Little things that make a difference, like pulling out the drawer below the toaster and dumping it. You can also turn the toaster upside down and dump out crumbs into the garbage while jiggling the knob. I use a damp cloth with some Windex to clean the outside, but a very little dish soap works just as well.

The most common request, and biggest expense, in a move out cleaning is the Refrigerator, and Stove. As a regular house cleaner it’s hard to clean a refrigerator because in order to clean well you need to shut the refrigerator off. You leave the doors open for a while to let the cold air escape, that goes quickly, remove all the shelves, then wipe down the entire interior with a warm damp rag, rinsing frequently. The shelves, and drawers, you can wash in the sink, and set aside to drip dry a little. You finish by spraying down with Windex and wiping, drying, with a couple of dry rags. Then to shine it you spray it again with the Windex, and use paper towel to dry. Put the whole thing together again, drying the shelves and drawers as you go, and spot clean with Windex and paper towel.

What I really wanted to write about is self cleaning ovens. It would be a short article because really there is nothing to do. You pull the lever to lock the oven door, and follow the instructions on the front of the stove.

That’s it, and you should do that probably twice a year. It takes about two, or three hours. I suggest, if you use your oven, many people don’t, to turn on the fan in the kitchen, and open windows. The smell gets to some people, and they leave the house. I would stay long enough to be sure the process is working.

I would go into the cleaning skill of spray on oven cleaners, but we run into very few ovens any more that don’t have the self clean feature, that is usually extremely under used. The other thing is that those caustic chemicals in the spray on cleaners can damage the finish in a self cleaning oven. We do see where the finish has been dulled.

I guess I will do a separate article on cleaning a residential stove, because we do have tricks that make to whole process less daunting than many people make it out to be.

We had a mishap this week with a one time cleaning we were doing. The unit had all Viking Equipment, Stove, Range Hood, and Dishwasher. The sink was also commercial Stainless Steel, it had the hard corners that commercial kitchens like for dish washing, it gives more room at the bottom.

The new owner of the unit wanted us clean before they moved in. Units were lightly used. The next day she called us back in because she found some things that were done badly. One was the travertine in the bathroom, which is a story for another article, the other was the Range. The range had caked on grease that had softened but didn’t removed, it just kept smearing.

The woman was very nice about the whole thing, which I appreciate, while making some excellent points I never thought about. Number one is that those commercial ranges have this elaborate set of galvanized, and stainless steel underneath that requires a lot of time to address. Second is that in a commercial kitchen they have some one to clean the stove every day, most home owners don’t. Last is that the finish may be baked enamel but she could see that it was scratch, not by us, but before. As it was cleaned, by me, again, the scratches became more noticeable.

Just as an aside I have cleaned commercial kitchens before and usually it’s a mess that falls onto the floor. Crumbs, baked on grease, all the little nooks, crannies, the chemicals, and water cascade onto the bottom pan and get wiped out. Even at that the stove looks used. That’s just a part of the deal, and in some kitchens, like country kitchens it’ a good thing, in others, it’s just inappropriate.

We cleaned a new construction today, but I was concerned that the carpet cleaner was ill equipped for the job. He brought in a portable cleaner that you see in hotels, or apartment complexes. The new home owner was the one who contracted with us, and the carpet cleaner. The builder wouldn’t have taken the risk.

You need enough suction to extract as much moisture out of the carpet as possible. If the moisture stays in the carpet for an extended period of time it will attract more dirt, create a breeding ground for bacteria, and possibly lead to a mildew smell, especially here in the pacific Northwest.

In an earlier post I talked about how many truck mounted carpet cleaning companies there were, they are plentiful, and cheap. This guy, by the way, was about the same as a truck mounted service. His equipment was in good condition, but hardly what you would want in your home.

One of the things people say about cleaning is to rinse, rinse, rinse. Floors are the number one item for that. I’m going to say that there is a difference between damp mopping, and wet mopping the floors. We try to avoid over wetting wood floors, but especially in high traffic areas it has to be done. In kitchens for sure you would wet mop in front of the stove, refrigerators, and sink be fore you damp mop the entire floor.

In the bathroom also, around the toilet needs to have more water before a disinfectant is used. When possible, if time allows, it is easier to go over a floor more than a couple of times. In most cases the attention you spend to the traffic areas will be enough, but if you are only cleaning the floor two or four times a year it’s worth it to do the whole floor more than twice.

For touching up the floor, which is what most people do, a flat surface mop that you use with a terry cloth cover works best. The days of the sponge on a mop handle are over. Those deposit more dirt than they pick up. O’Cedar makes the best system for this.

At the end, and beginning of the school year there is a shift. It’s a busy time of year for households, and cleaners. Especially here in Seattle people are also moving inside for the winter in September, or outside for the summer in June. The University has us cleaning out a spare bedroom, or cleaning a new dorm room, it’s the same for June.

Then you have the people who are selling a home, or deciding to keep it for another year. People moving into new homes, or out of homes they have sold are another reason for cleaners to be busy.

This article is about how you can get the best out of a cleaner in these times of the year. Some cleaners take on too many jobs. One of the purposes of this blog is to build a network we can refer to. So if you know you have a life changing event coming up it helps to book some cleaner time early. It’s also good to confirm your time as it gets closer.

The most important thing is for you to be flexible. Many companies are paying bills at these times of year. Taxes are due, the company employees, or contractors, also have kids, so we all want to help each other. It will all get done, it’s just a busy time of year.

Maybe once every six months or so, if you have tile in the kitchen or bath you could use a mild hydrogen peroxide wash for cleaning. Some people mix a solution with baking soda for the abrasion. On flat counters we some times dump the brown bottle of hydrogen peroxide along with a generous sprinkling of baking soda then work it in with a damp cloth. You can do the same thing in a bath tub or tub surround then work your way up the tile walls.

There are some cautions for this, such as don’t let is sit too long. When you rinse you have to rinse repeatedly. The residual will break down over time, but you want to make sure it’s rinsed. With some bleach solutions, and we will talk about that another time, you want to let the product sit to be effective. Hydrogen peroxide starts working right away, so the time you are working with it is enough time.

Don’t splash the peroxide around, it is a bleaching agent. Work it with the cloth. On the wall surfaces of the tub or shower surround you will want to saturate the cloth. Wear gloves, and clothing you don’t mind losing.

Now this is actually a good thing, as long as you are careful. I only brought it up because it is a step. In the long list of things you can do with your tile this is really pretty benign.

One of our clients today made the comment for us to “have fun.” It struck me as an odd comment because his wife told us we were having too much fun the last time we were there. She is referring, of course, to our chatter, laughing, and making funny faces while we clean. Not all houses are as fun, but we like these people, have been cleaning there for seven years, and they have eclectic stuff. It’s a whimsical kind of place.

We all speak Spanish, so it is confusing for some clients to understand. Most of the time, with my team, they are making fun of my bad Spanish. However it helps in a day to have some fun.

In my opinion one of the greatest things, and this can help you if you chose to do your own cleaning, is having everything in one place at one time. We have a bucket of cleaning supplies, and a bag of rags. We have the two vacuums to be able to get everywhere. I also have my special ramiento to do high dusting. It’s a duster on a pole. You can get one at Ace Hardware for between $15 to $20.

The other great thing is working in teams of three. We have the option of rotating tasks. The fact we rotate gives us the ability to make fun of each others methods. I get it all the time. There again I also notice that some people forget the same things, or hum a tune, or do things different from me.

Our team has been together for about two years now. We do have a rhythm, and having some fun, making some games out of the cleaning, helps get the job done. I think it gets done better our way.

In this economy we have had more once a month cleanings for people on a budget. We go in for an hour, with three people, clean the kitchen, baths, and do some dusting. It just helps people stay in the game of keeping the house clean. Of course this works best for the people who keep a place tidy.

For those who have cleaning challenges we have found we are both, the cleaners, and customers, unhappy with the results. Expectations are high, so some times there is disappointment. The price is also a little bit higher than what some want to pay.

Some simple tricks for once a month cleaning are to clean the dishes, and put them away. Dishes cost a lot for the cleaners to do. Clean a section of the kitchen, and put everything there, out of the way. Get everything you can out of the way in the bathroom. Pick up the toys, put out the trash, and straighten where the vacuum is going. The idea is for the cleaners to clean, and the less they move around the more they can get to.

If you read through this blog you can see that these simple tips get you half way to a clean house. What you may also want to consider is breaking the cleaning into two sessions of an hour each to see how a system may work for you. It may be that paying $120 to $135 for once a month would be better than paying $180 for once every two weeks, but you may want to try it both ways.

Ultimately cleaning apartments is fast, but they have to be done well. Attention to detail is important. Refrigerators, stoves, the inside of cup boards is paramount. The term is getting the unit “rent ready.” In another post we will talk about why this is all so important, but for right now these are some steps I take. 

The best tool of all is my duster brush on a long pole. We buy them at Ace Hardware for between $15 to $20. It reaches above the window, and door frames, catches cob webs, and dusts the base boards. It’s also handy for the hard to get at areas. It’s the first thing I do so it gives the dust a chance to settle. 

Number two is to use water when possible. I still get in trouble by my cleaning team for wetting everything with a damp cloth, and moving along. After getting things wet for about fifteen minutes I go back, re-rinse the rag, spray Windex and pick up as much moisture as I can. I rinse the rag as needed, but often. I finish with a dry rag. So essentially I go over the same areas three times, but it goes quick.

The baths get a generous amount of Comet in the toilet. All around the bowl gets lots of disinfectant. The shower, tub, and surrounds get lots of water, scrubbed down, and rinsed before being dried, first with a damp cloth, rinsed often, then dried with the dry rag. Again I damp mop the floors after wiping around the bowl with paper towel. We use disposable gloves, it makes the work go a little faster.

Finally the floors get vacuumed and damp mopped. 

Refrigerator, and stove will get a separate post, but if the oven is self cleaning always use that instead of a chemical.