August 30, 2008 | Water

Nature Moms is giving away 2 reusable bottles - one for adults and one for kids. She’s got a great review up, and you can check it out here. Go visit her - it’s an awesome blog. But please don’t enter to win - you’ll weaken my chances of winning!

August 28, 2008 | Shopping

Well, when you have 3 kids below school age, washing bottles and sippy cups becomes a major part of day-to-day life. Questions like how clean the brush stays, where to store it, width of bristles ergonomic design - there’s no end to the frustrations of finding a good bottle brush. And with kid #1 we must have gone through 8-9 different brushes. And then - Eureka! - we stumbled onto the Deluxe Munchkin bottle and nipple brush (and no, they’re not paying me a cent to say any of this). It has lasted through 3 babies. 

It works great for most of our bottles. The only exception is the long narrow-necked bottles (like Mr. Brown’s, which we don’t use anymore since they’re BPA-laden).  The handle is long enough to reach down into standard, wide mouthed 9-oz bottles and 9-oz sippy cups. The nipple brush twists out of the handle and the bristles are sturdy enough to scrub with, but flexible to fit in tight spaces like the valve-holder in sippy cups. When you put the nipple brush back into the handle, there’s a nice suction cup at the bottom so that you can stand the brush up on the countertop or sink (for proper draining and air-drying - cutting down on bacteria and fungal growth). 

 

August 21, 2008 | Hiring help

“… but she came highly recommended,” “… she earned my total trust…”

We’ve heard it too many times. People look and look for a housekeeper they feel comfortable with. They get recommendations, use caution, maybe even do a background check. And then they hire someone and gives them keys to their house, invite the person into their life, and assume that respect and trust will be a two-way street.

It brings to mind a story from a few years ago. There was a housekeeper to the stars - she worked exclusively for celebrities and was presumably paid very well - and she was caught stealing from several of them. This is a referral-based community and she was trusted by a large number of people. Unfortunately her excuse was “I never stole from the nice celebrities.” In other words, those who weren’t ‘nice’ by her definition pushed her to steal from them. After many years of trusted service, she was found to have stolen from numerous celebrities.

There’s another type of theft appearing these days that’s even more worrisome. Home contractors, nannies, and housekeepers have been known to steal medications from their clients. At a time when prescription drugs are at a premium and healthcare costs are exorbitant, it’s no wonder that thieves have evolved into the drug trade business.

What can you do to protect yourself? Only hire insured, licensed companies. Sure, bonding sounds nice, but it’s rarely any help. What you need is general liability insurance, and you need to ask for proof of it. Any company worth working with will provide you with proof of insurance. Check out the consumer education section of the Association of Residential Cleaning Services International for more information about hiring a housekeeper. You’ll want to look at the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and the link to Locate a cleaning service will list any cleaning service in your area that’s a member of the organization. (Hint: we’re listed there too, as Gwinnett and North Fulton’s premiere green housekeepers.)

August 20, 2008 | Being Green

Are you in the process of switching to greener cleaners? The Green Guide, published by National Geographic, just published this article on how to get rid of the old chemicals you don’t want anymore. We don’t want them in our landfills or our waterways, so this is important. Head on over if you have any chemical-based cleaners you want out from under your sink.

August 6, 2008 | Kitchen, Food & drink, Bleach alternatives, Vinegar, Cleaning tips, Essential oils, Cleaning products

There’s nothing better than creating a home cooked meal from scratch, using the season’s finest and freshest to bring the most flavor to the table. But unless you’re a vegetarian you probably also have raw meat you’ll be chopping now and then, and potentially leaving dangerous germs on your chopping block.   Here’s what we suggest:

 

1. Use different cutting boards for different purposes. One for non-meats and cooked items only, one for fish, and one for raw red and white meat. This will keep you from cross contaminating, and even if a germ or two is spread from one meat to the next, you’re going to thoroughly cook the meat and sterilize that stray germ.
2. As the CDC recommends, soap and water is sufficient for most purposes, including hand washing and cleaning dishes and cutting boards. Hot, soapy water will do the trick for most kitchens. Just make sure you’re actually scrubbing and not just giving a cursory swipe. Alternatively, use your dishwasher and eco-friendly dishwashing detergent. The level of sustained heat in the dishwasher will kill most everything.
3. A two-step process involving a spray of hydrogen peroxide followed by a spray of vinegar, with each left to sit for 10 minutes will properly disinfect. The key though is leaving it to sit. Even the best product is useless if not used correctly.
4. Essential oil of lavender - about 20 drops to 1 cup of water in a spray bottle will disinfect quite well and leave your home smelling like spring year round! This is safe enough to spray directly on your kids’ toys and other food-prep surfaces, which makes it one of our favorites. In fact, studies show that essential oils may disinfect more effectively than phenol, which is what most disinfectants use today. Additionally, they don’t seem to contribute to the development of drug resistant strains of bugs like regular antibacterials do.
5. Microwave it! I’m serious. If you’re concerned that your cutting board may be compromised and if it’s wood, put it in the microwave a zap it for 10 minutes. Your cutting board will be clean, but use caution getting it out - depending on the type of wood and level of moisture present it could be hot. This doesn’t work on plastic cutting boards though, so don’t waste your time.

Thanks to Mollie over at One/Change for a few of those tips.  If you’re in the market for a new cutting board, opt for wood. New studies show that wood cutting boards don’t harbor bacteria the way plastic boards do. Due to the capillary of dry wood, microbes disappear below the surface where they die within a few hours. Plastic on the other hand allow microbes to sit on the surface where they can contaminate the next item. And please, avoid those “antibacterial” cutting boards like the plague - they’re treated with a pesticide and do you really want to introduce pesticides into your kitchen? Add in the fact that FDA is attacking the claims of the effectiveness of those pesticides, and it’s really not worth it.

August 1, 2008 | Cleaning tips

My first-born had a little issue with car sickness when she was a baby. It started right around the time we turned her carseat around to be forward-facing, and it continued about a year. During that time, I developed some creative solutions to cope with messiness on our outings.

1. Keep an ‘emergency box’ in the trunk - complete with clean clothes, a plastic bag for soiled clothes, a small bottle of water, and a packet of crackers. If your child is old enough keep a can of ginger ale there too.
2. Keep a cleaning kit in the trunk too - paper towels are easier than cleaning rags when you’re on the go; baby wipes, and a disinfectant that will fight odors - something with lavender or eucalyptus.
3. Line the floor and seat with towels just in case.
4. Every kid loves a lollipop. The preggo pops they sell at maternity stores have ginger in them and may help with non-pregnancy related nausea too.
5. Mine was too young, but older kids may benefit from the motion sickness wristbands.

The key to cleaning up the mess is getting to it quickly and using plenty of fresh air. Heat will accelerate the ’stinkifying’ so keep the car out of direct sun until it’s all well cleaned.

July 28, 2008 | Kids, Bathroom, Cleaning tips

 

I recently found out that the flush of a toilet isn’t as harmless as I once thought. Apparently that “fwoosh” agitates the water enough to send a spray of miniscule water particles (and other particles) into the air. They’re dispersed through your bathroom and settle on anything with a flat surface. Do you know what that means? When you flush your toilet you’re spreading potty-germs all over your bathroom. (Mine now seems much less clean than it did before I learned that.)

The best thing you can do to inhibit the spray is to close the lid when you flush. And do we really need to say it? Wash hands. And when you clean your bathroom, don’t think that the rim, seat, and toilet bowl are all that need a good scrub - make sure you give proper cleaning attention to outside of the throne and everything around it (wall and baseboard included) to make sure you get rid of all those germy-germs your loo spit out.

July 26, 2008 | Dusting, Cleaning tips, Cleaning products

As much as I love making a nice dusting solution out of lemon juice and olive oil, I’ve found something easier - and cheaper too. Find a trusty spray bottle and add 2-3 teaspoons liquid fabric softener (we like this one), then fill with water (we used a 16-oz bottle).

If you’re a rag-duster, use a cotton rag or microfiber cloth, spray the cloth to dampen, and dust away. If you prefer a feather duster, spray directly on your feather duster. You can also spray it directly onto a Swiffer duster (we like the hardware so to speak, but not the sprays and liquids they use).

The good news? The liquid grabs and holds the dust so it isn’t being kicked up into the air. The fabric softener keeps dust from coming back too soon because a) it isn’t a chemical base like most furniture polishes (and chemicals trap and hold dust), and b) it neutralizes static so that the furniture doesn’t attract dust.

And you can also use the very same spray bottle with diluted fabric softener, spray it inside your dryer 3-4 times just before you put in a load of wet laundry. It’ll eliminate the need for a dryer sheet.  We love that.

July 25, 2008 | Shopping, Lifestyle

There’s a new banner on my left sidebar, down towards the bottom. It looks like this. Click on it and you’ll find yourself at a website with a really supercool video. Sure, it’s about 20 minutes long, but it’s well worth the time. Think about it. What else would you have done with those 20 minutes? Read a few more blogs? Watched 2/3 of a sitcom? (or the whole thing if you’ve Tivo’ed it and can skip commercials) Cleaned something?

Well, this is better than all that. You’ll laugh. You’ll learn something you didn’t know. And you just might be challenged to change the way you think about some things. It’s good viewing. I promise. In fact, I’ll guarantee it. If you watch it and you walk away not having laughed or learned something, I’ll give you 20 minutes back. (Wait! You’re not taking me seriously on that are you?)

But seriously. It’s good.  It touches on dioxins (which are present in an alarming number of cleaning products), goes into where our stuff comes from, where it ends up, and - more importantly - why we’re so attached to it.

July 21, 2008 | Being Green, Lifestyle

It seems like most of the big cleaning services out there are going ‘green,’ and that’s great news - we want to see fewer chemicals used in our community and less of an environmental footprint. But how many of them are really going green and how many are ‘greenwashing,’ or trying to fool their clientele? Here are some things to ask your local ‘green’ maid service:

• Are green services available at all your locations? If not, are they available at the location that would serve me?
• Do you use paper products or reusable cloths? (Even windows and mirrors can be cleaned well with reusable cloths)
• What percentage of your products are Green Seal certified?
• If you have other certifications is there a third-party doing the certification, or did you define your own criteria and slap a label on it?
• Do your products contain petrochemicals?
• Are your products hypoallergenic?
• What percentage of your products are biodegradable within 28 days?  (Everything will biodegrade eventually - even if it takes eons. Find out what they mean by biodegradable)
• Are the products water soluble, and are they harmful to animal and marine life?
• Do your products contain neurotoxins or endocrine disruptors?
• Does your business take other steps to reduce their eco-footprint? (Examples might be reducing paper waste, reusing and repurposing, using ‘green’ vehicles, etc.)

We’re willing to make the claim that we’re one of Atlanta’s greenest maid services. Broom Huggers was founded on the basis of being green and being healthy. We’re all-natural, non-toxic, hypoallergenic. We’re biodegradable within 28 days, harmless to marine life, animal life, and people too. So if you’re in North East Atlanta, give us a try. If you’re looking for all-natural housekeeping services, you’ve come to the right place.