Vinegar is a wonderful thing

My dear Shark Steam Mop started to act weird today: the power was on but only a little steam was coming out. Like it was congested or something. I was very sad to see my little friend like that!

I added a cup of vinegar to the water tank. Shook it all up and whaddaya say: working like a charm!

I'm thinking about starting to use vinegar-water mix in it weekly, the floors look great!

Another great use for vinegar is to clean the coffee machine: add pure vinegar in your coffee machine's water tank and let it run a full cycle. Then repeat that with water until there is no vinegar smells left. And your coffee machine brews coffee like on the day you bought it!

Also, pour a cup of white distilled vinegar down the kitchen sink drain once a week. Let stand 30 minutes and flush with cold water. This deodorizes and cleans.

And if the water doesn't go down so easy in the bathroom/shower, pour some baking soda inside the drain and add vinegar. Again, let it stand and flush later with cold water.

Welcome to our home

Yesterday I was cleaning a house of a very nice Australian family. They had just moved to America a few weeks ago. After a 5hour deep cleaning the man of the house handed me my payment and a bottle of vintage wine. This is a tradition in Australia, to welcome someone in your home.
Not only is it a nice gesture but I find it very heartwarming and a great compliment to my business. This is how I feel in all the houses that we clean at: we are welcomed as new friends! Clients thank us with most sincere words, brightest smiles on their face. I think this is the best tip you could ever give us, your Appreciation.

-- Posted From My iPhone

Shark Steam Mop

My boyfriend saw the Shark ad on TV and was talking about it for weeks. He was sure I have to have it and I will love it.

So when he saw the ad again, at 1am in the morning in Atlantic City hotel room after Madonna concert, he bought the thing. Paid $150 for it to get Express shipping!

You can imagine  how mad he was when after two weeks our Shark still hadn't arrived and we saw it on sale at Target for $79. Haahaaaa silly boy!

Anyway, three weeks later it arrived. I was disasspointed. It seemed to just push the dirt around. You could see the push-marks on the floor (I wish I could explain this better but my english bad bad )

At that time I didnt have a vacuum cleaner yet. So even if I sweeped the floor before mopping, there was still some dust on the floor and that's what caused the rolled-up dust-bunny push-marks.

That's it I can't explain what I'm talking about. The picture of the "push-marks" is on your left. 

It was a hassle mopping the floors! I had to use a rag to swipe off little marks from the floor...

But when I got my vacuum, the problem was solved! Now my floors are clean, it's easy to mop and the best thing is that I don't use any chemicals,- mop cleans with hot steam. And the pads are machine-washable! Very eco-friendly!

And it does really good job steaming the carpets too (comes with a carpet glider attachment)

I recommend this to all my clients and bring it with me whenever I can.

This is a Ticket Campaign

Don't you hate it when all these companies put their flyers on your car? If you're like me, you don't even look at the flyer, you just toss it on your passenger seat and forget about it.

And don't you hate it when you come to get your car and there's a parking ticket on your car? You grab the ticket and read how much the city wants this time.

Well, I came out with the idea that is sure to get attention, people will most likely read what it says and if they have any sense of humor, they will smile. And if I'm really lucky, they actually tell their friends about that flyer. I created a flyer the size of a NYC parking ticket envelope:

We've been putting t

hese out around Christopher street and Upper East Side. When it gets warmer out I want to actually film people's reaction and if I'm extra confident, I might actually ask people what they think about the campaign. 

Of course, I'll keep you all updated and will sure add some videos to youtube. 

The Beginning

I finally took the big step and got all the things running. I started my own cleaning business. This whole thing has been in works for as long as I can remember.

The first sign to this was when I was 7 years old. The way I always loved to clean my grandmother's house or whoever's house I was at.

My mother couldn't believe this: "I wish she would clean her own house like that too!"

And yes, I didn't clean my own house. At some point I had a pile of clothes as high as my bed. I guess it has always been boring for me to clean my own house. 

Luckily by now I have mastered the self-control to clean my own house too, like once a month (joke, I make myself clean it once a week).

When I moved to New York, I was having hard time finding a job. I was fresh out of high school (graduated in Estonia) and I had one year "experience" as a live-in babysitter.

I knew I couldn't do that anymore or otherwise I will never want to have children on my own. I did some research, designed some brochures (but never printed them) and was going to start a cleaning business. But I ended up starting a flooring business with my then-boyfriend Kris. You should've seen me buffing the floors! I was quite a sight with my 5'9" tall-ness, 125 pounds and blond hair. One time, when refinishing Nicole Miller's showroom floors, I was looking for something in the back and someone said: "What are you doing here? Models are supposed to be in the fitting now!" and  she apologized when she realized I'm just a dust-covered flooring chick :-D

After that I was a real estate agent, model, actress and a brand ambassador for several companies. None of these brought in steady income so I tried again with the cleaning business. This time I actually made a website and ordered business cards. Even went from building-to-building on Manhattan, giving out the cards. 

But at the same time, I got really into another company that I was promoting that time and I ended up working full time for them  (I will always love GURU Energy for the experience they gave me).

But when the Big Recession hit, I was out of job again. And this time I was ready to give my 100% to get this business running.

So here I am, with my good friend Karinn beside me. Ready to clean houses and give the best service in the city.

I have designed posters, business cards, fliers and website. We've been walking around countless hours giving out flyers, "ticketing" people of NYC for having dust-bunnies(See THIS IS A TICKET campaign post). I've been using my online marketing skills (thank you again GURU) to establish our web presence.

I'm also working hard to get over my fear of phones and am now actually answering the phone when people call :-D

And I'm happy to say that we have found clients that are super-happy with us. 

Good luck to us, let's hope we'll make it this time!!!