May 2021 - White Glove Elite

White Glove Elite Founder and long-time house cleaner Jim Ireland shares the following advice to help you on your (hopefully short and successful) journey to find your next home cleaner.

Photo by **Andrea Piacquadio** from **Pexels**

Maid To Order

I usually suggest that people book a cleaner for four or five hours every other week, but if you have pets or a large house, you may want someone more often. It’s important to choose a cleaner that charges hourly; a lot of housekeepers will rush through the work if they’re paid a lump sum regardless of how long it takes them. You should spend between $18 and $30 an hour, depending on where you live—but no more.

Consider a Service

The best way to find a housekeeper is to ask friends for recommendations. However, if it doesn’t work out with your friend’s cleaner, you’re back to square one. A major advantage of working with a cleaning service is that you can test their cleaners one by one—they can easily send a few different people on different days—and you can choose whoever did the best job. I also think it’s important to change people about once a year because over time, a cleaner will figure out how to cut corners. If you’re using an agency and want to switch, you don’t have to fire anyone; you just tell the service to send somebody new.

Protect Yourself

It’s always a good idea to have homeowner’s or renter’s insurance. Store personal papers in a locked drawer, and password-protect your computer. If you hire a service, make sure it is bonded and insured. That way you’ll have recourse if anything valuable is broken or damaged.

Express Yourself

Do you prefer a self-starter or someone who follows directions? If you’re home all day, you may want a housekeeper who shows up on time and finishes quickly. If you’re at an office, you may not care when he arrives. Explain these preferences when you meet with a cleaner.

Enjoy it

Once you’ve established a routine, give your housekeeper an additional project to do each time, like scrubbing the kitchen cabinets. A good cleaner will pay attention to what people touch frequently, like the doorknobs and faucets, and will take the time to untangle the hair-dryer cord. After your cleaner leaves, you should always notice something that makes you happy.

The above tips were originally featured in Allure, in an article entitled “How To Hire a Housekeeper”. The original article may be found here.

We hope the knowledge on this blog helps you treat your home with care. However, sometimes it’s great to have help – otherwise we wouldn’t be in business. Book service online today or call us at 212-684-4460 to schedule an appointment with New York City’s top-tier housekeepers.

From organization to building good habits, cleaning teaches important life skills.

Photo by **Ketut Subiyanto** from **Pexels**

Keeping your children’s rooms clean may be simpler than you’d think! Here are 3 simple fixes for helping your children maintain their rooms.

Containers, containers, containers.

Containers give everything a place while still letting your kid be a kid by tossing things in. Separate stackable containers for crayons, colored pencils, paints ,and markers. Bins hold a lot more than open shelves so find bins that fit on any shelves in your kid’s room. Under the bed is another good place for bins. My boy has a bin for “guys,” a container for small vehicles, a container for space stuff and a container for small toys that don’t fit into any of those categories. If you have Legos, get a tackle box, a make-up kit, or a bank of small, hardware drawers of varying sizes. Have your kid keep her Legos in drawers corresponding to their size. Show her how great it is to be able to find the piece she needs because of the order she keeps.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

If a kid has a second toy in his hand then he is done with the first one. He will try like mad to convince you that he isn’t done with it because he feels like away means no play. Assure her that he doesn’t have to be done with it, but show him how it is just as easy to retrieve it from its “away” spot as it is to find it on the floor where he left it. Show him how, if you’re going to put something down, it’s often just as easy to put it down where it belongs than to drop it on the floor. (This goes for clothes too!)

Throw a bunch of toys into a box.

This doesn’t apply to the current favorite toys, but rather a lot of the other ones. Put the box into some out-of-the-way storage spot (closet, garage, attic). If she asks for a toy from that box, try telling her to play with something else and assure her that you haven’t tossed the toy out. In a couple of months, break out the box. It will be like Christmas all over again! Fill the box with a new set of toys and repeat. In each stage of the process, try to identify toys that are no longer played with and try to get her to agree giving them to a specific friend or relative. It’s much easier to get her to part with something if she thinks it has a good purpose elsewhere and won’t go to waste.

If all else fails, you can always free up your time by booking weekly or bi-weekly services from a reputable cleaning company in your area. White Glove Elite serves many NYC parents who don’t regret investing the money in order to have more time to spend with their children.

This article originally appeared on NYMetroParents.com and can be found here.

Month: May 2021

Helpful Tips For Hiring a Housekeeper