Healthy Living

Move out cleaning move in cleaning Domestica Housecleaning Portland Oregon Green Cleaning

Top 6 Essential Oils for Housecleaning

Move out cleaning move in cleaning Domestica Housecleaning Portland Oregon Green Cleaning, Essential Oils
Photo credit: Annie Spratt via Unsplash

Essential oil benefits come from antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and their uses range from natural medicinal treatments to housecleaning products.

They have been used for centuries by cultures all over the world for their medicinal purposes and are awesome-smelling natural options for homemade cleaning recipes, with absolutely no risk of giving off scary fumes like the regular toxin-filled cleaning products.

A couple drops of your favorite oil in the following cleaning recipes can do wonders!

Are you ready to go green? Here are our top 6 uses for essential oils in housecleaning.

 

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Prepping Your Home for the Market in 10 Organized Steps!

Selling your home can be one of the most stressful and emotionally-charged things you do and every seller wants to have a quick sale and get top dollar for their home.  (Our personal favorite – #6 – Make that house sparkle! – Book a Move-Out Cleaning Now and let Domestica take care of the work for you!)

Every seller wants to have a quick sale and get top dollar for their home and that doesn’t happen by accident.  Preparing you home for going to market takes our expert guidance, careful planning, an expert eye for design and with our help, an extra special deep clean to get your home into tip-top shape. When we have buyers come through your home-our goal is to have them writing great offers!

Looking to buy or sell a home in Portland?   Aryne & Dulcinea of Portland’s Living Room Realty are at your service and recommend the following tips:

1.  Call Us

To know where to begin and what is important, we will meet with you and discuss your goals, plans, and give you the information you need to proceed with confidence.

2.   Get Mentally Prepared

You have already decided to make your move and sell your home…it’s time to go forth and begin to think of your home as if it is a product you are selling. You need to de-personalize and make it appealing for others to envision living in.

3.   De-Clutter & Pre-Pack

You want buyers to imagine themselves living here, not wondering “What kind of people live in this home?”

  • Pack up all family photos, images of your travels, books, dvds and movies, seasonal items you are not currently using.
  • Pare down your plant collection and clean surfaces throughout the home.
  • Know that the special things you surround yourself with, others may not experience it with the your same sentimentality.

4.    Organize Closets and Cabinets

Channel Martha Stewart! Buyers will always explore the house and see what storage capacity it holds. Organized closets and storage areas make the home seem much more livable and gives the impression that the rest of house is taken care of, as well.

  • Line up cans, boxes and alphabetize spice jars
  • Neatly stack dishes
  • Line up shoes
  • Hang clothes neatly, with shirts buttoned up and facing the same direction
  • Buy matching bins and use them to store away items that do not need to be displayed or are in use.

5.    Rent a Storage Unit

Most of the time when we live in our homes, we have something for everything we do, but it is important to remember that homes with less furniture  and fewer items on shelves show better.

  • Store those now-empty bookshelves
  • Remove extensions from tables to make the room look larger
  • Leave just enough furniture in each room to show its purpose and lots of room to move around

6.  Make Small Repairs

  • Replace burned-out light bulbs
  • Fix cracked tiles in the floor or counters
  • Makes sure doors and drawers open properly
  • Repair holes in the walls
  • Paint rooms with neutral colors

7.    Housekeeping 101 – Don’t Forget a Good Cleaning!

  • Wash interior and exterior windows
  • Re-caulk tubs and showers
  • Polish chrome and faucets
  • Whiten dirty grout – Make a paste with baking soda and water, spray with vinegar and scrub
  • Hang up fresh towels and replace worn out rugs and mats
  • Clean out the refrigerator (yes, that will get opened, too!)
  • Dust cobwebs and light fixtures
  • Vacuum every day
  • Make sure it smells clean – odors and musty smells are a no-no

8.    Remove and Replace Favorite Items

Remove and replace anything you are not including with the sale – window coverings, light fixtures and appliances.  We all want what we can’t have and if a buyer sees something you are keeping, they will want it even more!

9.    Details Details Details

  • Walk through your front door and ask yourself if this home looks inviting as you enter
  • Stand in the doorway of each room and imagine what the room will look like to a buyer
  • Check that furniture is arranged in a way that makes sense for the room
  • Make sure window coverings hang level

10.   Check Curb Appeal

  • Mow the lawn and trim bushes
  • Keep sidewalks cleared
  • Plant flowers or groups pots of flowers together (yellow is a great color!)
  • Make sure the house number is visible

Dulcinea Myers-Newcomb is an Oregon Licensed Broker, Earth Advantage Broker, and ADU Specialist

For more information or to book your move-out cleaning in 60 seconds, please visit our website!

 

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Post-Remodel Cleaning – What You Need To Know

After having spent a lot of time and money on a home or business renovation,  the amount of post-remodel dirt, dust and debris that is left behind after the workers leave can feel overwhelming.  If you’ve never hired a professional housecleaning service before, now’s the time!

Why choose a professional?

Post-Remodel: The Rude Awakening

Walking into your house post-remodel might not be a very pleasant surprise. You would be shocked to see how far the mess can spread. The dust from renovation floats through the air to other rooms and just ends up everywhere. There’s always something left behind that even the best remodel crew with the greatest clean-up ethics forget to pick up as they leave your house for good.

Hiring a professional cleaning service will ensure that there are no screws, nails and other materials laying around the house, no debris that may stick to your shoes and no drywall in random places. A typical post-remodel cleaning includes:

Safety First

A house that’s ready to live in is not the same as a house that’s ready to use. After a post-remodel, the construction company may hire a clean-up crew that will remove stray drywall pieces and sawdust and ensure that the area is safe. But how safe is it really when there are dust particles floating around that could get in your lungs and potentially give you health problems?

This is where the professional cleaning services step in. They take care of everything from top to bottom and give your house that much-needed deep clean after a remodel.

No worries about cleaning supplies or waste disposal

Post-remodel cleaning services have skilled teams, armed with the right equipment and have the expertise to tackle a post-remodel clean-up. They will clean everything from ceilings to floors with the best-suited products and leave the house looking immaculate, ready for you to show it off. They will also take care of waste disposal along the way.

Odor Removal

Remodeling can often leave your house with a persistent odor of construction materials and traditional cleaning products only mask the odor for a short period of time- they do not eliminate them. Professional cleaning services use the right products to get rid of odors and leave your house smelling fresh and clean.

 

For more information or to book your post-remodel cleaning appointment, get in touch today!