The first tip any one will tell you is to pull everything out of the area to be organized and start from scratch. Of course clean everything as long as everything is out of the way. In this process make a pile of what to throw away and I’m sure you’ll see a lot you can get rid of.

In organization it’s important to have priorities. Most people take things they need to keep and work down to things they want to keep.

That is the easy part. It makes you feel as though you are accomplishing some thing. Some people have too much stuff to move everything out so you have to move it around like one of the puzzles where you make all the numbers line up. We work from left to right and start with the center. Completely clear out the right side or corner as the case may be, clean it, get rid of what you will never use again, or anything you haven’t used in a year, and move to the left. You keep moving things until you have been through the whole room, or area to be organized.

Many people call that done, especially on a desk. I have a priority system. Anything I need in the next month I put into a basket, or in my particular case it goes on my bulletin board. The things I need to keep go on the right hand corner, and diminishing need to keeps go to the left. It’s a system for my desk.

You need a system for anywhere you organize. There should be a goal to being organized so you set your system up to get you to that goal. Closets are a great example. You can group sweaters and put the ones you use the most on top. Set your wardrobe up so there are four seasons, put away two seasons at a time. Put the clothes in bags in storage. It gives you more room. Group your hanging clothes. Put the clothes you wear the most, or like the most, in the middle, or left, or right, as you feel comfortable. Each closet is set up differently, there are no rules to being organized.

Garages are the number one help area people ask for. It’s where everything gets tossed in. Grouping is the word for garages. Group first, toss away, and get as much as you can off the floor. Put up hangers for tools, gardening, work bench, or shelving. Any thing you can put in so you can see what you have helps tremendously. I know for us as the kids get older we still keep kids bikes, or long forgotten toys; give them away. Projects you will never complete, make a life decision, and get rid of it.

Prioritize also by the time you have in your life. Will you truly finish your daughter’s doll house, even though she is now seventeen? Get rid of it, give it away. 

We’re at 500 words which is the national maximum for an attention span to a blog post, but there is more to do, so we’ll give more tips in the next post.

This is the center piece of any cleaning project. It is a specialized field. There are people with design degrees that do this full time. They come into your home and organize. I asked a busy mother of three that had two thriving businesses how she kept up and she sheepishly admitted she had an office organizer. The organizer came in once a month to get things in order so the bills could get paid and data entered into the computer.

Let me go a step further here because the organizer didn’t pay the bills, or input the data. The mother of three had a part time assistant for that. The organizer just got things in order to get the work done by others.

Now this is a little different from what we will be talking about, but I want to make the point that there is a separate skill set in organization. My wife has it, she inherited it, or was taught it, by her mother whose mother was organized. I call it the ability to make places pretty. The reality is that everything fits together like a puzzle.

I had a corporate job at one time. One of the new guys from the last merger was hired to do Plan O Grams. When you go into a retail store you are steered into the highest priced purchasing you can do, by design. Your eye sees certain things and processes accordingly. Those racks of clothes or sets of accessories are set in place to be where you will be thinking of buying them. In a grocery store you may get frustrated walking from one end to the store to the other to fill your cart, but it is, by design.

Your home or office is the same way. You have patterns that you follow. There is a reason to all the things in your home or office. We all accumulate by preference. There are priorities, a hierarchy, to our stuff, and we want all of our things cared for. That also means getting rid of the stuff that detracts from our enjoyment.

Getting rid of the negativity is the way most people describe it. The mom of three kids had bills to pay and data to input, both tasks that she didn’t like and avoided as long as possible. She would describe the pile of bills as lurking in the corner of her desk. She felt great when they were all gone and out of her life. There were also other solicitations, or correspondence that she found a wait around her neck. You think it’s easy, and for some people it is, to just toss them, but there may be something there to consider and a second pair of eyes helps make the decision to get rid of it.

Getting rid of it is the first step of organization. Clear out as much as you possibly can. Toss it, don’t think about it just get rid of it. Look at it and if it gives you some joy, keep it, if it’s a drag on you what so ever toss it. Yes, it’s done by feel.

Go through your house, room, garage, or office again and make those priorities. Set pieces that give you the most pleasure in the center and piece in around them. It is a puzzle. Large to small, a center piece with a radius, even parallel lines, or groupings of similar things, there are a lot of techniques to bring some order to your stuff.

Obviously there isn’t a lot that can be said about your home or office and how to arrange your stuff. It all depends on how you live. Getting rid of stuff is an easy recommendation to make, but how your stuff fits into your spaces is what make organization a profession. See the second post of the same name for some do it yourself tips.

For having a blog only about a week old the response has been very good. I got an e-mail asking about carpet cleaning, well here goes.

The number one cleaning system is steam cleaning a carpet. There are thousands of companies that do it. We had a carpet cleaning van for about three years and only used it a couple of times. We were constantly under bid for carpet cleaning by some pretty big companies.

In a much later post I will talk about the cleaning business, but let me say that a truck mounted carpet cleaning machine needs to be doing work in order to make money. Some companies own the truck mounted machines and rent them out to sub contractors. It got to be so common that there was a company here in Seattle where they customized carpet cleaning vans.

You would lease the van from a dealer, this company would sell you the equipment, install it in the van, and remove it when your lease was up. They then sold the used equipment. What many companies did was to buy out the lease. When this all started there was plenty of business to go around, now there are way too many vans for not enough work.

So the word is desperation. A carpet van can be the price of the one ton van at $30K plus $30K for the machine that is mounted in the van. Total package can be even $80K to $120K. On a five year or seven year loan that’s $500 to $1200 per month or more for the payments.

Different machines have different capabilities. You want the steam to be very hot and vaporized as it works. You want more suction than the volume of the steam coming out of the machine. You want the biggest machine you can get or the most experienced person using the equipment. There are some very old machines out there doing great work. An experienced operator can get a machine to work well.

Another method is the Chem Dry method of using carbonated cleaners. It treats the nap of the carpet without soaking it. There is a completely dry method that we have used successfully, but it is expensive as is the Chem Dry. We use the dry methods if there is the remote possibility of pet accidents in the home. Stained areas can be treated with enzymes to reduce bacteria. If you immediately wet the carpet down to the pad the enzymes have very little time to work.

Bacteria is the cause of most odors. Steam methods can mask the odor. A big problem is that once the bacteria is wet it can grow larger, or spread. Some times, days later, you walk into a freshly cleaned carpeted area and the smell is overwhelming.

When you chose a carpet cleaner, choose the cleaner with experience. Ask about the capacity of the machine. Meet the carpet cleaner and if it feels right then go ahead. Be careful that you get the right person for the job. I would caution about price, but like I said earlier it depends on how busy a carpet cleaner is. An idle truck is a terrible thing in the carpet cleaning business. There again the watch word is, desperation. Be sure to get some one who runs a good, fair, business.

It’s very hard to get motivated to clean your home on a weekly or even daily basis. Keeping everything dusted, the floors mopped, or wiping down the shower stall are things we know we should do, but there are more important things in life, like getting to work on time.

I was challenged by an e-mail about a post where I said cleaning is a cheap way to maintain your home. The bathroom is the best example of if you let the grime build up it can stain the surfaces. A kitchen can accumulate grease and damage finishes. Changing your sheets will help them to last longer. Vacuuming the carpet pulls up the nap to remove the dirt that can wear down a carpet like sand paper.

There are a lot of things cleaning can do to maintain your floors, furniture, and fixtures, along with the quality of your life. A bonus to that is if you are a tidy person it frees up time for you to do other things in the home that may be over looked by an outsider. Closets are something that need cleaning, but your house cleaner is probably not the person you want to pay to figure out how your shoes fit in best. The washer and dryer may be wiped down, but cleaning around will help to maintain them. It also let’s you know if there is a problem.

It is best to stay ahead of dirt before it can do damage. You house cleaner can help when given some direction, but some things are more cost effective when done by you.

Of course coming home to a clean house has an emotional value, but let’s look at the costs to you as a consumer.

Most house cleaning companies play around with the $100 per hour number with two or three cleaners in a team. For us our number is $30 per hour per person and we work in teams of three so that’s $90 per hour. Another company charges $80 per hour for a team of two.  

There are independents that charge between $15 to $20 per hour. Some independents are very good. They have a talent they use to an advantage, other cleaners may have strong backs that add a dimension to a team setting.

It took us years to settle on a team of three.  It allows tasks to be rotated during the day so there is some variety. People can stay fresh and if there is some complication there are enough people to get through the day. A two person team can do fewer houses in a day. If you look at the over all costs to you it all comes down to time and how much every one can get done in that time, in your home.

We charge by time. We may pay workers by the job, but if the job exceeds the time we set aside then it’s the workers who pay.

We figure the time it will take to clean your home then set up a schedule based on that time. Some days there is more to do and we accommodate that, some days there may be less, but it all evens out over the course of a year.

Another thing that companies figure in is travel. We put houses together on our schedule. For some people they like to chose the day and time. That is a challenge for smaller companies. If you take an hour out of some one’s day to drive from one part of town to another then some time is lost. Traffic is by far the most complicated part of the scheduling equation.

When you are interviewing cleaners it’s important for you to recognize the quality of the time spent in your home by the people you will be hiring. We have had the husband and wife teams that worked well together. We even have a single independent that we refer work to. The independent has one client per day at $20 per hour. A two person team can do two to four houses a day.

Now the two person team charges $40 per hour per person or $80 per hour. They could charge less, but in many cases the can’t or don’t. A single person is allowed to clean as an individual, but two people are looked at as a company. A single person may be a personal employee or contracted to you through thier social security number. A husband and wife team can also do that. Two individuals are a partnership with tax, license and insurance. Once you are there you might as well have more than one team.

Now for the pitch of why we encourage you to use a cleaning service. It’s all about time.

When we show up at your house with all of our stuff, and are ready to clean, that’s the most time effeciant part of hiring some one. We are doing it all day every day. We get to know the most efficient ways to clean your home. We work at cleaning the way you do what you do. The end result to you is a fresher, cleaner house with less time involvement from you.

The way I see it, and of course I would, because it is my business, is that paying a house cleaner is much cheaper than doing it yourself. By the time you drag out all the equipment, get out the cleansers, rev yourself up to get to cleaning you’ve burnt up about an hour. Then you get distracted, maybe you obsess over a little area, or you get the vacuuming done, but not the damp mopping. Maybe you’ll finish tomorrow, or next week end.

If you spend between $90, $135, or $180 every two weeks that’s $180, $270, or $360 per month, $2340, $3510, or $4680 per year.

When was the last time a home improvement project cost less than $5000 per year tops and as low as $2340?

Some companies use concentrates that are mixed with water. Those are cheaper, and there are cheaper products available. We use regularly available products you find in the grocery store. We buy at Costco or Sam’s Club, but the idea is the same. We use what you would use.

Really, to be clear, most products are water. Water is the main ingredient of cleaners. I start all of my cleaning projects with a damp rag, it drives my workers crazy. It is kind of like cleaning everything twice, but if you prewet everything first it gives you a good idea where the tough dirt is and presoaks it.

In cleaning products Ammonia is the number one ingredient for liquids. Windex is a combination of Ammonia and Alcohol. For a kitchen 409 seems to have a higher concentration of Ammonia so it works better on grease. We very rarely carry Ammonia by itself, because you have to be careful with it. Low concentrations of it in premixed products are OK, but Ammonia and bleach can be deadly.

With household brands every liability has been figured. We are still very careful, but things like bleach stains on a carpet can cost us a client. There is a Clorox Clean Up product that we carry sparingly for bathroom mildew, but we usually stick with Comet cleanser. As a powder it’s easier to control. We do make a paste with it from time to time, but keep the paste in the kitchen or bath.

A much over looked product is white vinegar. People ask for it to be used on hardwood floors, but it can be used for anything. You have to be careful because it can leave white residue and it is acidic. It can do almost anything but polish. Some people combine vinegar with lemon juice. The combination can be very caustic. Some people have had us combine the vinegar, lemon juice, and baking soda for a cleaning paste. We will talk about green cleaning in another post, but I did want to mention the option.

For furniture we use a damp rag or Pledge. There are other oils, or furniture products, but used correctly Pledge leaves a more consistent clean. It’s light and can be wiped away. It can be concentrated on say a table top to offer some protection. As an all around product he have come back to it time and again.

On product that we have used over the years and moved away from is the Murphy’s Wood Soap. The perfume seems to be the main ingredient while the soap is slippery. In terms of it’s cleaning ability that most people rave about is seems to me we spend more time with less results.

Pine Sol is a great product that we dilute because most people don’t like the smell. It cleans well, rinses well, and disinfects. We use it on floors exclusively and usually entry ways or stone.

So in our buckets we carry, Windex, Comet, Vinegar, diluted Pine Sol, Foaming Glass cleaner, Pledge, and Stainless Steel cleaner. The foaming glass cleaner and stainless steel cleaner are the odd brands that work best. Ours are labeled Sprayway Brands. The foaming glass cleaner flashes off faster than Windex and leaves a cleaner shine. The stainless steel cleaner is actually an oil that creates a shine on metal.

This is the post that is near and dear to my heart. There are some tricks that make it easier. Number one is the toilet brush, two is a set of rags, and third is a small container, like a tupper ware to splash water.

It’s important to vacuum the floor first or sweep them out with a broom. You can use a damp rag on the end of the broom, just drop the rag on the floor flatten it out then push or pull. Get up all hair and dirt before you start. Some peole use a paper towel and Windex so they can just throw the paper away.

Water does most of any cleaning job. Disinfestant kills germs. So the first thing is to rinse everything with water. We splash the tub surround or shower stall first to get it wet, flush the toilet, and puts some water in the sinks.  We dump in some Comet Cleanser and swish it around in the toilet with the toilet brush then a little in the sinks to swish around with a rag.

In order to clean a tub or shower well you need to get in. We use a little Comet mixed with water in the tupper ware you used to splash water around. We use a sponge with the green scratchy side and dunk it in the cleanser water mix to scrub the tub and surrounds. It’s easy to see where you’ve been and what you have missed. You can feel the drag of the sponge as it cuts throught the grime.

You rinse with a wet rag over all of the surfaces, rinse the rag often. You’ll see and feel what is clean and reappply the Comet and water as needed. When you have rinsed completely going from top to bottom you can dry with a rag. To finish you will want to spray the entire surface with Windex and wipe with paper towel to get the shine. The bottom of the tub or shower is done on hands and knees. You can sprinkle the Comet on, green scratchy, then rinse with wet and dry rags.

Flush the toilet then dump in more Comet. This time after you swish with the toilet brush to mix the Comet in the bowl get up under the rim and do the top of the bowl, sides, base, and surrounding floor with the Comet mixture. Leave it and go to the sinks swish and rinse the Comet and water around the rim. Drain the sinks, sprinkle some Comet and wipe with a damp rag. You may want to dry them because what I do is put the things from the counter into the sinks so I can wipe down the counters with a damp rag. You may want to Comet some areas, but don’t get carried away.  

Now let’s put it all back together.

I swish the toilet again, up under the rim and along the top, flush then rinse entirely, including the floor around the toilet, with the toilet brush and rinse. The trick now is to use a damp rag to get all the surfaces of the toilet and floor. Dry with a rag then spray with Windex and polish with paper towel. The same goes for the counters. Use a fresh rag and rinse with water. Apply Windex to the damp suface then dry with a dry rag, spray with Windex again and dry with paper towel.

Put all of the stuff back in place on the counters, damp rag the sinks, Windex then polish with paper towel. The fronts of the cabinets are done with the floor. Damp rag with water and dry, wash walls the same way as needed. You may need to reach around behind the toilet, but at this point the toilet brush should have done the hard part. You can also put a damp rag over the toilet brush to reach and get some distance.

We use the rags from the counter tops for the floor, or use a new set. We use either Windex or a Pine Sol on th bathroom floors. Again drop the rags to the floor and open them out flat then you can move the rags with a broom or mop. Rags help get into the corners. Spray the floors down with an even coat of Windex and rinse the rag in a bucket until clean.

The whole process takes between a half hour to an hour depending on the size of the bathroom. If you count we used about six rags which is normal for a one time cleaning or first time. You may over the course of time only need to Windex some areas, like counter tops. We do use a generous amount of paper towel also.

Anyway, that’s it. The best way to stay ahead is to clean on a regular basis. This task is by far the number one reason people quote for hiring a cleaner. The biggest trick is the practice.

For about forty years my main business has been cleaning.

Cleaning is one of those things that is it’s own reward. When you start with a mess and finish with that feel of accomplishment it adds to a job that is hard physically. It’s one of those things every one says they can do. We have found that there is a talent to cleaning.

There are several examples, but the most vivid for me was a call I got on a Saturday afternoon from a family in our neighborhood. I was available so I went to take a look. The house was clean, most things were in place, and the guy was frantic. His wife was due home from a business trip. He said the house needed something, so I worked with him for about an hour.

We hire people based on ability. Some people last a very short time and other stay with us for years. People who work with us tell me that it is a pleasure to work with someone who appreciates their job. Some people make it look easy, others struggle with the simple details. It is a skill that can be taught and hopefully you will learn some tricks from this site.

I have been blogging for about two years about Real Estate and economic theory. The cleaning business is one of those things that is greatly misunderstood. Everybody thinks the work is beneath them, which is great for us. There is always a customer base no matter what goes on with the economy. The business itself is more of a challenge because of the customer inter action. The theory here is that the blogging will help.

This should be a resource for you to learn the tricks and get referrals to other like minded businesses. In these economic times cleaning is your most cost effective home improvement. It also helps to maintain your property. In future posts I will talk about things you can do around the house to help keep it fresh.