Germs!

Here's a post I have been meaning to do since the start of flu season.

It's about germs, or more accurately, getting rid of germs. 

Honestly, getting rid of germs in your own house is not a huge deal unless you have someone exceptionally sick or frail lying around. 

But if you are cleaning for other people, especially if you are doing more than one client in a day, and especially if you are cleaning businesses that are open to the public, effective disinfection is a must, and that is simply not the norm in the cleaning business.

Watching cleaners rub germs all over clients' homes and businesses is another main reason I went into business for myself. I have seen companies specializing in medical offices and hospital cleaners both spread more germs than they clean. There are some very basic rules for ensuring that surfaces are properly disinfected, but virtually no homemakers or professional cleaners follow them.

Rule #1: Do No Harm

The first rule of getting rid of germs -- and that is what I mean when I say "disinfecting" -- is to clean them up where you find them without spreading them around. 

That means using clean equipment and fresh rags in every room. If you are scrubbing the tub, wash and sanitize the brush before you use it on the kitchen sink. For me, that means washing my brushes and buckets and wiping off my bottles with bleach water every night after work. And wiping them off with sanitizing wipes or disinfectant if I am going to use the same equipment for more than one client. (Of course I bring fresh brushes, rags and scrubby pads for each client. And if I need to use my own toilet brush, I bring a new one and leave it there.)

The other big germ-spreader is the mop bucket. Cleaners typically make a beeline from the front door to the bathrooms because those are the hardest rooms to clean. But it is rare to find a maid or janitor who will change the mop water and use a new mop for the rest of the floors. That means they are painting the rest of your house with the pee drips and other dirty stuff mopped up from your bathroom floor. You know you are in an establishment that cares about infection control if you see separate red equipment for bathroom cleaning in the janitor's closet. That is above and beyond what I do, but you will see me cleaning the bathroom last or using a separate mop and cleaning my bucket out afterward if I can't.

The same kind of care should go into cleaning the kitchen, which is typically the germiest place in the house. Yes, even moreso than the bathroom. Food preparation surfaces and countertops can carry all kinds of bacteria from meat and produce and must be disinfected thoroughly without spreading germs to new corners of the house. When you are cleaning the kitchen, you use a clean rag or three. NEVER use the dish rag or sponge that you keep next to your sink.

Rule #2: Use the Right Stuff

As excited as I get about the battery of cleaning chemicals I have chosen for JustClean, what you use is generally less important than how you use it. And just washing and scrubbing with even plain old soap will mechanically remove most germs on most surfaces.

This being the case, mild disinfectants like vinegar, borax water, tea tree oil and many store-bought cleaners are sufficient for cleaning your own germs in your own home, though I would follow professional standards for cleaning up after raw food and body wastes.

"Following professional standards" starts with using what is known as a registered disinfectant. Those are commercially prepared cleaners that have data showing what germs they kill and how fast they kill them and have been registered with the US Envonmental Protection Agency. 

Disinfectants kill things, namely microbes, so disinfectants by definition do not meet "green" standards. Any company that says it does green cleaning exclusively while performing institutional-quality disinfection is lying -- or at least misinformed. It is a technicality based on the definitions of disinfection and green, but, under current standards, disinfectants cannot be green.

Most of today's common disinfectants are pretty harsh and hazardous to humans, but there are a few benign bug-killers out there. Ones made with accelerated hydrogen peroxide or silver dihydrogen citrate have been shown to be very safe.

My favorite, and the kind that you can pick up in the grocery or health food store, are cleaners made with thymol, derived from the herb thyme. Seventh Generation has a thymol disinfectant that I have seen at the university Publix and Manna Grocery here.  Clorox has come up with some peroxide-based cleaners for home use, but I haven't studied up on them. I have used the wipes before, and one thing I can say is that they smell nice.

Rule #3: Clean, then Disinfect

That's right. Disinfecting is not the same thing as cleaning. Using a disinfectant is a two-step process, three steps if you count finding other things to clean while allowing the disinfectant enough time to work.

 First you have to clean the thing you want to disinfect, meaning you have to wipe the dirt off the outside of the toilet, scrape the toothpaste off the sink and scrub the soap scum out of the tub. If you try using a disinfectant on a visibly dirty surface, it is not going to kill germs like it is supposed to. Only after a surface is clean should you apply a disinfectant if actual disinfection is your goal.

And, once you spray everything down with disinfectant, you have to let it set a spell. Every disinfectant has a "dwell time," a specific number of minutes it needs to kill the number and kind of germs it says it does. Most cleaners, even bleach, require  a dwell time of about 10 minutes to do their job. So if a cleaner gets in and out of your restroom in 5 minutes, the room is guaranteed to have not been disinfected.

If you don't believe me or the company explainers I linked to, go ahead and look at the directions on a bottle of disinfectant. If you have a product that calls itself a disinfectant and says it kills a certain percent of certain germs, the directions will tell you to apply it to a clean surface. They will also tell you how long you have to wait before wiping to make sure the disinfectant does its job. (Aerosol sprays like the ones made by Lysol and Clorox may not have dwell times on the labels, but that is because they are designed to be sprayed in the air and on surfaces without wiping off.)

Give Me Your Junk

Another unadvertised service JustClean has been doing is limited junk haul-aways.

If you have old clothes, recyclables, hazardous materials, or small appliances and furniture, I will be happy to haul them away at no charge.

Junk makes cleaning hard, so I am delighted to help with anything that makes my job easier.

You have to pile up the items you want to get rid of for me, because I will not presume to know what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of. And give me a warning before your appointment, so I can come prepared with boxes and extra trash bags.

The only caveat is that the stuff will go to the places that are convenient to me in my service area. So that means your clothes and household items will go to Temporary Emergency Services or the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. And if they're really junk, they will go into the trash or one of the city's recycling drop-off points. If they are electronics or hazardous materials, I will try to hold onto them until the city does its special collection days, and I plan to advertise that as those days approach.

So far, I have only been trashing stuff and donating it to TES. So I know that TES has receipts that I can fill out for you. If the ReStore or any other place in town I end up going to does not have receipts, I will type you up a list in case you want to make a tax deduction out of your stuff.

The only limit to what I can haul off is what I can lift safely (up to 50 lbs.) and what I can fit in my little station wagon. So big furniture, mattresses and appliances are a no-go. I think some charities will come and pick those things up for you, but I don't know that for sure, so you will have to call around.

One other donation place I am familiar with is Hospice of West Alabama. They can always use individual-portion snack foods, drinks, personal care-type items and birdseed (their standard wish-list is here.).  It never occurred to me that I might have client castoffs to take there until today, when a commercial client was getting rid of a pile of coffee creamers and sugars and the like because nobody in the office drinks coffee these days. So if you somehow end up with bulk refreshment or toiletry castoffs, I know just what to do with them!

Right now, hauling stuff for a proper disposal really is no sweat off my back. The donation sites are in my neighborhood and or along my daily work routes. I am pretty sure that will always be free at JustClean.

Running Low on TP?

In case you're a business and didn't see or infer this info from my earlier household supply delivery post, here's what I have for commercial clients.

The "always on hand" items are always in my car when I go out to appointments. "Call ahead" ones are items I should have in stock but haven't needed yet, and so would have to run out and buy. If you want to keep any of the cleaners or equipment I use on site, I can leave you a bucket at no additional charge. If you want them for extensive use not by me (business or personal), I can order them or pick them up with my regular supplies and add the cost to your bill.

If you want me to keep your paper, trash bags and soap stocked, I need a good usage estimate from you or to do it at unit cost for a couple months to come up with a monthly price. Going by the size of the establishments I typically do, I'd ballpark the cost at $25 to $50 per month for most clients.

JustClean

HOUSEKEEPING BY KAREN

 Tuscaloosa, AL, 205-331-0422

www.JustCleanTuscaloosa.com

Commercial Supply Delivery

Janitorial supplies available for regular delivery at agreed upon costs based on client use. One-time stocking available as needed at the unit price of each item.

Always on hand

Bathroom tissue.............................................. 75¢/roll

Paper towels ............................................   $1.75/roll

13 gallon trash can liners.................................. 25¢ each

33 gallon trash can liners................................  25¢ each

Unscented or lemongrass glycerin hotel-size bar soaps 25¢ each

Call ahead to request

Recycled bathroom tissue.................................... $1/roll

Recycled paper towels .................................. $2.50/roll

10-12 gallon trash can liners.......... $2.50/roll of 50, 25¢ each

55 gallon trash can liners.............. $2.50/roll of 25, 25¢ each

Recycled 10-12 gallon trash can liners................... 25¢ each

Recycled 55 gallon trash can liners....................... 50¢ each

Regular hand soap............................ $20/gal, $3.50 bottle

Foam hand soap................... $12/46 oz. refill, $3.50 bottle  

All cleaners and equipment are always provided and are available for order for client’s use.

Oops.

Speaking of unmentionables, I have some tips for the mother of all unmentionables in the cleaning business: Breakage.

A person who cleans for a living touches or cleans around hundreds of fragile items each week.

Until recently, I personally went into the job with the attitude that probability dictates that things will get broken. You clean a hundred houses, you're going to lose at least one knickknack.

That's a reasonable attitude, but if that one knickknack happens to be an irreplaceable personal heirloom, telling the client that it was inevitable and buying something that looks like it is cold comfort.

In my time working for myself and other people, I have seen two approaches to avoiding breakage. The main one is to never touch anything fragile. That means letting dust collect around that giant antique vase on the floor and watching cobwebs form around the fine China dishes displayed on top of the cabinet. Many clients prefer that, and will point out items they don't want to be touched upfront. I have one client I do careful allergy-type dusting for who can't clean much herself, but she has a sentimental figurine shelf that she takes care of herself for that reason.

A second approach is to clean everything and pray a lot. That was always my approach. If you don't tell me not to clean it, I'll at least wave a duster at it every time. That works great most of the time. But every so often, there will be items that my gut tells me to give a wide berth. Nearly every time I don't, I find myself apologizing profusely and scrambling to make good. (And by every time, I mean I can count the casualties from five years of cleaning houses off and on on one hand.)

If you're a cleaner, or you are thinking about employing one, here are some general rules for spotting hazards. Avoiding putting your stuff in those situations can go along way to ensuring it makes it through cleaning day intact.

Location, location, location

There is a physical "danger zone" below knee-level and above eye-level. Anytime you have to reach to pick up or dust over an object, you risk knocking it over. Items displayed on the floor or on low surfaces where they are likely to be set on the floor when you are cleaning can get stepped on, knocked over or risk chips and breaks from being put down too fast on a hard floor. Even under the bed is a danger zone, as few cleaners want to be caught not cleaning under the bed, but it is not unheard of for them to poke a sweeper or broom under there without looking first (ahem).  Items that have to be awkwardly reached behind or between things are also in a danger zone. As are ones that you can't see the bottom of because they are above tippy-toes eye level.  Any flat surface that cannot be seen while standing on the floor is one that should not be touched without a step ladder. You can't know the shelf or ledge is empty until you physically look at it.

Balancing act

Precariously balanced things are another big minefield. My big example is a heavy flower pot or vase on a little wood or wire stand on the floor. Anytime the load is heavier than whatever it's sitting on, you have an unstable situation that can lead to a broken pot or broken stand. Even on a stable surface like a counter, a light dish holding heavy decorative stones or a potted plant won't withstand being picked up or scooted with the load on it.  Wall and stand displays for fragile things like dishes and sculptures are easy to accidentally knock down to begin with, so if they are not anchored and barely standing or hanging in place, they are likely to get knocked down, or even fall on their own when something nearby is moved.

 Traffic hazard

Delicate things in high-traffic and high-cleaning activity areas are another one. The bathroom is a big one. People can't help but decorate the sides of those big "garden" type bathtubs, for example. I have seen glass vases, seashells and candlesticks sitting on the edges of tubs that only the most standoffish cleaners wouldn't want to clear and wipe. The back of the toilet and the top of the medicine cabinet are two other places people like to decorate. Toilet tank lids are usually slightly rounded, and medicine cabinet tops are always well above eye level, so both need to be approached with extreme caution. Kitchens, window sills and entryways are other high-traffic, high cleaning action areas that are dangerous for fragile items.

Simply put, it is a housecleaner's job to handle all those situations. No house on Earth has all its fragile items in a locked China cabinet or on a chest-level whatnot shelf.  Odds are good that a commercial "quick clean" service will automatically bypass such situations unless the cleaners are expressly told that the areas need to be cleaned.  Even when a cleaner zips in and out with no intention of meticulously cleaning everything, your stuff is still subject to people bumping around and waving dusters and rags in the vicinity.

The best thing to do is be mindful, and keep valuables out of risky situations. For the cleaner's part, she or he has to be aware of all breakage hazards and ask for permission and use care when cleaning around precariously situated delicate things. Trust me, any client would prefer a spot of dust to a shattered family heirloom. If an item is that important and that fragile, the easiest route would be to ignore it and let the client keep it clean and move it around once in a while so you can dust. It's helpful for a client to note what's particularly valuable in his or her home, but a cleaner really must approach everything as though it cannot be replaced.

Here is a picture of what NOT to do: Never stick a duster, mop or vacuum hose somewhere you can't see. Every flat surface in a house can be home to breakable decorations and accessories. If you are going to wipe above eye level, you need to at least get up on a step ladder and survey the tops of everything before running a duster across them. Working in a jacket, or even a loose smock or apron is a bad idea also. As in a factory, loose clothing, jewelry and hair risk getting getting hung up on things, only in a home it's your valuables, not the worker's limbs, that are in danger.

Mention Your Unmentionables

Free delivery service for basic household products!

This is a new service I started providing for clients who have a tough time getting to the store, but I am offering it to anyone, whether you're disabled, too busy or just lazy.

The prices are my retail cost per unit, rounded up a few pennies to a couple dollars for easy numbers and to defray the cost of gas and sales tax.

I'm not selling sundries, I am bringing them to you as a part of my cleaning service. The in-stock supply costs are retail warehouse club prices, which are generally a little to a lot better than grocery store ones, especially for single units and small packages. The cost of the items I can order is the straight-up retail price I pay to get them from the manufacturer or supply house.

Here's the list. Please mention what you need when you make your appointment. In-stock items can be requested by phone anytime before your scheduled day.

JustClean

HOUSEKEEPING BY KAREN

Tuscaloosa, AL, 205-331-0422

www.JustCleanTuscaloosa.com

Household Supply Delivery

Basic paper and cleaning supplies delivered free during scheduled appointments. Cost will be added to your bill.

In stock now:

Bathroom tissue........................... 50¢/roll, $3.50 pack of 9

Paper towels................................................ 1.50/roll

Unscented laundry pods ................................... 25¢ each

13-gallon trash bags ......................................... 15¢ each

XL disposable underwear................ 50¢ each, $15 pack of 32

Unscented or lemongrass glycerin logo soaps............ 25¢ each

Available on request:

PURE unscented disinfectant........................... $15/ 32-*oz

Seventh Generation thymol disinfectant ................  $4/32 oz

Seventh Generation unscented dish soap............. $3.50/25 oz

Procyon unscented degreaser concentrate............. $15/32 oz

Just G all purpose cleaner concentrate ................. $25/32 oz

Dr. Bronner’s unscented Castile soap ...... $12/16 oz, $18/32 oz

Suggested items (specific brands as available)

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Barkeeper's Friend

 

What you get

Well, it depends on what you need.

But my gameplan is to detail-dust the corners and common areas of the bar, including knickknacks, fixtures, under the bar and stools and anywhere else cobwebs, dust and debris may congregate.

I'll also do the backbar, the one place in a bar that gets cleaned daily, if it needs it.

And give a good scrubbing to the restrooms, and sweep and mop all the floors. 

And I will do it all on the day early-morning bars are closed the longest, in the wee hours of Sunday morning between Saturday night closing time and opening the next afternoon.

Dusting is not a fast job, especially when it involves poles and ladders and wiping layers of sediment off by hand. Saturday after close should be plenty of time to get everything cleaned up and take care of any special requests or conditions. 

 

Why?

"Wait a minute. What does a methodical, allergy free cleaner want with a smoke-encrusted bar?"

Good question.

I have never cleaned a bar, and I don't know of any professional service that has. As I understand it, most small bar owners make their poor bartenders do it.

But I came up with the idea simply because allergy-type cleaning has me dusting like a maniac all the time.

Is there any place more in need of maniacal dusting than a bar? I haven't been inside one in years, but, if I remember right, the best bars are full of memorabilia and signs that are coated with dust and cobwebs.

In my opinion, there is a fine line between cozy and scary.

The $200 overnight deal is a one-time thing that a bar might want to do every few years or so. No drinking establishment wants to be too bright and spotless. But a good whack at the dust and cobwebs once in a while will help everyone breathe easier and keep the place from becoming too dirty to clean without making a major (and much more expensive) ordeal out of it.

Am I going to end up destroying the character of beloved dive bars in town? Will some places fall apart if the dust holding everything together is removed?

I hope not. We shall see!

Yes, this blog is still alive.

Would you look at that. No posts in three months.

I am one of those lazy idiots driving customers to Facebook instead of my own Web properties.

If You Would Clean Wood

I mentioned my longtime aversion to aerosol furniture polish in my previous post.

Spray polish is stinky and environmentally incorrect, but it is also the wrong cleaner for just about all surfaces (If there is a suitable application for Pledge, I am not aware of it.)  If you have ever melted or discolored the finish on a piece of furniture while trying to clean it, you know what I am talking about.

The only thing wood and wood-like surfaces need most of the time is dusting. And if you can't stand kicking up dust, a microfiber cloth or a rag dampened with plain water or a little mild soap water will do the trick.

But if your furniture is dirty, or if you can't stand the thought of cleaning without leaving some sort of "product" residue and smell behind, you need to know what kind of finish your furniture has before proceeding.

There are three main types of clear wood finishes: Hard varnish-type coatings, oil and wax. Furniture may also be painted or not finished at all.

Here is a handy FAQ sheet from a wood finishing site that includes a good explanation of how to tell what kind of finish you're dealing with.

"How can we tell if the wood has been waxed, oiled or varnished?
If a wooden surface looks like it already has been finished with a product it is always a good idea to find out what that finish is as it may affect which product you should apply to the wood. For example, you could not really apply an oil over a varnished floor, but an existing floor that has been oiled can be re-coated with an oil (once it has been cleaned of course!). Here's a few pointers to find out what your wood has been finished with:

• Waxed surfaces If it has wax on it you can scrape it lightly with your finger nail (once it has been cleaned). You may get a little wax under your nail. Also you can try buffing it with a cloth. Most surfaces will become shinier once buffed, but a waxed surface will substantially increase in shine.
• Oiled surfaces Generally speaking oiled surfaces are not that glossy. If you stand something on the surface of an oiled surface it will not have much of a reflection. Instead you are likely to see a fuzzy image reflected. You can also try putting a little white spirit on a small unnoticeable area and if it dissolves the surface coating then it is likely to be an oil, please note however that this may leave a white spot. White spirit will also dissolve most wax polishes so check the above advice (waxed surfaces) before trying this.
• Varnished Surfaces A varnished surface will be hard to the touch (it will make a clicking sound when you knock your nails on it) and will have a reflective surface. Even a matt varnish will reflect the light more than an oiled surface. If something is stood on the surface (with a window in view behind it) then the reflection is clearly visible. A satin or gloss varnish will have a very clear reflection of anything that is held up to the surface."

These yard sale items look like oiled, unfinished and painted wood. Of course there is no way to know for sure without seeing them in person. Except for the painted piece. Wood and wood finishes do not generally come in blue.

Cleaning


Ol' Doc Bronner's granddaughter put up this good explanation on her blog last spring, and it includes tips for identifying the type of finish you have and advice for how to clean each kind.

The short version is, mild soapy water is a good all-purpose go-to. She recommends two of her family company's soaps, though I have found that a little bit of any oil soap in water always does a good job. Especially since there is so much fake and painted wood out there.

One caveat, though. Furniture and flooring industry types say NEVER use oil soap (Like Dr. Bronner's and Murphy's) on polyurethane-coated wood.  Here is an open letter by a flooring company president that explains why.

Polyurethane is plastic, so you're cleaning plastic-coated wood. That means plain water, vinegar water or other window-type cleaners are going to be your best bet. Oily and soapy cleaners will leave a film just like they would if you tried to clean a mirror with them.

I believe polyurethane is even replacing real varnish on furniture these days, so it's probably a good idea to forego oil soap on all hard-finished wood. And this advice goes for Formica and other synthetic surfaces colored to look like wood. If it's plastic, oil's not good for it.

Oh, and if you're lucky enough to encounter particle board coated with wood-grain adhesive paper (very commonly used for cheap flat-pack furniture and inside even decent kitchen cabinets), be gentle and don't get it wet. That "finish" is nothing but a big sticker, and it scratches, bubbles and loses its design very easily. Use a similar approach to painted furniture, which can also be marred by too vigorous cleaning.

Polishing

I am personally not a fan of the big shiny-shiny. If I am coming to clean, I want to get the dirt up and be on my way. Polishing and shining is always a second step that has to be done after a surface is cleaned. Trying to polish dirty furniture invites streaks and scratches, even when you're using those all-in-one sprays that mix oil and solvents on the premise that you can somehow magically pick up dirt and put down polish at the same time. Polishing is not everyday cleaning, no matter what the chemical company marketers say.

Cleaning is a regular thing that can be done with a dry or damp cloth every week or so. Polishing is a separate, special thing that you want to do a few times a year at most to protect your furniture and keep it looking pretty. And, actually, when I say "polishing," what I really mean is "refinishing." You don't need to strip the old finish and start from scratch generally, but you are putting a new finish on your piece when you apply oil or wax. And if you're keeping it clean and doing that sparingly, you won't have to do that very often, and you're not going to find yourself fighting gooey product buildup.
 
Hard varnishes and lacquers: See previous. You don't polish hard-sealed furniture, you shine it.

Oils: If your furniture has a porous, lustrous sheen, it has an oil-based finish that can be renewed periodically. Natural-health types, including green cleaning bible writer Karen Logan say they use olive oil and make a cleaner-polish with vinegar and olive oil. I do not recommend that for two reasons: For one, olive oil is an expensive, nutritious food item that I refuse to demote to a cleaning supply. It also stays wet, and it can go rancid. I can't imagine what serious cleaners were thinking when they decided using olive oil as a polish was a good idea.  You want to polish with oil, try hard-drying ones like walnut, linseed and tung.

Waxes: A somewhat softer and shiny surface that, unlike varnishes, can be scratched with a dull instrument like a fingernail and noticeably wears away with time.. Just as you polish oil-finished furniture with oil, you polish wax-finished furniture with wax. And doing both right involves applying the oil or wax, letting it dry if applicable, and buffing it off to leave a nice hard shine. I have seen some DIY natural wax recipes, but there are lots of natural beeswax-based furniture pastes out there. Given the amount of kooky homemade cleaner advice out there, I am entirely comfortable with deferring to the pros on this one. Here is a wonderful info page written by a professional furniture restorer who has seen all the damage wrought by modern cleaning and "polishing" chemicals. He is pretty firm that waxing every few years is the only thing you need to do besides dusting when it comes to natural-finished wood. And, being as he and the guys in his field keep furniture looking good for decades, I am confident his advice is the best you're going to find. So much so, that I am going to dial way back on the furniture-washing and stick to dry and water-damp dusting unless you make a special appointment to have your stuff polished. And if you want it polished every week, you need to find yourself a Pledge-sprayer. I am not the lady for that job.

"I Don't Do ... ."

If you've taken a look at the FAQ on the Just Clean Web site, you might have noticed that my answer to the question "Come be my maid/clean my sparkling mansion/wash my clothes/run errands for me" was a simple "No."

I don't do those things. Except when I do.

• Take the "sparkling mansion" thing. Luckily, I haven't had any inquiries from big-house clean freaks. But I do have a couple clients who are very neat and just unable to clean as well as they would like. Big difference. If your house is clean but you're unable to keep up with it and living in fear of gathering dust bunnies, give me a call.
• Clothes washing, that's another thing I guess I kind of do now. If you're a regular client with a simple house or apartment, especially if you have mobility issues, of course I can throw some laundry in for you. Buyer beware though. My laundry expertise is limited to separating colors and whites and washing them with simple detergent and hot or warm water depending on how dirty they are. I am boning up a little on natural stain removal and the like, but I make no warranties on clothes washing.
• I still don't run errands, and I won't make a habit of it unless and until I invest in some deferred auto maintenance or the bicycle and trailer I would love to be using instead of my car. Still, no rarely means no. So if you want me to haul off some junk or drop by a store on the way to your appointment, I probably will. But if you need someone to cart you across town or do regular running around for you, JustClean is not a company that does that.
• Polishing furniture is another item on the longtime "don't do" list. I have been smuggling Murphy's and Liquid Gold wood washes onto the job since shortly after I started doing housekeeping-type cleaning for money in 2009. Aerosol polishes are nasty to breathe and aren't good for most wood surfaces. JustClean's go-to is a rag dampened with a little Castile soap and water. If your wood needs polishing, let me clean it first, and we can talk about scheduling the time and finding the right oil or wax for it.

 Above is by no means an exhaustive list of off- and anti-menu things JustClean has done. I do a pretty good job of organizing, but I generally will not do that while cleaning. Those two are best kept separate if you want either done efficiently. I've also done a little bit of pest and pet cleanup, though in the interest of keeping my equipment allergen-free, that's not the kind of work I'm going to go out of my way to solicit. At least not until I get a complete set of "stink" equipment, including a separate vacuum cleaner. In the past few months, I have also found myself picking hair out of drains, scrubbing ovens, cleaning out refrigerators (with and without flea infestations) and salvaging cast off odds and ends I have no idea how to resell. That last one, I hate to throw away useable stuff when a client is dejunking, but an American Picker I am not, so I think the rule is that I will get unwanted stuff donated or recycled.

Oh, and I do do windows. All. the time, as a matter of fact. Dirty entry doors, kitchen sink windows and other high-touch glass fixtures are part of a regular cleaning. Most places charge extra or make cleaning windows into a big special-service project, but me, I never could walk out of a clean house and leave the front door glass covered with dog slobber. I might need to schedule a separate appointment to get all your windows or do the outside ones, and I might draw the line at skylights and third-floor outside windows, but, those easy-to-reach windows that tend to get dirty, I am all over them.
 
The one thing I absolutely will not do is offer personal maid service. If you want a handmaid to use your materials and clean everything according to your specific directions, you need to hire an employee and pay Social Security and unemployment taxes on her. That's the law, and people who pay contractor wages for help they want to micromanage are breaking it. That exploits hard working people and depresses wages for everyone. You hire a contractor to get it done their way at their price. You hire an employee if you want to pay wages for a pair of hands at your beck and call.

Holiday Special

Tomorrow, July 4, is an Empty Schedule Special day if you want to get some discount cleaning when everyone else is closed or charging a premium.

EDITED on August 1: Those "empty schedule special" days are turning into appreciated once and twice weekly days off. They'll be back the next time I find myself without enough to do.

Don't Invite Mayhem

You see this goofy insurance ad?

The real message was lost on me when I posted something on Twitter about seeing shades of that Mayhem guy in every cleaning company.

For you, the cleaning client, the message is that you need to make sure your cleaner carries his or her own insurance. Do you really want to make a claim on your own policy when the housekeeper ruins that priceless heirloom or cracks her head on the bathroom tile?

I went and scanned my insurance papers and business license and posted them on the About page of JustCleanTuscaloosa.com so you can see I have been operating legitimately since I took my first client this April.

I recommend using an above-board cleaner for a few reasons.

• The obvious one is to protect yourself. Insurance also protects the cleaner, who could be put out of business by the cost of a mishap at work.
  
• License and insurance are also good indicators of a cleaner's seriousness, honesty and reliability. A thieving fly-by-night operator is not likely to invest any money in looking legitimate.
  
• Although I have some reservations about paying Caesar his due these days, I can't very well complain about corporate corruption and tax-dodging if  I am running around doing that myself.  If you have a problem with big corporations and politicians who don't play by the rules, you want to make sure the people you do business with do.
  
• It's also a matter of fairness. Cleaners who operate under the table can charge less than legitimate operators, and that depresses wages for everyone. Using a black-market cleaner is like shopping at Walmart: The price makes it look like a good deal, but the social and economic costs are high.

The takeaway: Ask to see credentials before you hire a cleaner. It's easy to say you're "licensed, insured and bonded," but it's quite another to lay out money for the payments. Be doubly sure to check papers if a solo cleaner says he's "bonded,' because insuring a client against theft by you is stupid, and most, if not all, janitorial bonds specifically exclude theft by the business owner.