“What a gift I gave myself last week…!!! 3 hours of cleaning!!!! I can’t thank you enough for the wonderful job your staff did in cleaning my house. It was so nice to enjoy my week off from work..doing things I enjoy vs. worrying about getting the house clean…Thank you for taking the guilt away….and making my vacation a true vacation! Kim.
P.S. I think I’m going to “gift myself” every month!!

Why not call us today and enjoy more time with your family this weekend and during the weekends to come?
And if you are a new customer check out our great summer special HERE

from guys who get the job done better

It makes me want to run out to the driveway and ask, Honey, how about detailing the kitchen next? I mean, if he’s that good with a vehicle, imagine what he’d do with the house! Luckily, plenty of other guys have a way with a sponge and a spray bottle no matter what they’re cleaning—be it a Mustang or a microwave. And we’ve rounded up a bunch of them to share their best tips and techniques.

Imitate Your Mate
While you’d never want to emulate certain male behaviors, there are a few that you can actually put to good use around the house.

Gather Your Gear
Men love checklists, from making sure everything’s turned off in the house before your vacation to detailing all the essentials they’ll need to go fishing. Do the same when it comes to cleaning: Pull together the tools you’ll need in a carryall tray, a bucket or a bib-style cleaning apron. “This way your supplies are in one place and ready to go when you’re ready to clean,” says Jeff Campbell, author of Speed Cleaning.

 Plan Your Attack
“Men like to have a clear action plan and they don’t waver from it,” says Kevin Ward, co-owner of Teresa’s Family Cleaning in Rocky Point, New York. They like to know how they’re going to do something before they even begin. Follow their lead: Once you decide what you’re going to clean and how you’ll do it, stick to that strategy. It will help you stay focused and finish faster.

Make Every Minute Count
“When men clean, they want to get in and get out as fast as possible,” says Ward. That’s why they’ll have the dishwasher going and the clothes washing while they’re cleaning the rest of the house. Make that part of your game plan too. “When you’re done, everything is done,” says Steve Parker, a former restaurant cleaning business owner in Wallingford, Connecticut.

Add an Incentive
What man would turn down the promise of a beer? Not my husband. Of all the chores Jeff does, the one he despises most is cleaning the pool. To stay motivated, he sets a cold beer at the opposite end of the pool. Here’s a similar tip to get you moving when you’re cleaning: Turn on music in the room you’ll finish in, not the one you start in, says Parker. “It will ‘lead’ you to your endpoint faster.”

Quick Tips

Shine a Shower
Men are resourceful when it comes to cleaning products. “Wipe your shower walls with car wax to prevent soap scum from building up,” says Steve McQueen, a Merry Maids cleaner in Roswell, Georgia. “But you shouldn’t do it too frequently. Once a year does the trick.”

Make Glass Gleam
Forget paper towels. There’s a reason guys at the gas station use squeegees. “They’re the best tool for windows, mirrors, tile and shower doors,” says Steve Zeitler, cofounder of the Citra Solv natural cleaning products company. One to try: OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Squeegee ($12.99)

Unclog a Drain
A few bucks is all it takes to fix this problem. “A $7 tool called the Drain Claw  removes hair from the drain with a simple push-and-twist movement,” says Lou Manfredini, host of the national TV show House Smarts. Bonus: no harsh chemicals down your drain.

Tools of His Trade
These four surprising tools get the job done—man-style.

Guy gear: A wet/dry vac
Manly use: Cobweb collector
“I tape together my two vac hoses, add a soft brush attachment and then secure everything to my skylight crank, so I can clear the spiderwebs that accumulate on our 12- and 16-foot ceilings,” says Chuck Miller, an editor who lives in Newtown, Connecticut.

 Guy gear: A leaf blower
Manly use: Vacuum hose cleaner
“Remove the hose from your vacuum, then head outside and use the blower to clear out the inside of the hose,” says Lori Dolnick, an advertising executive from East Windsor, New Jersey, who got the tip from one of her male clients. “Whatever is stuck in the hose will come shooting out.” Another great use for a leaf blower: Sweep up your patio or deck with it. It cleans out all the corners a broom can’t reach.

Guy gear: Steel wool
Manly use: Pot scrubber
“Grade 3 synthetic steel wool pads from the hardware store, normally used to strip paint, can clean stainless steel and aluminum pots that are crusted solid with cooked-on gunk,” says Andrew Engel, a writer and father of two in Roxbury, Connecticut. “And it doesn’t clog as quickly as a normal green scrubbie.” What about scratching? Andrew swears it won’t, but to be safe, opt for a fine synthetic steel wool pad.

Guy gear: A tennis ball
Manly use: Scuff eraser
“Spray the ball’s fuzzy abrasive surface with an all-purpose cleaner to easily remove scuff marks from floors and walls and to clean patio furniture,” says Tom McNulty, author of Clean Like a Man.

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The history of how Father’s Day originated:

Mrs. John B. Dodd, of Washington, first proposed the idea of a “father’s day” in 1909. Mrs. Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart. William Smart, a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his wife (Mrs. Dodd’s mother) died in childbirth with their sixth child. Mr. Smart was left to raise the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington state. It was after Mrs. Dodd became an adult that she realized the strength and selflessness her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent. 

The first Father’s Day was observed on June 19, 1910 in Spokane Washington. At about the same time in various towns and cities across American other people were beginning to celebrate a “father’s day.”  In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea of a national Father’s Day. Finally in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father’s Day. Father’s Day has become a day to not only honor your father, but all men who act as a father figure. Stepfathers, uncles, grandfathers, and adult male friends are all honored on Father’s Day.

Man Vs. Machine:

Dad’s usually are always “assigned” or volunteer to do the heavy duty, deep cleaning projects around the home.  Cleaning out the garage, attic or basement are usually the BIG THREE, then there are the kitchen appliance’s left just for your “Mr. Clean” to tackle.  Most of the men in your life are probably going to at some point, rent equipment to handle pressure washing/window cleaning the outside of the home.  And we all know the scenario: 

• Saturday Morning:  go and rent the equipment needed to do the job
• Get the equipment home only to find out you forgot to buy the cleaning solution!  Now it’s back to the rental store!
• Try and assemble the equipment (without reading the instructions of course!)
• Start using the equipment only to have half the cleaning solution spill out all over the place, and now your making more of mess than the actual one you are attempting to clean.
• Get frustrated and throw the rented equipment to the ground.
• Try and do the job the old fashioned way and get out the scrub brush, garden hose and ladder….do you see an E.R. visit in your future?
• Now realizing you ran out of time, and have totally waisted an entire DAY that could have been used to take the family out for a day of fun, or spent it on the golf course, or gone fishing, bowling etc.  You bring back the equipment to the rental store. 

END RESULT:  Absolutely NOTHING!

So the next time your guy want’s to tackle a ”manly” project around the home, GIVE HIM THE DAY OFF

and let the professionals at Teresa’s Family Cleaning do the rest.

We offer gift certificates for everyone that could use some free time, including Dad.  So call our office 1-866-744-4021 and purchase one today.

Feel free to post some great Father’s Day Gift Giving Idea’s here as well.  We love it when we can share great tips with our readers.

The signs of spring are here: warmer weather, the start of daylight savings time — and a rush to book housekeeping services for an attic-to-basement spring cleaning.

Residential cleaning services have been among the top 10 most searched-for services on consumer review site Angie’s List over the past 30 days. Even in the sluggish economy, residential cleaning services are a booming business, according to a January report from The Freedonia Group. Services reeled in $12.25 billion in 2008, and the industry is projected to reach $15.8 billion in 2013.

But don’t get taken to the cleaners by your cleaners. Before hiring a company or individual for your annual scrub-down or recurring service, there are precautions to take. Make sure you and the service agree on the work to be done, how many people will be coming into your home — and how they are screened — and who will be responsible in case of mishaps.

Read more: Advice on Spring Cleaning Services at SmartMoney.com

The front closet and entrance is considered one of the most important parts of the home as it sets the mood for the remaining rooms in your home. If you tense up the minute you walk in the door because you’re tripping over the leash and can’t find a place to hang your coat or put away your shoes, your entire mood will be affected. By the same token, you want guests and family to feel welcome and invited when they step over your threshold, so paying attention to this often forgotten area is important when undertaking your March Makeover project.

There are dozens of ways you can organize your entryway storage area, but the guiding principle should always be this: keep your front entrance and closet free of clutter and free flowing. You want to smoothly usher people into your home by setting the stage in this space. Here are some practical tips for making your front entrance and closet a flowing, welcoming area in your home:

• Designate a basket, box, or drawer for mail.
• Hang hooks or set out cups for each set of keys in the home.
• Hang a stylish chalkboard or white board so that you can leave each other notes.
• If there are many people in your family, set up a coat and shoe area with one or two hooks and a shoe rack each. Include a shelf or hooks for school bags and a basket for hats, mittens, or an umbrella.
• Make space in the front closet for sporting equipment and musical instruments so that it doesn’t block the front entrance.
• Make sure there’s a door or curtain on your front closet so that you can close it up to avoid the distraction of stuff.
• Use the entire height of your front closet by installing several levels of shelves to take full advantage of storage space.
• Pack off-season outdoor gear in bins and store them out of the way in the closet or elsewhere in your home.
• Set up two bins at the front door: one for things going outside, and one for things coming inside.

Here’s our top tip for making the front entrance and closet area the most organized space in your home: buy a piece of furniture with 6-10 small drawers. A tallboy dresser is ideal, but choosing something that will fit in the confines of your front entrance area is important. Then designate one drawer for each member of the family where they can place all of the small items that would otherwise clutter the front entrance and get lost, including keys, sunglasses, wallet/purse, eyeglasses cleaner, coupons, mugs, and lip gloss. Remaining drawers can be used for other items, such as reusable bags, clean mugs, returning books to the library, pens and paper for notes, the dog’s leash and doo-doo bags, phone books, bag ties, rubber bands, matches, and other miscellaneous items that do not have a home.

Remember that keeping the front entrance clutter free and organized will keep you in a positive frame every time you come home. 

©2010 Teresa’s Family Cleaning

Want to use this article in your newsletter, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Teresa Ward, President of Teresa’s Family Cleaning and New York State’s Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year is often considered Long Island’s foremost authority on cleaning homes and businesses to create a cleaner and healthier environment for all. Our highly sought after, award winning weekly newsletter provides timely cleaning tips and other important Long Island information and charitable events for homeowners, businesses and not-for-profits. Visit us at http://www.TeresasFamilyCleaning.com to sign up and receive your copy today!

Living rooms and family rooms perform many functions in our lives: they’re spaces for entertaining, rooms in which to hide away with a good book, and the place for relaxation with the family. But so often the clutter of everyday life prevents us from doing what’s most important in our living and family rooms: living!

Prepping your living and family room for a makeover

If you’re looking for March Makeover ideas for your living and family room spaces, look no further.  At Teresa’s Family Cleaning, we approach home organization with old-world methods so that you can live Long Island style all year round.

Start by emptying out your living and family room spaces as much as is practical. Gather together all of the things that have piled up in the space over time, and as you pick things up, sort them into various boxes labelled “Give Away” (things you no longer want but that are still useful), “Recycle/Trash” (for broken and obsolete items), “Keep” (items that will stay in the living room), “File” (items that need to be taken to their rightful place in your home), and “Store” (those things that belong in long-term storage). You’ll want to evaluate the necessity of everything in your living room, including things like magazines, books, CDs, DVDs, toys, decorative items and nick knacks, games and puzzles, pictures, gadgets and electronics, linens, and lamps. Only items that are used on a weekly basis in your living room should remain in the “Keep” box; everything else should be sorted into another box.

If you’ve done a good job of sorting, the only thing remaining in your living room should be large pieces of furniture. From here, there are several big jobs to complete before your makeover is complete:

• Care for upholstery and carpeting: Take a look at all of the upholstered surfaced in your living: couch, chairs, area rugs, and wall-to-wall carpeting. Start by giving each of these surfaces a thorough vacuum treatment. For furniture, be sure to remove cushions and vacuum every surface. To thoroughly clean carpet, be sure to shift furniture around to get every inch clean. Then using green sealed certified products, spot-treat any stains according to package directions. Follow that with a steam clean of each of these surfaces.
• Clean hard surfaces: Whether you’ve got tile, hardwood, linoleum, or some other hard surface flooring, you’ll want to wash the floors down, including those spaces underneath furniture. Also wipe down hard surfaces on furniture and wash all of your walls.
• Fireplace cleansing: If your living room has a wood burning fireplace, clean that out by removing all of the ashes, wiping down the hearth, and getting a professional to clean your chimney stack.

Your living room is now prepped and ready to be made-over with a new, more organized Long Island look to transform it into a cozy retreat.

Function and form in your re-organized living room

Packing many functions into one room can be a challenge, but here are Teresa’s Family Cleanings most practical top tips for creating a warm, inviting, functional space for your family in the living room.

• Define living room zones: Space permitting, try to organize various zones within the living and family room spaces for the functions they need to perform. If TV watching is one of the functions, organize a couch and some chairs around the television in one end of the room. Likewise for reading or just snoozing.
• Make the most of wall space: Your walls aren’t just for hanging pictures—they can also be re-purposed to store items that will be useful for the activities in your living room. By adding things like shelving units and cabinets along the walls, you can turn once unused space into high-performing spaces where you store books, DVDs, CDs, toys, and other necessary living room items. Use cupboard doors, baskets, and boxes to hide away items that are unsightly.
• Choose multi-function furniture: If you’re like most of us, you’ll need to store all kinds of items for various purposes in your living room—magazine collections, board games, blankets, dog toys, and kids play things. When space is limited, choose furniture that does double-duty, like storage ottomans, wicker trunks, sofa beds, planters with drawers, and coffee tables with extra shelves. Leave no space underutilized and you’ll have no trouble hiding things away.

We’re confident that with these high-powered ideas, you’ll have a multi-functional, welcoming living room that will be the gathering place in your home. Take the time you need to makeover this space and you’ll be rewarded with many happy memories of real living here!

©2010 Teresa’s Family Cleaning

Want to use this article in your newsletter, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Teresa Ward, President of Teresa’s Family Cleaning and New York State’s Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year is often considered Long Island’s foremost authority on cleaning homes and businesses to create a cleaner and healthier environment for all. Our highly sought after, award winning weekly newsletter provides timely cleaning tips and other important Long Island information and charitable events for homeowners, businesses and not-for-profits. Visit us at http://www.TeresasFamilyCleaning.com to sign up and receive your copy today!

As a catch-all for a good number of to-dos around the house—everything from mending to stain removal to ironing to cleaning—the laundry room can be a frustrating space given the amount of clutter and disorganization that gathers there as time goes on. And since most of us can just close the door and forget about the laundry room, it often is ignored when home organization is considered.

A cluttered, chaotic laundry room can quickly become a pit where socks and other clothing go to die—or disappear at the very least. But no more! As part of our March Makeover, these Teresa Family Cleaning tips will transform your laundry room from a disorganized mess into a highly-functional, workable space in your home.

Getting sudsy in the laundry room

If you haven’t already, start by going through all of the piles of personal items in your laundry room, sorting as you go into piles—the things you need to keep, those you need to give away, items that need repair or stain-removal, and those that need to be recycled or trashed. And don’t just deal with the laundry; be sure to go through everything, including cleaning products, laundry detergents and supplies (clothes pins, laundry bags, and drying rack), cleaning tools (brooms, rags, and buckets), home improvement items (paint, nails, screw drivers), and things that require storage. This room can be a dumping ground so a thorough sort of everything there is a great way to take stock and thin out.

Many of us keep our cleaning products in the laundry room as well, which makes the cleansing process of this makeover simple. Using your green sealed certified products, wash down the entire room, including countertops, drawers, cupboards, walls, and floors, as well as the inside and outside of your washing machine and dryer. You should also clean out the lint trap and air vent on your dryer as a way to improve its efficiency. Once you’re done, your laundry room should appear fairly empty and sparkling clean.

Arming your laundry room with high-performing organization

Your clean slate of a laundry room is now ready for you to put it back together to create an efficient, hassle-free space in which to work. Basic tools for a functional laundry room include two to three sturdy laundry hampers, a trash can, storage containers, a laundry drying rack, hangers, and laundry products. Once you’ve got that together check out these top tips for getting the job done:

• Organizational tools: Using the storage containers, replace all of the items in your laundry room in an organized fashion, keeping frequently-used items easily accessible and other items neatly tucked away in well-labelled containers. If necessary, add shelves or cabinets to increase your storage capacity.
• Clutter-cutters: Make it easy to deal with little things that come with the job of doing laundry, like loose change, keys, lip sticks, and extra buttons. You can use old containers or tins with labels for quick separation. You may even want a container where individual socks can live until you find the mate.
• Air-drying options: Make it easy for you to save energy by hanging laundry to dry by setting up the tools you need. You’ll want a durable drying rack and hangers and an easy way to store them while not in use. One simple option is to install a clothes pole that extends over the back of the dryer area.
• Folding and ironing necessities: Space permitting, you may want to set up an area for folding and ironing of laundry. You can set up a table as a work area and install an ironing board as well. Under this area will be ample space for more storage containers or laundry baskets in which people can deposit their dirty clothes, sorted by color.

You’ll save tremendous amounts of time and energy by bringing order to your laundry room. Happy laundering!

©2010 Teresa’s Family Cleaning

Want to use this article in your newsletter, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Teresa Ward, President of Teresa’s Family Cleaning and New York State’s Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year is often considered Long Island’s foremost authority on cleaning homes and businesses to create a cleaner and healthier environment for all. Our highly sought after, award winning weekly newsletter provides timely cleaning tips and other important Long Island information and charitable events for homeowners, businesses and not-for-profits. Visit us at http://www.TeresasFamilyCleaning.com to sign up and receive your copy today!

Feng Shui organizational principles aren’t just for bedrooms and front entrances. They can also be applied to your place of work, whether you work from home or outside of the home. A home office in particular is a great place to apply Feng Shui concepts as a well-equipped work space will promote feelings of positive energy, wellbeing, and prosperity.

Cutting clutter to boost productivity

As with any space in your home, the key to producing a high-powered home office environment is to free it of clutter. Of all the spaces in your home, the office is likely one of the spaces in which the most clutter builds up. If you’re like most of us, you have stacks of old magazines, piles of bills waiting to be filed, boxes of photographs requiring sorting, workout equipment that rarely gets used, and plenty of other miscellaneous stuff. These are the things of home office nightmares.

 At Teresa’s Family Cleaning, we almost always start a room makeover by creating several boxes for sorting through the clutter in a space, including “Keep” (items that will stay in the living room), “Give Away” (things you no longer want but that are still useful), “Recycle/Trash” (for broken and obsolete items), “File” (items that need to be taken to their rightful place in your home office), and “Store” (those things that belong in long-term storage). Put nearly everything in your office into one of these boxes, with the exception of furniture and larger items and then deal with them accordingly.

Of course, you’ll also want to clean your office from top to bottom, including washing all hard surfaces, steam cleaning carpets and upholstery, cleaning drawers and cupboards, and so on. You now have a clear palette on which to begin building your Feng Shui home office.

Feng Shui office organization

Before putting everything back into your office, be sure you’ve got some systems and principles in place that will help to maintain a clutter-free, organized work environment for many months or years to come. We’ve collected the top tips for making your home office as productive as possible:

• Filing organization: Purchase an automatic labeller and regular files (we assume you already have a filing cabinet, but if not, get one of those as well). Organize and label all existing paper materials and file alphabetically in your cabinet. Then any time something new comes in, make a practice of handling it only once: deal with it right away and file it. And if no folder exists for that item, quickly make one with your labeller.
• Minimize visual clutter: There are numerous small items that go into an average office. Hopefully by now you’ve weeded out the things that are not necessary, but what’s left can still block positive energy, so find ways to store it out of sight using cabinets, attractive boxes, baskets, and closet space.
• Orientation is important: You’ll want to place your computer facing southeast to generate income, but remember that your back should never be to the door. Instead, putt your desk in the corner away from the door facing the entrance if possible.
• Wire control: An office will inevitably have wires and cables connecting the computer, printer, monitor, mouse, fax machine, and more. But these, too, impede efficiency, so find ways to organize and hide them as much as possible.
• Flowing water: A fountain can be an excellent way to stimulate positive energy as flowing water tends to uplift the mood and calm the mind.

One of the golden nuggets of office organization is to leave your desk uncluttered at the end of your work session. By cultivating clean desktop policy, you can leave your work space feeling calm and come back to it without a feeling of dread and frustration.

©2010 Teresa’s Family Cleaning

Want to use this article in your newsletter, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Teresa Ward, President of Teresa’s Family Cleaning and New York State’s Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year is often considered Long Island’s foremost authority on cleaning homes and businesses to create a cleaner and healthier environment for all. Our highly sought after, award winning weekly newsletter provides timely cleaning tips and other important Long Island information and charitable events for homeowners, businesses and not-for-profits. Visit us at http://www.TeresasFamilyCleaning.com to sign up and receive your copy today!

Eating a meal together, whether you’re with family, friends, or strangers, is one of the most ancient ways to build community and make connections. But the dining room is perhaps one of the most neglected areas of our homes thanks to a fast-paced life that involves gobbling a quick meal before running out the door to get to the next activity. Cultivating an eating space that encourages conversation and communication is important for a healthy family and a sense of home.

Our Teresa’s Family Cleaning top tips for adding organization to your dining room will help to create a sense of intimacy and rest so that you can nourish both your body and your soul.

• Maintain the dining room’s function: Your dining room table should not be the dumping ground for mail, newspapers, sporting equipment, and school work. Adding this kind of negative energy to your eating space will make you and those who eat with you feel rushed and distracted. To avoid this problem, create areas specific to other activities elsewhere in the home to preserve eating as the only function of your dining room. This could involve adding a drop-zone at your front door to capture keys, mail, and sunglasses as you enter the house. Or set up a desk and chair(s) in a nook at which students can sit to do homework. Or designate a drawer in the kitchen for things like pens, paper, and scissors to keep them off of the table.
• Choose appropriately-sized furniture: Oversized, dark furniture can feel overbearing and heavy in a dining room space, which will drain the area of energy. It also disrupts the flow of the room, making it difficult for people to move around. If your dining room suffers from such furnishings, consider replacing them with appropriately-sized furniture that fits the physical space while helping it to feel light and airy. Chairs should never be so large that they block passageways or doors.
• Use soft lines: The free flow of space will be enhanced with softened corners, round or oval-shaped furnishings, and smooth surfaces. Wood furniture in particular is preferable in a space as well as it is natural and softer than metal.
• Add mirrors and glass: As surfaces that reflect light and move energy throughout a space, mirrors and glass are another great addition to dining rooms.
• Set up a message board: If the dining room is a place for communicating, adding a message board may help to encourage communication. Chalkboards, magnetic boards, and cork boards are all great options as they allow you and your family members to leave notes for one another without the clutter of paper notepads and pens. Position the board near the phone.

 As long as you focus on your goal to allow for hassle-free, slow-paced meal-times, even if just for 20 minutes, you should be able to use these home-spun ideas for bringing some tranquility to mealtime in your home.

©2010 Teresa’s Family Cleaning

Want to use this article in your newsletter, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Teresa Ward, President of Teresa’s Family Cleaning and New York State’s Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year is often considered Long Island’s foremost authority on cleaning homes and businesses to create a cleaner and healthier environment for all. Our highly sought after, award winning weekly newsletter provides timely cleaning tips and other important Long Island information and charitable events for homeowners, businesses and not-for-profits. Visit us at http://www.TeresasFamilyCleaning.com to sign up and receive your copy today!