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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.

Cleaning your house is not just a chore that you do for your house’s aesthetics. It is a must-do task! House cleaning is actually essential not only to make your space clean, comfortable, and livable but also because it is beneficial for your health. On the other hand, despite that we admit this fact, we may be having a difficult time doing it. Some possibilities may be because of schedule conflicts whether it’s work-related or personal.

Fortunately, we have now a solution to this matter. We can now hire a cleaning company or professional housekeeper(s) to clean your house on your behalf. Nowadays, hiring someone to do house cleaning does not necessarily mean you’ll hire them for a full-time position known as housemaids.

Contrary to what many believe, you can now hire professionals to do house cleaning services in a contractual manner. This means that they’ll just come knocking on your door on the dates and times you agreed on to take care of your house’s clutter. With that being said, the main question now would be whether you need a basic house cleaning or deep cleaning.

In this blog, we will give you a better understanding of which of the two types of cleaning you’d need to book.

Basic Cleaning Definition

Basic cleaning, also known as regular cleaning, may be described as doing cleaning tasks that are performed on a regular basis. It is maintaining good cleanliness of your house.

It includes, but not limited to, the following tasks:

• sweeping and mopping the floor
• cleaning the living room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, etc.
• dusting and wiping all visible surfaces (i.e. tables, racks, and couches)
• tidying up the house

Deep Cleaning Definition

Deep cleaning involves more focus and attention of cleaning to such areas traditional cleaning doesn’t cover. This is more thorough than regular cleaning which means you or the housekeeper you hired needs to invest more time.

It includes tasks as follow:

• cleaning behind appliances that normally not covered on a basic cleaning service
• oven and microwave
• refrigerator
• windows and frames
• bathroom tiles and glass walls to remove stain and molds
• thorough cleaning on the corners of the room to remove cobwebs
• kitchen tiles or countertops
• under the sink
• under the mattress

With deep cleaning tasks listed, you may notice that this type of cleaning requires more time than usual. Compared to regular cleaning, deep cleaning can be done on a monthly, quarterly basis, or every six months. It depends on your preference as the house owner. Although there are times, your house cleaners may remind you if you already need deep cleaning or not.

What Type of Cleaning do You Need?

When you hire a house cleaning service like us, My Marvelous Maids, you might be thinking of which cleaning service you need. If you are hiring a house cleaning service for the first time, deep cleaning is the best option in most cases. On the other hand, if you are still undecided, you can always consult in order to help you make a decision.

Swimming is a great, fun, and exciting activity that most of us do. Everyone of all ages enjoys it. Regardless of the season, one way or another this activity may be done. It doesn’t necessarily mean of always going to beaches but an outdoor or indoor pool, lake, or even in your own tub this can be done. Well. Aside from the fact that we enjoy swimming, it is also a good exercise for many to increase stamina.

On the other hand, did you know that there are also possible dangers this activity may bring? Yes, that is a fact! With this being said, we must keep in mind that there are safety precautions you must consider first and foremost. It doesn’t matter if you’re tall and the water is only three feet deep, danger can happen anytime. It does not consider anyone. If it happens, it strikes fast which caught us off guard. That is why the word safety must always come along when you’re doing your swimming activity.

If you’d like to know more about this, we would like to share with you an informative website discussing tips and the importance of safety when swimming. It is entitled, Swimming Safety: Tips and Considerations for Pools, Beaches, Hot Tubs, and More.

You’ll not only learn one but many safety precautions for you to follow when you’re engaging in this fun activity.

We would like to thank Los Angeles Homes, for giving us the opportunity to feature their informative article here at My Marvelous Maids.