Cold Weather Blues

The nation seems to be in a state of shock lately. We are all experiencing colder than normal temps...many of us (especially here in Southern Arizona) are not quite used to dealing with weather below freezing. We tend to want to stay indoors when the cold weather takes over, but this may be bad for our health if the right precautions are not taken.

According to Family Voices, "One in 5 people have allergies and 20 million people have asthma; 6.3 million are children and that number is growing" (2007) http://www.ndhealth.gov/CSHS/docs/newsletter-winter-2007-family-matters.pdf. These ailments are triggered by dust, dust mites, and mold which are generally at higher levels during the winter because we seal our homes to keep the cold air out.

The best way to combat these triggers is by reduce the moisture as much as possible. Clean and change linens regularly, clean and sanitize bathrooms, vacuum using a machine with several filters (including a HEPA filter), and sanitize the areas we touch most...knobs, telephones, door jambs, and light switches.

The Maids cleans these areas as a part of the regular cleaning routine. We also mist the bathroom (toilet and shower) with a neutral disinfectant after cleaning to ensure these areas are free of germs/viruses and are sanitary. The team will also remove dirty linens and replace with clean ones, and our vacuum has a four filter system that includes a HEPA filter. Our vacuum removes 99.9% of dust and allergens from the air as the team is working, so it is basically cleaning the air as it cleans your home. All of our products are botanically derived to be safe for your home and our environment.

We thank our teams everyday for the hard work they do...and so do their customers:

"Debra and the Yellow Team did a great job cleaning our home. We appreciate their attention to detail and their high standards of cleanliness."

"We love our team, they know our house and clean it well. Reliable and thorough."

"The Maids have been cleaning our house for at least 5 years now. I am always happy with them and happy with the work they do. The are friendly and aim to please."

"I love coming home to such a beautifully cleaned home. They shine my counters and sparkle my bathrooms!"

"My team deserves a good rating because they always do a good job."

"Great job Turquoise team! We love how well you clean, the attention to detail and how great the house smells whe we get home. Thanks so much!"

"It's great to have my home cleaned regularly and consistently so I don't have to worry."

Keep up the good work, teams. We are so grateful for your attention to detail and care of your customers.

The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.
Theodore Roosevelt

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
Confucius

Welcom to the New Year

I realize that it has been a bit since I posted to our blog. Luckily, the end of the year turned out to be a little on the busy side for us.

We hope that everyone is having a successful start to 2011.

We would like to start out 2011 by placing greater emphasis on the fact the The Maids is now and has always been a green house cleaning company, using green cleaning products. We would also like to tell you that we have expanded to include Sahuarita house cleaning and Green Valley house cleaning with our service area.

We have made some changes to make sure that our name is consistent in the community. If you listen to 790 KNST, you will hear Garrett Lewis giving testimonials about his experience with our service. We have also joined Yelp, which is a review site. Consumers can visit this site and post reviews about their experiences, share experiences with other posters, and communicate with the business. We are really looking forward to this proceeding well.

We would like to invite anyone with questions, to please contact us. Our website provides good information, but there is something to be said for speaking with a live person.

Thank You Tucson

We would like to thank the generous people of Tucson, our wonderful customers, and our awesome employees for helping us to raise $759.75 at our rummage sale/car wash. Total to date, we have raised $974.75 in donations. The Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk is only a couple weeks away and we are all very excited about our contributions. We are still working to raise more funds and make an impact in our community. Thank you all so very much.

The teams are hard at work in the field with the change in seasons. The winds have been blowing and stirring up dust in our homes. Our teams are fully equipped to handle your dusting needs. Here are some of the comments from customers over the last couple weeks:

"The house was super clean - no detail was missed!"

"Debra, Breanda, Patty, and Rebecca did a great job today cleaning our house. We appreciate their attentiveness to detail."

"Reliable and thorough."

"We just had new flooring, carpeting, and interior paint done in our house and The Maids Team seems to be trying to keep everything in the new condition by keeping the electric cords away from the corners of the walls and working to keep the new flooring and carpets clean as well."

"Honest, thorough, and fast over light years."

"The Purple Team always does a great job."

"Mary and her team have done a great job as always."

"Friendly staff...very efficient and before doing anything, the team leader comes to us and asks if everything was okay with the previous cleaning and if we needed anything special done this time."

Finally Fall

We all know that Tucson doesn't have much in the way seasons... about 2 weeks of cool and 50 weeks of summer. Hahaha! However, the change of seasons is visible. The sun is going down earlier, its getting chilly at night, and the breezes are blowing. This means another round of allergies. For anyone fighting the seasonal allergies, a thorough home cleaning is a step in a better direction. Our teams will provide a thorough cleaning to remove dust and allergens from the home; as well as sanitizing the surfaces that sneezing people are touching. We are always here to help.

Our office is preparing for a rummage/bake sale and car wash next weekend. We will be holding the sale at our office - 4425 E. Broadway Blvd. - Saturday September 25 from 7:30am - 1:00pm. We are so excited to be working with the community to make a difference in the lives of those faced with cancer. The exciting part about working with Making Strides and the American Cancer Society is that 60% of the money raised stays in Tucson to help our community. Please come and join us.

This time I have so many comments to post that I think the best thing to do is post one or two from each team.

"Every time you come, when I get home from work I walk around the house with an eagle eye. I never see one spot of dust or one hair anywhere. I would highly recommend this company, and this team to a potential customer. Great job, ladies. I have no doubt you will keep up the outstanding and superior work. Thanks so much. My life is so much easier because of you!"

"I am just very happy with the service I am receiving. They come in, get the job done, and when they leave the house is just wonderful and I can relax."

"Very reliable, very dependable, very thorough, very professional, and I can depend on you."

"Trustworthy and attentive. I like using the team approach because the house is cleaned quickly and thoroughly."

"I have the Purple team and am very happy with them They are very friendly and do a great job. The leader, Martha, is wonderful. She always checks to make sure that everything was done right."

"Exceptional Job!"

"They are fast/effective and always happy. Always have a smile on their faces...take care of the little details and will go that extra effort to make one happy."

"We are very pleased with our team. They leave wonderful notes, and are most willing to please. Please let them know how much we appreciate them."

"Everything was neatly put back after the cleaning. They even straightened the disheveled bed as a finishing touch in the bedroom. House felt clean and sanitized."

It has been a while since I have left you with food for thought, so today I would like to close with something special. I wish you all a wonderful day.

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be.
Now put foundations under them.
Henry David Thoreau

483b5804-26e7-4d88-a3fc-3d90587a13e8

1.03.01

A couple of exciting things....

The Maids has a couple of exciting events coming up that we would like to share with you!

First, on the 19th of August, Suzanne will make another appearance on The Morning Blend. This time she will be discussing the proper way to clean/disinfect a toilet, and she will discuss some of the most common questions asked of our staff when setting up a cleaning.

Second, The Maids is holding a rummage/bake sale and car wash on September 25th at our office: 4425 E. Broadway Blvd. We are raising money for donation to the American Cancer Society. This ties into our third upcoming event.

On October 31st, the American Cancer Society is holding its annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. The Maids is participating for the second year in a row. Our goal this year is to raise $2,000 for donation. We are hoping that the rummage/bake sale and car wash will help us reach our goal. If you would like to join our team or make a donation, please contact Brandi at 795-7977. We thank you for your support!

Well readers,
It has been a couple of weeks since our last post. Today I am going to catch us up on how our teams are doing out there. Good work, ladies. Let's keep it up!

The team..."arrives on time and does a great job cleaning."

"The Yellow Team does so many little things when cleaning that make such a difference in how I enjoy my home."

"Team does an excellent job. Very pleased with them. They are polite, clean, and do what you ask. Very, very pleased."

"Debra and the Yellow Team once again did an excellent job cleaning our home. We appreciate their attention to detail and their professionalism."

"Everyone on staff, including management, is so personal with their communications. The Maids are not a 'cookie cutter' business. They personally serve as if you were the only client they had. I would be happy to be a reference anytime. I've been with you for many years. Thanks again. Go Team!"

"Team lead, Julie H, and her co-workers Julie C, Hannah, and Erika provide consistently superb work. While being professional in every way, we also know they care about us and our home on a personal level. I'm very grateful to Team Green - they're terrific in every way. Thank you very much!"

"Reliable, thorough, conscientious, accommodating"

"Consistency and pleasant phone staff"

"Very friendly"

"We are expecting house guests this weekend. When I told Martha's Team they were EXTRA thorough with their cleaning. Maria even did us a favor by vacuuming our patio! The house looked and smelled wonderful when they left. This kind of service is why we continue using The Maids after eight years. Keep up the great work!!!"

"The Orange Team always does well when they clean. They do a little extra most time without being asked...a little surprise you might say. Thanks girls."

"Big improvement in the cleaning of the [master] bathroom, the shower area as well as the counter and sink. Thank you Vanessa and please keep it up. Vacuuming has been very good and I've been pleased with Mary's personality and desire to make sure I'm satisfied."

"Outstanding"

"I like The Maids cleaning service because they do little extra things like clean the soap dishes in the bathrooms and wipe the window over the kitchen sink. Small things like that make it extra special."

"Things that are not obvious are cleaned. Soap tracks on shower door[s] don't show until the shower door is wet, but they're gone. Soap scum on tan shower walls don't show, but it's gone. Kitchen and bath counter-tops are shining clean."

"Again, superb job on making the boys' bunk bed. Also, the boys' bathroom was nice and clean! Thank you."

"They are attentive to any suggestions as to anything to please and/or improve their work."

"The ladies are great!"

"Christina and her team are wonderful. Not only is the work excellent but they are thoughtful, kind, and caring. they are so sweet to my dog, Sadie."

Lately, we have tried some new things to keep our name afloat in the community. Recently Suzanne (Owner) and Teresa (General Manager) visited the set of The Morning Blend. They gave great information about the company and had a lot of fun. Teresa modeled the vacuum while Suzanne talked about her company. If you follow the link below, you can watch the episode that presents our company.

http://www.tucsonmorningblend.com/videos/96921524.html

Here are comments for the last two weeks. Good job, teams. Keep up the good work.

7/12/10 - 7/16/10

"I've been with you for many years. You are easy to talk to and work with. You're accommodating when I need to change something. Your team is friendly. Very thorough also. I've had 2 other maid services in Tucson, back in the day. As long as I'm here, I intend to stay with The Maids forever! Great job, ladies."

"I am happy with the quickness of cleaning -- having four people working at once is great."

"The kitchen floor is absolutely beautiful!!! Thank you for scrubbing it!!! You guys are awesome!!"

"The cleaning is always thorough."

"Consistent and friendly staff."

7/04/10 - 7/10/10

"Reliable and quality results."

"I would highly recommend the Green team because they are very good, trustworthy, and hard-working women. Thank you to the Green team for an outstanding cleaning today. You girls out did yourselves and I appreciate the job well done! Good to see you again Nancy!!"

"Always good work."

"I just wanted to compliment the Turquoise team. They are open to feedback and leave a little note for me each time they clean. I really appreciate their attentiveness to my home. Please let them know how much I appreciate their service."