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.
Every New Yorker knows that living in such a vibrant, happening, and culturally-rich environment comes with a cost. Per square foot. While your apartment may be tinier than your dreams, heart, or family – that doesn’t mean should you put up feeling cramped or disorganized. These simple tips from our founder should point you in the right direction.
Getting Started
From storing kitchen and bath items to streamlining your closets and organizing your bedrooms and living rooms, it can be difficult to find a place for everything. “Shelves and containers are cornerstones to organization, so if your home is not designed with enough cabinet or closet space just create your own,” says Jim Ireland, owner of White Glove Elite, a cleaning company, who recommends buying a portable wardrobe to store clothing and using a shoe rack to keep shoes off the floor.
Cute Cubes
Storage cubes, which are available in a variety of colors, patterns and materials, can be a quick and stylish storage option around the house. Canvas containers fold flat when not in use. Use them to store anything: seasonal clothes, toys, papers around your home office and more. Ireland suggests using fabric bins for under-the-bed storage, saying they provide “a softer, more elegant look.” Another option: consider building your own cube shelves, typically made of laminate or plastic. They can be used alone or stacked together to create a modular shelving unit. Those canvas foldable cubes can be stored inside these shelving units.
The above tips were originally featured in the Glen Clove Herald Gazette, in an article written by Kristen Castello.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.
White Glove Elite has provided housekeepers to New York City households and businesses since 1992. The Covid-19 infectious disease has raised many questions and concerns regarding best practices to maintain a clean home, proper disinfection techniques, and what products are best suited.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has produced numerous guidelines and recommendations addressing these concerns, however the information is spread between multiple sources – so White Glove Elite has created this blog to simplify and consolidate the relevant information in one place. Providing the knowledge necessary for maintaining a clean home, while also prioritizing safety and sanitation, is the primary goal of this article.
*WGE Editor’s Note*: Of course the easiest way to clean your home is to hire someone else to do it for you. 😉 If that is your inclination, skip to the last section on a few important safety tips when hiring a cleaner.
When doing the cleaning yourself, wear reusable or disposable gloves for routine cleaning and disinfection. Disposable Gloves should be discarded after each cleaning. If reusable gloves are used, those gloves should be dedicated for cleaning and disinfection of surfaces for COVID-19 and should not be used for other purposes. Clean hands immediately after gloves are removed.
Wear facial coverings and follow proper prevention hygiene, such as washing your hands frequently for at least 20 seconds and using alcohol-based (at least 60% alcohol) hand sanitizer when soap and water are not available.
Additional key times to clean hands include:
After blowing one’s nose, coughing, or sneezing
After using the restroom
Before eating or preparing food
After contact with animals or pets
Before and after providing routine care for another person who needs assistance (e.g. a child)
General Cleaning and Disinfecting Guidelines
Normal routine cleaning with soap and water will decrease how much of the virus is on surfaces and objects, which reduces the risk of exposure. Coronaviruses on surfaces and objects naturally die within hours to days. Warmer temperatures and exposure to sunlight will reduce the time the virus survives on surfaces and objects.
Disinfection using EPA-approved disinfectants against COVID-19 can also help reduce the risk. Frequent disinfection of surfaces and objects touched by multiple people is important.
High touch surfaces to disinfect include:Tables, hard-back chairs, doorknobs, light switches, countertops, handles, desks, phones, tablets, touch screens, remote controls, keyboards, toilets, faucets, sinks, etc.
The virus that causes COVID-19 can be killed if you use the right products. EPA has compiled a list of disinfectant products that can be used against COVID-19, including ready-to-use sprays, concentrates, and wipes. Each product has been shown to be effective against viruses that are harder to kill than viruses like the one that causes COVID-19.
For disinfection, most common EPA-registered household disinfectants should be effective. Keep surfaces wet for a period of time for adequate disinfection (see product label – often 5 to 10 minutes)
Take Precautions such as wearing gloves and making sure you have good ventilation during use of the product.
Cleaning Soft (Porous) Surfaces
For soft surfaces such as carpeted floor, rugs, and drapes.
Clean the surface using soap and water or with cleaners appropriate for use on these surfaces.
Launder items (if possible) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Use the warmest appropriate water setting and dry items completely.
Soft Surfaces may also be disinfected with an EPA-registered household disinfectant, if appropriate.
Vacuum as usual.
Laundry
For clothing, towels, linens and other items.
Launder items according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Use the warmest appropriate water setting and dry items completely.
*WGE Editor’s Note*: Regardless of how much quarantines, shutdowns and joblessness have got you down, DO NOT stick your head in the dryer.
Wear disposable gloves when handling dirty laundry from a person who is sick.
Dirty laundry from a person who is sick can be washed with other people’s items.
Do not shake dirty laundry. This will minimize the possibility of dispersing virus through the air.
Clean and disinfect clothes hampers according to guidance above for surfaces. If possible, consider placing a bag liner that is either disposable (can be thrown away) or can be laundered.
Cleaning Electronics
For electronics such as cell phones, tablets, touch screens, remote controls, and keyboards, remove visible contamination if present.
Consider the use of alcohol-based wipes or sprays containing at least 70% alcohol to disinfect touch screens. Dry surfaces thoroughly to avoid pooling of liquids.
The efficacy of alternative disinfection methods, such as ultrasonic waves, high intensity UV radiation, and LED blue light against COVID-19 virus is not known. Therefore, EPA cannot confirm whether, or under what circumstances, such products might be effective against the spread of COVID-19.
White Glove Elite cleaners do not travel with cleaning supplies or equipment, and will make use of the cleaning products you make available, so please ensure you have the recommended products.
Additional CDC Resources
The above information is largely culled from the following official resources. More information about cleaning and disinfecting your home can be found here:
Perhaps the most challenging and important safety precaution when hiring a cleaner is to exercise social distancing. Here are a few tips:
Wear a mask while sharing your home with your cleaner.
Try to schedule your cleaner at a time when you will not be there or a time when you can show them in and leave.
If #2 is not practical, try to schedule errands to run to get you out of your home while your cleaner is working.
If #2 and #3 are not practical, coordinate time and space with your cleaner so that they are not cleaning in the same room you are occupying. Ventilate rooms as much as possible (windows and fans) and close doors between you and your cleaner whenever possible. Remember to close doors gently and save the slamming for any housemate(s) you may have. 😉
Refer to above section on Recommended Cleaning and Disinfecting Products so that you can set your cleaner up with proper products.
Wipe down with disinfectant any shared equipment (such as your vacuum) before your cleaner arrives and again after they leave. Or better yet, ask them to put it away and don’t touch any such equipment until their return. 😉
Tip your cleaner well 😉
Should you need a good cleaner for your home, some of the most excellent cleaners in the city work with us. Call us at 212-684-4460 or click here to book service online.
Keeping your home clean requires (unfortunately) TIME and EFFORT. Now, the last thing we would want is your time and effort going to waste through self-defeat actions that, sadly enough, are quite common. Instead, wisen up with these tips from White Glove Elite founder Jim Ireland. Identify these 6 mistakes and their tried-and-tested solutions so you can beat the dirt instead of it of it beating your best intentions.
Mop & Bucket?: Even the most progressive homeowners are not in favor of the re-distribution of dirt, which is all you are doing as soon as you rinse that dirty mop in your bucket of cleaning solution. Solution: Dilute your floor cleaner in a spray-bottle and spray-mop, rinsing your mop frequently under running water in the nearest tub or sink.
“Washing” Baseboards: So many people take a bucket of water and a wet cloth or sponge to their baseboards. A wet cloth will cause dirt to settle into crevices, highlighting all your carpenter’s mistakes and making your baseboards look even dirtier than before. Solution: Vacuum baseboards with a brush attachment and save the washing for when baseboards are scuffed-up.
Steam-Cleaning Carpets: Ever spill liquid on a new carpet? If so, you found that the water beads-up before eventually soaking into the rug. This is because unwashed carpet has a natural seal from the production of the fabric in even many hand-woven rugs. Once you shampoo or steam-clean that carpet even just one time, the seal will be broken and your carpet will become a sponge for all future spills making stains harder to remove. Solution: Put off that first clean as long as you can stand it. Spot clean with seltzer water for as many years as you can take it. Once you do give in and steam-clean, you might want to buy that machine since your next cleaning will not be far behind.
Don’t Mop Post-Renovation Dust!: Most of that dust is from plaster and wetting it will turn it right back into plaster which, at best, will spread a film across your walls and floors which will not come off without hand-drying the surface. At worst, it will settle between floor-boards and in the grain of your floors, which, if you have dark floors, can be very unsightly. Solution: Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum! Use a vacuum with hepa-filter and change the bags often. Use a brush attachment or Swiffer Dry mop for walls. When you feel confident you’ve effectively busted the dust, then mop to your heart’s content.
Toilet Pills Are Addictive!: Toilet pills in your tank leave residue which causes odors where clean water used to reside. These substances contain harsh chemicals which can cause your toilet’s internal organs to shut down prematurely. Withdrawal from these substances will leave a resin that will have your tank smelling worse than your bowl, sending you back to The Man for another fix. Solution: Say it with me…”Just say ‘no’ to pills!”
Smelly Sponges: I expect that a scientist could better explain this and I wish I could better-document this report with a rhyme or reason as to WHY this is true, but the day that you say goodbye to anti-bacterial dish soap and say hello to any brand of natural soap with no dyes or perfumes is the day you can also say goodbye to that stank-ass sponge! No more need for hacks like putting your sponge in the dishwasher or microwaving it to nuke odor-causing aliens. Solution: What seems like a sponge is actually vital to the diverse community of organisms in your kitchen. Be nice to the sponge in your system and protect it from the modern trend of chemical warfare. Trust me, this is not fake news!
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.
Stop filling the land and sea with Swiffer disposables! Most “Swiffer homes” I’ve gone into have a plethora of plastic dusters (because the stores are so often out of refill-only boxes) which they feed with an endless supply of microfiber disposables. And those who have bought into the Wet Jet craze are using batteries, plastic refillable bottles, unwanted chemicals and many replacement pads.
Try breaking with tradition and dusting with your vacuum. Use the soft brush attachment of your vacuum for dusting blinds, window sills, lampshades baseboards and, if your vacuum has a HEPA filter and adjustable power setting, you can even use it for your finer dusting needs! Most new vacuums have excellent emission ratings and even the worst have at least good emission ratings when tested with fine flour particles.
Are you ready for innovation at it’s finest? Even if you’re not religious, I’d bet anything you have a hole-y t-shirt in your home. Take it, run your hands under water a few times, drying them on the almighty shirt and safely dust your finest furniture and decor. Worried about sacrificing convenience? Take that crew sock who’s lost it’s better half and introduce it to a slender amount of water, inserting your dusting hand and go to town without leaving your home… convenient AND cozy. The damp cloth holds dust particles as well as any disposable microfiber and then I toss it in my laundry. Make sure to not use fabric softener with your dusting cloth of choice – while fabric softener is GREAT for your skin, it makes fabrics worse at capturing moisture and dirt, which can lead to streaking (and not the fun kind, either)!
To replace the Wet Jet and it’s plastic, batteries, chemicals, and disposable pads… get ready… I’m going rogue on you again…use a mop! It’s a radical idea, I know, but is it really easier to replace the pad (and batteries and refill the fluid) than to give a quick rinse under running water? If you forgot to pick up replacement pads at the store then you’re out of luck. Recently a White Glove Elite housekeeper was using the Wet Jet for a client and the batteries died AND it ran out of fluid. He had enough pads, but used them down to the last one, so hopefully someone will get to the store before the next cleaning and fill Procter & Gamble’s coffers while accelerating the arrival of our coffins. Being stuck mopping the floor with Windex in one hand and the Wet Jet in the other is a cruelty you should never need to inflict upon your cleaner, especially when the time for 2-armed elbow grease comes around.
Do you know the #1 cause of film on your floors? It’s cleaning product residue! Why are we putting dirt and chemicals back on our floors by rinsing in a bucket when we have clean running water to give us a fresh mop with each rinse? Try it. That’s right. Mop your wood floors with just warm water. You might have to add a little more elbow grease, but that’s cheap and it never runs out (and might just burn some calories.) For kitchen and bathroom floors, dilute your product in a spray bottle and spray on the floor as you go. Your product will go ten times further before you run out. I like the old school cotton hair mop, feel free to use a sponge mop that you can ring without getting your hands wet.
Are you paying to dust and clean your floors? We love the Swiffer duster and Wet Jet, just don’t be fooled into thinking they’re a necessity.
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.
We all know about laundering pillow cases… but think there’s nothing to be done about the pillow itself? WRONG!
Get a cheap bottle of vodka and a spray bottle. Mix 1 part vodka to 3 parts water. (You could splash for the nice stuff…but that means less to celebrate with later!)
Spray the pillow liberally and let dry (ideally in the sun – solar power is totally green). Fluff and repeat. Use a stronger solution for tougher odors. Plan to do this about once a month.
PRO TIPS Avoid drenching pillow and definitely do not submerge it into water!
Why does this work? Well there’s no chemists here at White Glove Elite, but the following IS true:
Alcohol is a powerful sterilizer and antimicrobial.
Vodka, as opposed to other spirits, has little in it beyond ethanol and water – by watering it down further, its as close to odorless (and colorless) as you can get in a cleaning solution.
Provenance of advice (given White Glove Elite founder, Jim Ireland’s, adjunct career as a stage actor) : Did you ever notice that dry cleaning does nothing for odors? Theaters across the country prefer this solution over dry cleaning to launder delicate, odor-rich costumes.
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.
We all know the feeling when we are SO GLAD to walk into the room and appreciate the clean, organized, and packed away aesthetic beauty of mess-free environment. Sometimes that reflects the hard-won fruits of your labor, or sometimes that of someone else! Either way, time, energy, and effort went into achieving this. Invariably, that hard work will fade due to the realities of life – but that doesn’t mean you should give up your space’s beauty so willingly.
This mistake is an easy one to understand, but not the easiest to implement, especially when you often find yourself exhausted or in a rush! But if you can embrace this mindset as a lifestyle, you’ll be ahead of the pack, and will thank yourself (and impress any guests/roommates.)
Simply – Don’t break the ice! Once you have a clean surface, keep it perfect as long as you can! As soon as you put one piece of clothing on that empty chair or one cup on that clean counter, you will think it’s okay to put another and they each will have six friends before you can say “clutter”.
To help you on this journey, embrace White Glove Elite founder, Jim Ireland’s 7-Second Rule, especially in the evening. When you remove your clothes for the day, ask yourself “do I have 7 seconds to…hang up, fold this, or put it in the laundry?” The answer is invariably yes and will lead to astonishing results for those who so easily accumulate the dreaded pile of clothes.
The 7-Second Rule works with everything: cups on the counter, dishes not in the dishwasher, shoes on the floor, bags on the chair,mail on the table (okay, maybe you’d have to apply the 7-MINUTE rule to the mail.)
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.
WGE Founder Jim Ireland spent over 15 years cleaning New York City apartments as a supplement to his career as a stage and screen actor. Having seen inside both the glitziest and grimiest abodes Manhattan has to offer, we asked Jim to share some of his cleaning horror stories.
This one in particular stood out.
I once arrived to clean an apartment in Midtown with another cleaner. The woman met us out in the hall to warn us that her place was “very messy”. She stood in the hallway with her door ajar as if she was hiding her home from us. When she invited us in, she squeezed through the narrow door opening, as did we, with the stunning revelation that she was not hiding her place but had hoarded so much stuff that she could barely open her front door. We literally stepped up into her apartment and were walking so high off of the floor on her “stuff” that we had to duck to get through the interior doorways. In the bedroom there was no sight of a bed, only the gradual rise and fall of a magazine mound.
Don’t live in a landfill! (Well unless you’re into that sort of thing – you know what they say about one man’s trash…)
While we’ve shared with you Jim’s 7 Second Rule for preventing messes from accumulating in the first place. However that ship has long sailed if you find yourself in a situation such as the one Jim found our friendly neighborhood hoarder in. Even if it’s not that bad, recognizing that the clutter is reaching an unacceptable level is the first step to taking action. What do you do if the problem is HOW DO I GET RID OF ALL THIS STUFF? There’s a reason (psychological, sentimental, laziness) you held onto these things in the first place, so Jim has a helpful rule to cut through the uncertainty, set down some boundaries, and make it easy to get down to getting rid of all this junk.
The 2 Year Rule: If you haven’t worn or used something this season or last season, give it to someone who will. And if you’re holding onto it because you’re thrifty, give it to a not-for-profit organization, get a receipt for it and deduct it from your taxes.
If you can’t think of someone who would make use of these things, or if they aren’t suitable for anyone else – then there’s only one appropriate action: disposal (don’t forget to recycle if that’s appropriate.) There you go – if you’re holding onto something for the mere sake that it might come in handy some day at the expense of comfort in your present living space, then either you’re delusional or you need a storage unit. Follow this rule (you don’t have to blindly terrorize yourself, a FEW exceptions are allowed) and you will find yourself de-cluttering your space, your mind, and gaining square footage you totally forgot about!
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.
“A quick cleaning trick is to take a second to sit on the john before leaving the bathroom,” WGE Founder Jim Ireland says. “That’s where people spend the most idle time in there and have a chance to see how clean your bathroom really is.”
Such a simple, but obvious trick.
Also – and this one is applicable in all rooms – if you’re a particularly tall (or short) person, try switching up your elevation with a quick crouch or climb on a chair. What looks a perfectly clean room from a scan around at your height can instantly reveal undusted surfaces or hidden debris.
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.
We sat down with White Glove Elite Founder, Jim Ireland (a cleaner himself for 15 years) to discuss some lesser known cleaning tips and he was more than happy to share this gem!
My least favorite cleaning chore for the first decade of my cleaning career was cleaning shower curtains/liners. The ones with the soap scum and oftentimes black mildew at the bottom of them because my clients apparently hated to clean them as much as I did. My reason for hating this chore was because spray cleaners are not strong enough, scouring cleansers are very difficult to rinse, and it is impossible to get enough leverage to effectively use elbow grease without tearing the liner from the rings on curtain rod.
Does this familiar to anyone? YUCK.
Luckily, Jim found a solution.
I had been told to launder them, but I didn’t get great results when I had tried that UNTIL I added rags and bleach to the process: I now remove the shower liners, gather cleaning rags and white socks, place in a tumble washer and launder in hot water using half of your normal amount of detergent and one cup of bleach. If your shower curtain/liner does not come out looking like new, then you didn’t have enough rags or socks in the load.
And luckily a bit knowledge led to a happy conclusion.
This job is now – no lie – my single most favorite chore around the house.
Next time you find yourself stuck on something your dreading – sometimes a bit a knowledge, advice, or experimentation can totally change the game and alter your entire mentality. And even save you some cash. Who knew you could wash shower curtains? I was FAR too resigned to chuck them in trash – after also letting them get WAY grimier than common sense hygiene would allow – solely because I considered them disposable. Your wallet will thank you!
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.
