut the dirt, like hair, or whatever is tangled on the brush carefully. The best way to do this is by using a scissor or a seam ripper. Please do not pull the hair or yarn tangled on the brush all at once as it may break it!

Lastly, once the dirt in this area is removed, wipe it with a microfiber cloth with alcohol. There are vacuum cleaners that are sensitive where this part cannot be directly washed or soaked with water.

Make it a Habit

Make it a good habit to clean the vacuum cleaner monthly. This can extend the life of this cleaning equipment. Let’s admit it, a vacuum cleaner is pricey. The best way you can do is clean it so you can use it longer to clean your house.

Make sure to let each part of the vacuum cleaner dry first after washing before putting it all back together. Disregarding it may cause mildew, mold, or an electric problem so please be mindful of that part! While our tips are applicable to most vacuum cleaners, always check the manual guide that came in with it. Each model is different!

If you need assistance with cleaning your house, you can call us at My Marvelous Maids, to book a cleaning appointment. We’re always happy to be at your service whether it is spring or deep cleaning!

There is a quotation that says, “ A clutter-free home equals a clutter-free mind.†But let’s be honest, house cleaning can be frustrating and tiring, especially when grout needs more attention due to the dirt stuck there. Most issues that occur with grout are the fact that most of the time we just wipe the surface of the tile. We miss focusing on the grout which comes to the point that the dirt is building up quickly before you know it. The yellowish or brownish stain occurs which is far from its original color.  And when it happens, the chances are high that we give up on cleaning it. 

But did you know that there are tricks that may come in handy for you to make the grout clean again? In this blog, we will discuss that with you.

Materials and Tools That You Need

• Bicarbonate of soda
• Water
• Vinegar
• Brush or Toothbrush
• Spray Bottle
• Baking Soda
• Steam mop
• Chlorine Bleach

How to Clean Grout?

The trick here is to experiment, there are materials that are already in your house that you can use to clean it. But most especially, don’t just think that you are cleaning it because you have to. Sometimes, you need to put some love into what you are doing to ease out your stress.

1. Warm water and [tooth]brush

Using a spray bottle, wet the grout with warm water and brush the grout line then let it dry.

2. Vinegar and warm water

If the first trick above did not work, try using an equal amount of vinegar and warm water to spray to the grout before bushing the grout line. But be mindful that using vinegar should depend on which type of tiles you use for your kitchen tile countertops or bathroom tiles. Vinegar is acidic and there are tiles that are sensitive to acid type materials as it may damage it.

3. Baking soda plus vinegar

You can also try mixing baking soda and water to spray on the grout. Once the mixture stops foaming, you can start scrubbing it using a brush.

4. Chlorine bleach and water

When all ticks above fail, you may also try using chlorine bleach or any commercial grout remover product. 

Once you are done cleaning the grout, always and never forget to mop or wipe it with clean water for safety purposes. For instance, vinegar produces the smell. The same goes if you use bleach, it releases chemicals that may be harmful if not rinsed well.

A Friendly Reminder

Finally, the most important tip of all doesn’t make grout cleaning using chemicals a routine for the reason that it may wear the grout. If you already have cleaned it with chemicals before, try just to do a regular cleaning after.

On the other hand, if you are unsure of doing what’s listed above, you can always outsource professional house cleaners to do it for you. You may also check us out, My Marvelous Maids, and discuss with us having your house for deep cleaning.