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Greetings!
The economic recession has all of us thinking about ways to save money. Whether you are pinching pennies because of a job layoff, or because you want to save money for your next family vacation, frugality is an easy model to apply to your cleaning routine. This month's feature article is dedicated to showing you how to save cash without comprising your cleaning standards or clipping a bunch of coupons (although you can if you want to!) Also be sure to check out our Using Clean Team Products section, where I offer my best tips on utilizing our reusable cleaning cloths. Using cleaning cloths are a great way to be green, frugal and clean! Is there a Clean Team product that you want to know more about? Send me an email at jeff@thecleanteam.com. Have a happy, safe and fun 4th of July! | |
7 Ways to Clean on a Budget
Budget-Friendly Tips for Cleaning & Organizing
Now more than ever, families are looking for ways to trim their budgets. Even if you don't have a weekly or bimonthly cleaning service, your cleaning routine might still be costing you more than needs be. Here are seven simple tips to save money without losing any of your cleaning power:
1. Maintain & Store Your Supplies Properly
A small investment of time and money in maintaining and storing your cleaning supplies can save you from wasting hundreds of dollars on replacement items.
- Make sure your supplies aren't exposed to extreme heat or cold and that they are upright so you don't have to worry about spilling.
- Wash your cleaning cloths out each week, so mold doesn't grow in between cleaning sessions.
- Perform routine maintenance to any electronic cleaning tools, including your vacuum, steam cleaners, etc.
- Store your cleaning supplies together for easy access and time-savings.
2. Simplify Your Supplies
Sure, you could buy separate cleaners for every surface in your house, but you don't need to. Many cleaners can pull double duty, so look for products that serve multiple purposes. A great solution is our environmentally friendly Red Juice. Use it to clean everything from the kitchen counters to the bathroom fixtures to the smudges on your walls and light fixtures.
3. Don't let it sit.
If you wipe up spills as soon as they occur, most of them won't require more than a little dish soap and some water. If you leave them to sit overnight, on the other hand, you might have to bring in the big guns. By maintaining the cleanliness of your home as the spills and messes happens, you save time and money in the long-run.
4. Make your own cleaning supplies.
It may sound complicated, but don't worry: Making your own cleaning supplies is simple, green and inexpensive. The basic ingredients for making your own cleaners are a spray bottle, white vinegar, dish soap and baking soda.
5. Choose concentrated cleaners.If making your own cleaners isn't your style, you can still save a ton on cleaning supplies by buying concentrated solutions. The Clean Team's Red Juice and Blue Juice are both concentrated. One 32-ounce bottle is enough to make twenty 16-ounce bottles of ready-to-use cleaning solution. 6. Use Reusable Cloths One package of reusable cloths is hardly more expensive than a package of paper towels. But unlike Bounty, the reusable cloths will last a lifetime -- or at least several years. Another benefit of reusable cloths is that they are environmentally friendly. No more wasting trees to clean your windows. What a bonus! (To learn more about reusable cloths, be sure to read our "Using Clean Team Products" feature below -- this month, it's all about cleaning cloths.) 7. Turn Trash into TreasureOne of the biggest time-saving cleaning tips is to declutter. If you don't have to spend an hour clearing off your counters before you can clean them, then you've just saved yourself an hour. And you know what they say: Time is money. But decluttering can do more than just save you time and money; it can actually put a cash back in your pocket, too. Hawk your decluttered wares on ebay or Craigslist, or host a good old fashioned garage sale. Have you turned budget-friendly cleaning into an art form? What are you best tips for saving money without sparing your clean and clutter-free home. Send me your ideas at jeff@thecleanteam.com. |
Using Clean Team Products: Cleaning Cloths
 Cleaning often involves spraying with a liquid cleaning agent and then wiping away the spray residue, along with the dirt, grime or grease loosened by the liquid cleaner. Sounds simple enough, right? Not really, as there are many opinions about what to use to wipe up that residue.
The list of possible "wiper uppers" is long: Sponges (of course, then you have to have something to wipe up the moisture left by the sponges), paper towels, cloth diapers (increasingly difficult to find), terry cloth towels, mechanics cloths, rags made from old cut-up shirts and so forth.
Before making a decision on which wiper to use, you need to establish some performance goals for them. Here are some goals we established for wipers at The Clean Team Cleaning Service:
1. They have to be very absorbent so you can wipe a large area before you have to reach for another wiper. Also, you can't properly clean a mirror to streak-free perfection without a very absorbent wiper.
2. They have to be lint free.
3. They have to have some scrubbing capability.
4. They have to last a long time.
5. They have to be reasonably priced.
6. They have to be easy to carry when cleaning.
7. They have to save time compared to the other options.
8. They have to be environmentally friendly.
We experimented with a lot of different wipers before we finally settled on brand new, 100% cotton table napkins. They can be washed hundreds of times, are durable, absorbent, and environmentally friendly since they can be reused so many times. They are also just rough enough to scrub as you wipe a surface clean and dry.
Microfiber cloths are becoming more popular and some prefer them to cotton wipers. They can be more expensive and our teams didn't like the feel of them as they used them, but they are a viable option. Time will tell if they ultimately will replace cotton.
How to Fold & Use Cleaning Cloths
Fold the napkins lengthwise once, and then once again, and then fold that rectangle in half. Stack the cloths as you fold them. When you have enough to clean your home, put the stack neatly in your cleaning tray or cleaning bucket.
In each room, remove as many cloths as you'll need to clean that room and put them into your cleaning apron. I like to put the one that I'm using over my shoulder as I clean my way around the room.
When the cloth becomes too wet to use any longer, I roll it in a ball and toss it either into the doorway or back into the cleaning tray. Alternately, you can put the dirty cloths into an apron pocket. When you are finished cleaning, collect all the discarded cloths and run them down to the washing machine. If you run a quick cycle that same day, you will save your cloths from getting moldy.
Which are your favorite cleaning cloths and why do you like them? I'd love to hear from you via email at jeff@thecleanteam.com.
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Reader Mailbag
Letters From Our Readers
Did you take advantage of our recent sale on the Clean Windows Kit? Here's a wonderful letter from a customer who did -- and discovered that cleaning her windows is now faster, easier, healthier and streak-free!
I previously did the standard thing most people do
when they clean windows- I pulled out the Windex and paper
towels, sprayed, and used a lot of elbow grease. I also got a
lot of streaks, which of course I would not see until I was
finished. It was boring and smelly and time-consuming. By the
time it was all over, I had a stack of wet, black paper towels
on my hands to dispose of and lungs full of window
cleaner.
Well, today, I used the kit for the first time, following
the instructions in "Spring Cleaning". As I live on a
second-floor apartment, I can only clean the inside of the
windows, but I feel it's better than nothing. I had the entire
job (5 large windows) done in 15 minutes, including prep time
for the bucket. No paper towels, no Windex, no elbow grease. I
simply scrubbed a little with the yellow scrubber, squeegeeed
the window and wiped the blade with a cleaning cloth. And, as
you probably guessed, no streaks afterwards!
It sounds kind of silly to get excited over clean windows,
but I pride myself on keeping a clean home and your company is a
godsend to me in doing this efficiently. Also, as someone with
chronic bronchitis, I really appreciate how environmentally
sound and fume-free your products are.
Thank you for making such a great line of products and
thank you Jeff for sharing your "trade secrets" to those of
us that clean our own homes.
With kindest regards, Liz Lawton
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July Special Offer
Red, White, &
Blue cleaning toothbrushes
 Never mix up your bathroom
toothbrush with your kitchen toothbrush again! The Clean Team Pro Toothbrush
now comes in three different colors -- Red, White & Blue! So you can
color code your toothbrush for a specific job or room in your house
so you never again have to worry about cross-contamination of surfaces.
Use the Red toothbrush for your toilet, the White toothbrush for bathroom
fixtures, sinks and tubs, and the Blue toothbrush for your kitchen cleaning. Regular Price 9.95 July Special only $7.96
Item #4119S or 159 PERCS
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Thanks for reading us this month! Come visit us on the web at www.thecleanteam.com.
Sincerely,
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Jeff Campbell
The Clean Team Catalog |
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