Here is an informative short video put out by the MN State Health Department on the proper use and care of face masks. Cloth face masks should have two layers of tightly woven fabric made of 100% cotton. Don't touch your mask when you're wearing it or after. Take it off using the loops. If you do touch it, wash your hands. After wearing a mask throw it in the wash. More tidbits at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w2-p4MsAqU .

Be sure to:

1. Wipe the table and place mat after each meal.

2. Have a broom and dustpan handy in your kitchen to sweep up after you eat.

3. If you tend to throw misc. papers and mail on the table, get a small decorative box to put them in.

Everyone has had that annoying experience of watching an engrossing movie and suddenly having the screen image fracture or shimmy or get stuck. What to do. There are disk cleaners available but all you need is clean water mixed with a little dish detergent, and clean cloth (lint free is best) to apply it and then dry it and you'll be back in business most of the time!

House cleaning should be permitted again very soon. And I have openings! I'm a great cleaner, I do it all myself, and now, I'm trained in routines for effective home disinfection. Shoot me an email, text, or give a call if you'd like to discuss how I can meet your cleaning needs!

763-498-2638
David

While cleaning homes has not been considered an essential service in this most recent round of the shelter-in-place order, cleaning houses and apartment units that have been vacated due a move has been. This makes sense. So, if you are in need of a clean out while the order continues, I'd be glad to assist. Shoot me an email, text, or give a call! 

​763-498-2638

Stay safe!

The new MN shelter-in-place order changes the rules for house cleaning services. Residential cleaning is no longer permitted except for the homes of people with disabilities. 

However, common areas in apartment areas and office areas of critical businesses can be cleaned by house cleaning services. I suspect that move out and move in cleanings are also allowable but I'm seeking clarification on that.

During the month, I will be providing all services that are permitted. 

More posts to come with advice on how to best clean and disinfect your own place.

I've made two kinds of changes to my cleaning regimen to do more effective cleaning during the pandemic. First is a thorough disinfection process. Second is to wear protection to keep from importing germs into my clients' homes from the outside. Here I'm wearing my disposable apron, mask, two sets of gloves and, not seen, disposable covers on my shoes. (Kind of a fashion statement too, don't you think?)

Turnover cleaning is one area that I cover. I'm effective and I'm efficient. Of course I tailor each job to what the person wants but here are typical tasks I do in turnover cleaning:

Kitchen: oven, fridge, inside cabinets, counter tops and fronts, sinks, floors
Bathroom: inside medicine cabinet, bath and shower, sink, commode, floor
Other rooms: closets, built-ins, baseboards, cobwebs, floors, dirty areas of doors and walls, windows 

And these days, I'm also disinfecting, which includes applying disinfectant on kitchen and bathroom surfaces after cleaning them and getting all the high touch areas throughout the home (light switches, doorknobs, etc.).

If you need turnover cleaning, give me a call!

According to Gov. Walz's shelter-in-place order, which goes into effect Friday 3/27 night at midnight and lasts two weeks, house cleaning services are considered an essential business. 

I will be deciding over the weekend whether I will continue providing cleaning services for the next two weeks during the shutdown and will post new information then.

Over the past two weeks I have been following CDC guidelines to review and perfect my disinfecting routine. My current routine greatly helps reduce the virus exposure potentially brought into homes from residents' activities outside the home.

At the same time, I have been tightening up my protections in terms of not bringing in dirt and germs from outside the house. I do this through using rubber gloves and shoe covers, washing my hands frequently, disinfecting my tools and the tools of the clients that I use, and using either the client's vacuum cleaner (when possible) or my own vacuum with a fresh vacuum bag with each home I clean.

I am attempting to make my service as safe and as useful as possible in this stressful time.

In response to the coronavirus outbreak, I am following the CDC's guidelines and adopting a disinfecting regimen on top of my usual cleaning procedures. I'm hoping to have everything I need to start doing this by the end of the week. I'll be using disinfecting cleaners to clean surfaces and touch points (light switches and knobs mainly) in the bathrooms and kitchen and major touch points throughout the other areas of the homes that I clean.

I'm also adopting methods to minimize the dirt I bring in from the outside. Some of this I already do--for instance, using clean cloths and mop-heads in each home--but in addition, I'll be wearing disposable shoe covers, washing my hands frequently, wearing rubber gloves the whole time I'm cleaning, and disinfecting, between jobs, my brushes and tools used. 

To help minimize the dirt brought in, I would also like to start using the vacuum cleaner you have at your home, where I'm not already using it, so that I'm not bringing other people's dust and dirt through my own vacuum cleaner. If that's hard to arrange, please let me know. And I would ask that you make sure you have a toilet brush at each toilet if you don't already.

Finally, because I don't feel qualified and I don't want the extra risk or to pass along the risk to others, I have decided not to clean for those who have entered quarantine.

These are recommended preventative measures but it's also helpful to have some perspective on the risk. This is from the CDC website:

"The virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person--between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet) [and] through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes...

"It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads."

So, fortunately, the scenario of my picking up a virus from one home and transporting it to another is apparently not the main way the virus spreads.

The CDC also says, "Some spread might be possible before people show symptoms; there have been reports of this occurring with this new coronavirus, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads." 

Though I won't be cleaning for clients in quarantine some clients I clean for could have the virus without knowing it. I take encouragement from this statement from the CDC that those in this group don't present me with a high risk of picking up the infection from them and passing it along.

Given these prevention measures I'll be adopting and assessing the mildness of the risk, I feel good about continuing to service my clients' homes. Nonetheless, experience from other regions that have seen much greater spread of the virus (I've looked into Italy and Los Angeles) shows that there may well come a time where either the authorities declare it unlawful for cleaners to continue or common sense requires that I temporarily stop providing my service. I will keep monitoring local changes and let you know when that time has come. ​