We all prepared our homes for Thanksgiving with the pre company clean up efforts right? Now everyone has left, and you are left with the post Thanksgiving clean up. Here a few major things to tackle now before they get neglected until the next holiday.

1. The oven: From Turkeys, to hams, pies and dressings, that oven has been used with minimal clean up in between. Let’s clean it the Eco friendly way so that your next holiday feast doesn’t have the after taste of oven cleaner. Sprinkle baking soda in a generous amount in the bottom of the oven. So much so that you can not see the bottom but all you see is baking soda. Then get a spray bottle with hot water and spray the baking soda so that it is completely saturated. This will need to set overnight to do it’s magic. Go back a few times and re spray the baking soda as it will dry into clumps while removing the grease. Slice a lemon in half and sprinkle Sea Salt on the sliced lemon. Use this sliced lemon to scrub the back and sides of the oven. Keep adding the Sea Salt as it will come off on the surfaces it is scrubbing. Let this set overnight and in the morning you basically just have to wipe it clean. No fumes, no chemicals, no harm done to the next meal! 2.You can also use a sliced lemon (with or without the sea salt )to remove any stains on your counters from cranberry sauce!

3.The beds. Don’t just change the sheets after company has come. Now is a good time to wash those mattress pads and take the comforters and blankets to the cleaners. So they will be fresh for the next set of company.

4. Clean your disposal by using ice, baking soda, lemon wedges and vinegar. Put the ice in first, then the lemon wedges and baking soda. Pour the vinegar down the drain and nature will make its own chemical reaction. Flip the disposal and all your Thanksgiving crumbs are now gone taking the odor with them down the drain without chemicals!

When the evening weather threatens to get below 36 degrees it is definitely time to wrap our outside pipes. The method below cost around $3 at my Local Hardware store. If you don’t have time to run to your local Hardware store for pipe wrapping supplies get a towel and wrap it around your pipes securing them with tape. Something is better than nothing in this situation. Especially when the outcome of doing nothing could cost thousands of dollars in repairs in the long run.

For those of you that do not want to hire a window washer and rather tackle the job yourself, here are a few tips. Never wash the windows when it is sunny outside. The sun makes the windows dry nearly immediately and they will for sure streak. The best time to wash windows are on the cloudy days or when the sun is not hitting the windows. Use a microfiber dry rag and a squeegee with a soft rubber band. The solutions used could be a mild soap and water for very dirty windows, or a solution of 1/10 vinegar to water spray bottle. Use a sponge drenched in the soapy solution to scrub the grime off, then immediately squeegee. With every squeegee make sure to wipe off your tool with your rag so that you are not causing streaks yourself. To keep the windows from getting dirty often, try to at least once every month or two use a vinegar/water solution to spray,and then wipe off the windows with a dry microfiber rag.
Your homes windows are the eyes to your home so keep them maintained by not avoiding washing them often.

serving Austin, Pflugerville and Austin with Eco friendly maid services for over 14 years.