We shouldn’t really be giving you little tips on how to keep your house clean and sparkling, but for most of our clients, we are not there every day. For some, we are not there for a whole 2 weeks, so here’s a couple of little tips to keep your home clean and looking as best it can until we arrive to carry out your next clean.

For those reading this, who haven’t used our service yet, we pride ourselves on our work, our reliability, punctuality and our accountability. We are now ranked as the Number 1 Maid Service in the area for our Customer Satisfaction and it is a record we are all very proud of. We know our housekeeping team are the best there is and they know how to look after our clients with professionalism, experience and courtesy. We have clients from all walks of life, from the elderly and infirm, fire fighters, blue collar workers, police officers to bankers, accountants, business owners, NBA Stars or those in the entertainment industry. We also regularly work for Realtors, Construction Companies, Property Managers or vacation rental owners such AirBnB or Home and Away. The one thing we maintain throughout is that we treat every single client like you are our only client.

And to help you further, we have compiled some of our top house cleaning tips. These tips include sneaky little ways to clean some area’s in your home safely and using products, you probably wouldn’t have thought of.

Safe, Natural & Environmentally-Friendly Cleaning Products

At You’ve Got Maids in Ventura County, we take the ethos that if we wouldn’t have a particular team member clean our own home, then we wouldn’t have them clean our client’s homes either. We treat every clients home as if it was our own. We regularly background check all of our staff and drug screen them regularly too. We also believe in using the best, safest, and most environmentally friendly products in our clients’ homes, where we can.

There are many natural cleaning products you could use which you probably already have in your cupboard, these could include:

• Baking soda – Baling Soda is safe to use and non-toxic, apparently baking soda is great for making cakes, but we believe it makes a great cleaning and deodorizing product to have to hand too. It’s apparently good for whitening teeth too, but I’d speak to your dentist first before you try it, in case your teeth start rising.
• Lemon – Lemons are amazing and have many uses. Lemon infused water, Lemon on pancakes (or crepes). It’s a must have on Pancake Day. Lemon in Cheesecake’s especially from the Cheesecake Factory but for cleaning, well it’s the acidity in Lemons that make Lemons perfect for cleaning tough messes and for erasing unsavory odors.
• Vinegar – Before you question this, if you’ve ever been to the UK to experience our legendary Fish ‘n’ Chips, in which the flavor is dramatically enhanced with salt and vinegar. We promise using vinegar won’t smell like a Fish n Chip Shop afterwards. Now, vinegar can prove to be an effective disinfectant. It’s friendly to the environment and safe for your kids or pets.

If you struggle with cleaning the following, then take a look:

• Cleaning Kettles or Coffee Pots – As the saying goes; when the going gets tough, the Brits make a cup of tea – apparently. No matter what the problem is, the solution to my fellow countryman is to “make a brew” – a cup of tea. But I am not like your typical Brit, in so far as, I can’t stand the stuff. It’s awful and the stuff that is served here in most café’s the length and breadth of the country, is even worse. Tea to me tastes like the seed of the devil, just the mere smell of it has me reaching for a bucket, let alone offering the stuff to your mouth and sipping on it. But to each their own, I suppose. Now, if the worst tasting liquid on planet earth wasn’t bad enough, I would not have thought it was possible to make a drink any worse than that. That was until I first moved here over 20 years ago, where I had the misfortune to be served a cup of like warm tea by mistake at a café in Calabasas. Now, my wife reliably informs me that you haven’t had a proper “cuppa” until you’ve made it with either PG Tips or Yorkshire Tea. For me though, I’ll take her word on that. I’m happy with my coffee. However, if you rely on your kettle or coffeemaker for your daily fix each morning, it’s worth taking care of it. If limescale or other mineral deposits have started to develop in your teapot or there are burned out areas on the bottom of your coffee pot, just add a few ice cubes, some lemon slices, salt, and as my great grandmother used to say, a bit of Adam’s Ale or water as it’s more commonly known. Mix the ingredients together and then leave it overnight for a natural remedy.
• Dirty microwave? – We’ve all done it, put something in the microwave that the packaging reliably informs you that the food contained within, needs a whopping 10 minutes to cook, only to find that after just 5minutes and 53 seconds, there has been an explosion in our kitchen that is second only to what my grandparents experienced in the East End of London during World War ll. We then lift what once resembled a frozen Chicken Curry which is now plastered to the inside of the microwave. We then carefully lift the half melted plastic tray that contained the said curry dish only for the piping hot remnants to tip all over our hands and melt our finger nails. Instead of leaving the remainder of the dish to cool down before disposing it carefully in the bin, we think it’s a great idea to grab a spoon and shovel the contents into our mouths, which then proceeds to melt your windpipe, so that every time you eat for the next 3 and a half weeks, you’re left in excruciating agony for the next 20 minutes. So, if this has ever happened to you, once your fingers and fingernails have been repaired by the burns unit at the nearest hospital, place a in a microwave-safe container, a mixture of ½ cup of water and ½ cup of white distilled vinegar. Let this mixture reach a rolling boil in the microwave. This will result in deodorization and loosening of food that has stuck to the sides of the microwave. Use a cloth or sponge to clean away the substances.
• Remove offensive garbage odors – We all have issues with odors at times, particularly form our bins. To prevent this, simply drop ½ cup baking soda at the bottom of your outdoor garbage bins to prevent mold, mildew, and bacteria. Whatever you do though, do not reuse this baking soda if the dentist says you can use Baking Soda to clean your teeth.
• Clean your garbage disposal – As a man, I often get unfairly blamed by my wife for the foul smell in the house, I tell her that it is coming from the garbage disposal, but I am not sure she believes me. To prove the point, simply, run your garbage disposal and drop in halves of a cut lime or lemon, one by one. Not only will this help clean your sink’s drain, it will also give it a nice smell.
• Getting rid of hard water stains - A particularly difficult problem we experience in this area. Nearly all houses we attend, suffer from the same problem. To overcome this, put a fresh lemon (lemons again) in half and rub the fruit against a hard water stain for a natural, safe, and good-smelling fix. It’s not a long term solution but if you guests coming, then best invest in the zesty fruits.

• Clean your drains - Another problem most men get the blame for, bad smelling drains, or at least that is what most men blame it on. To overcome this, pour 1 cup of baking soda down your drain, then 1 heated cup of white distilled vinegar. Make a drink, sit down and five minutes later, return to run the hot water to clear the substance away. This will clean your drain and remove unpleasant odors.

General Housekeeping Tips from the Pros

Here are some more great tips from some of our team members:

• Remember to clean from “top to bottom” – A good few moons ago, I used to run a construction company, and one of my pet peeves was at the end of the project to have inexperienced staff start cleaning the downstairs area before finishing cleaning the upstairs. Renee who has been with us a while now, says; Inexperienced housekeepers often undo all their own work by vacuuming before dusting or cleaning their bookshelves before cobwebbing. Remember, clean from the “top to the bottom,” paying attention to your ceiling and ceiling fans and high book shelves before your tables, low furniture, flowers, countertops, and so on. And always clean the floors last.
• Dried glue – I have a 6 year old daughter who is very creative and loves making things, mostly with paper and glue. And like any 6 year old, after she has finished creating her latest Banksy artwork, she wipes any residual glue on her desk or at the breakfast bar. It’s only when I rub my hand on the desk or breakfast bar an hour later, that I cut it to shreds and discover this glue is all over the furniture or counter tops. The same applies to little bits of Cornflakes, left in a bowl after the milk has been tipped out – it goes rock hard. Now here is my tip, if ever you find yourself in a gluing emergency where you need something stuck together immediately and you have no superglue to hand, get a cornflake and mix it together with some cow’s milk. Almond milk, may suffice, but it definitely works with cow’s milk. Now, rub some milk on the cornflake and place it on the end of one of the items you want glued. Carefully place the other item you need glued and hold it together for around 3 to 4 minutes. After which, the items will be stuck together and will only be inseparable if a powerful jack hammer is placed between the two items. However, for glue stuck to wood or counter tops, one of our team leaders Jenny says; use WD40 to clean away dried-on glue from just about any surface; just spray, leave it for half a minute, and wipe off with a damp cloth.
• Do you hate those furniture indentations in your carpets? – My maternal Grandmother every night before she went to bed or left the house, would fluff up the cushions and make sure every piece of furniture was on its spot. The way she could tell its spot would be the indentation it left on the carpet. This may have been because she hated seeing the indentations on the carpet, left by the furniture. I believe she had OCD. If she had known of this handy tip by one of our maids then I’m sure she wouldn’t have spent half an hour every night repositioning the furniture. If she still had done so, then we could have confirmed it was OCD. Kris advises; Just place ice cubes in the carpet indentations where your furniture previously stood. Let it sit overnight. The next morning, gently use a fork to perk up the carpet in that area.
• Dusty ceiling fans getting too much? One of our future team leaders, Maria, advises; Wipe the fan blades and ensure they’re free of dust. Then lightly spray WD 40 on to the tops of the blades of your ceiling fans and then wipe to prevent dust from building up. You could also apply the WD40 to the cloth and wipe, but this isn’t as effective.
• Dirty scuff marks left my clumsy relatives – I have a relative who has a habit of marking my walls or baseboards. He clumsily walks into walls with his sneakers on, I won’t mention Dave’s name. Oops. He’d also have a habit of leaving marks on our hardwood, vinyl, or linoleum floors. Our maid, Tiff, advises; if you have a Dave in your family, all you need is to get a school eraser to clear those marks away. Or, you can work in white toothpaste sprinkled with a touch of baking soda, then wipe the spot clean with a damp cloth.
• Do you see yourself cleaning mirrors? – I hate grubby mirrors, when I was young and trendy, I used to have a trendy just got out of bed look hairstyle, that took me 10 minutes to get right. In doing so, as I ruffle my hair up, for that perfect unbrushed look, much to my wife’s dismay, I’d flick hair product all over the mirror. My little tip that came from my grandmother whilst she was putting furniture on its spot; was to clean mirrors with a drop of vinegar and yesterday’s newspaper. It didn’t necessarily have to be yesterday’s; it could be the day before that or even today’s if it’s a quiet news day.
• Dusty blinds and baseboards? Our team member; Leanne advises; Grab a magic cloth, and dust the baseboards and blinds. Then grab a dryer fabric softener strip like Bounce from your laundry room to run over baseboards and window blinds. Not only is this an effective dusting tool for getting rid of any bits of dust you may have missed, it also leaves behind a light residue that prevents dust buildup. Plus, it gets rid of static.
• Red wine stains ruing your carpets? Now my wife; Lizzie, is an expert on drinking red wine. I jest of course but it was always her favorite unwinding drink, but I honestly can count on one hand how many glasses she has had since June. Now, when she was younger, her dad had a habit of spilling his red wine at home, to the point that they bought red carpets (I’m not even joking). Problem solved I guess. Before her mum and dad bought the red carpet fit for a premiere, she learnt the handy trick of knowing how to get red wine out of a light colored carpet. So, if like most people, you don’t wish to buy red carpets to mask your clumsy habits, then there are two solutions, if you spill red wine in a sober state and realize that you’ve done it. Then go to your wine fridge, get an inexpensive bottle of white wine, pour a glass and tip it over the red wine stain. This somehow attacks the color of the red and you should be able to sponge it off. You could use an expensive white wine if you do not possess any cheap bottle’s but it might be worth seeing if you could pick up a cheap bottle of white wine at a 99-Cents store, it may equally double up as drain cleaner, or at least taste like it, so be careful that it won’t burn a hole in your carpet. Red wine stains can be quite a conundrum for housekeepers;—particularly if they occur on light-colored rugs or carpets. One of our team leaders, Jane, advises; to sprinkle salt over the stain and leave it for around 15 minutes. The salt will absorb the wine and will turn from white to pink. Then vacuum the salt up. Then, add two parts water to one part white distilled vinegar and clean the spot thoroughly.
• Struggling with Pet hair? Our maid; Carenza, advises; grab your rubber gloves, remember the ones you used to use for doing the dishes, before you had a dishwasher? Whilst wearing these very fetching pink or yellow gloves, simply get the glove wet and run your hand over the surface; it will pick the pet hair right up. Works well particularly with cat hair or dog hair from a short haired dog.

Whilst on the subject of dishwashers, as a side note and not really relevant to cleaning, I know an extremely wealthy self-made millionaire. He told me once, when his grandchildren come to visit, after dinner, he makes them clean up the plates, cutlery and one pot or pan each that was used to cook the meal. The rest is placed in the dishwasher. He does this because when he was a kid, they didn’t have dishwashers, and couldn’t even afford a washing machine, so he wants them to understand the hardship previous generations had to endure. I thought that was quite an interesting way to raise awareness to the younger generations. That being said, I’m not sure I’d want to eat from the plates my 6 year old daughter had washed up, so I’ll give this one a bit of time before I introduce that one.

If any of this daunts you and you have a problem, and no one else can help, you can find us on Google or Facebook, and maybe you can hire You’ve Got Maids.

Our house cleaning services are something we are proud of. We offer the most professional and bespoke cleaning service in the area.

We offer full daily, weekly or bi-weekly Maid Services, 52 Spring Cleans ( Deep Cleaning ), Move In Cleans, Move Out Cleans, Post Construction Cleans, and Vacation Rental Cleans.

We are Licensed, Bonded & Insured and Family Owned & Operated. We provide a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee to every client.

Our Thousand Oaks office covers the whole of the Conejo Valley; incorporating Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Newbury Park, Oak Park and Westlake Village.

Our Camarillo office covers, Camarillo including Santa Rosa Valley, Oxnard, Ventura and into Santa Barbara County including Carpinteria.

Our Malibu office covers, Malibu, Malibu Beach & Pacific Palisades.