Ideal Bite

Cleaning Services

High Tidy: Make Life Easy Week

10.23.2009

Submitted by tmeronek on Thu, 10/22/2009 - 11:00pm.

Care & Cleaning

The Bite:

Does your desire to clean ebb more than flow? Sea here: Hire a cleaning service that uses only eco-friendly cleansers, and let the time savings roll in.

The Benefits:

It's healthier for you - the EPA says indoor air pollution is usually 2-5 times worse than outdoor air pollution, and harsh cleaning chems contribute.
Green cleaning people stay healthier, too. (The Janitorial Products Pollution Prevention Project says that each year about 6 out of 100 janitors get sick just from the products they use.)
At almost 60 pounds per year, cleaning people use a lot of chemicals - all of which eventually end up in nature. Wave g'bye to those pollution concerns with these services.

Personally Speaking:

Our 5-second rule addendum: The rule applies only if you know the floor was cleaned with a nontoxic cleaner.

Wanna Try:

Maid Brigade - green cleaning service with over 400 locations nationwide that use nontoxic cleaning chems and reusable microfiber pads instead of disposable ones (about $110, depending on area and house size), among other eco-friendly products.
Yelp - type in your location and "green cleaning" to find a local green maid service.
Check out the green cleaning services reviewed in the Chicago, Denver, LA, NYC, Seattle, and SF Bites.
DIY Bite: Stock your cabinets with our fave eco-cleaning products and ask your cleaning team to use them instead of conventional ones. Find some great options in our Biter's Guide to Cleaning.

Cocktail Fact

At the bay with the highest tides in the world, the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, the difference between high and low tide can be as much as 48 feet.

Bang For The Bite

Green cleaning comes at an ever-so-slight premium compared to conventional services, but it's safer for your fam, the cleaning people, and the earth.

12 comments

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Lisa on October 23, 2009 at 02:34 AM 1

The Bay of Fundy is *between* Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, actually. I'm from New Brunswick, so I just had to mention that one. :) Excellent tip, though.

Karel Mustelier on October 23, 2009 at 03:59 AM 2

Greetings all, This tip I thought was a great idea when I last read it. Unfortunately for me here in Miami, Fl. The maid brigade service was awefull. No idea of what good customer service really is. The employees were overworked and underpaid while I was being overcharged and undercleaned. So if you live in S. Florida be careful with this tip

Karyn Madorin on October 23, 2009 at 04:33 AM 3

I'm a professional organizer in Chicago www.extremeorganizing.com and whenever I'm helping people declutter their bath and kitchen cabinets there are always a ton of old (and new) cleaning chemicals. We make it a priority to dispose of the old products responsibly and replace with new eco-friendly products. Thanks for the cleaning service tip!

Laurel on October 24, 2009 at 07:59 PM 4

Lisa, above, beat me to it. The Bay of Fundy is in New Brunswick.

Emily on October 26, 2009 at 08:45 AM 5

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area we've been working on green cleaning from another angle... getting some clean green dough into the bank accounts of the women doing the cleaning (often tripling their wages from conventional cleaning.) Our worker-owned eco-cleaning coops multiply the benefits of healthy homes and health for the families doing the cleaning.

Emily on October 26, 2009 at 08:46 AM 6

We're at http://www.wagescooperatives.org

Becky on October 26, 2009 at 12:38 PM 7

I'd like the Biters to check out and perhaps review/cover The Clean Team (www.thecleanteam.com). They sell healthy cleaning products and advocate reuse of cleaning tools instead of single-use disposable tools. They also have great books on how to clean. Fantastic suggestions for those of us who didn't learn how to clean while we were growing up! It's all based on their experience gleaned from running a cleaning business.

Mary Brennan on October 27, 2009 at 02:52 AM 8

Maid services may find that they will obtain more clients if they do choose to use green, environmentally friendly products. This is a great idea for the services and the clients. chris brown

Tracy H. on November 01, 2009 at 05:07 AM 9

I am a huge fan of Ideal Bite. However, in looking through the "green" cleaners you recommend, I did some checking on Mrs. Meyers' products, specifically the liquid hand soap, since it was fairly inexpensive. In looking at "cosmeticdatabase.com" I see that this product has between 4-6 on a hazardous scale (10 being the worst) and it contains hazardous chemicals. Always check this database before purchasing, there is a lot of mis-information in labels, "organic" or "all-natural" is not a defined term yet, and anyone can claim these things when in fact they may have nothing organic about them. Check out "VerdeMom.com" for some truly organic cleaners and lotions/soaps - the ingredient list will show you the true meaning of organic!!

sing on November 07, 2009 at 01:18 PM 10

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High Tidy: Make Life Easy Week

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Bang For The Bite

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