Author: oi_admin

Go Green This St. Patrick's Day!

Posted on March 16, 2010 by - Healthy Soul, Uncategorized

Green living is easy once you know what to do.  Just about every corner of your life and home offers many opportunities to be green, without requiring you to sacrifice comfort or convenience.  Choosing to be green is about improving our lives and the quality of living every day.  Being green not only serves the planet, but it also serves us.

Choosing to clean kindly with nontoxic and biodegradable products helps protect our freshwater supplies from contamination plus it prevents the buildup of chemical residues in our homes and improves indoor air quality.

Cleaning a home with eco-friendly cleaning products can also help provide a safer home.  Families that use green cleaning products, especially homemade green cleaning products,  have less to worry about when it comes to keeping poisonous chemicals in the home because most of the products are made with harmful ingredients like lemon.

This St. Patrick's Day, while you are thinking green and wearing green, why not "go green!"

A Clean Home is a Healthy Home ...Or Is It?

Posted on March 10, 2010 by - Healthy Home, Uncategorized

Over the past decade, the ever-expanding market of home cleaning products has included a number of dangerous chemicals and harsh cleaning agents.  Today, the cleaning products are more dangerous than the things we are trying to clean up. 

Many common household products contain bleach, ammonia, alcohol, formaldehyde and more.  The toxic fumes of these chemicals are a major threat to indoor air quality, which can irritate eyes and respiratory systems.  Some substances are even linked to neurological, liver and kidney damage, asthma and even cancer. 

Fortunately, green cleaning can achieve an accepted level of cleanliness, which is pleasing for adults and safe for children and pets, without using hazardous household cleaners and disinfectants.  Green cleaning is the use of environmentally -friendly products and services that are non-toxic, biodegradable, and petroleum-free. 

Green cleaning is simply taking the next step beyond our current approaches to maintain and improve the healthfulness, comfort and aesthetics of our surroundings.

Power Clean like a Pro

Posted on March 10, 2010 by - Green Cleaning Tips and Tricks

Keeping up the house is a LOT of work – that’s why so many people turn to Maid Brigade! When customers ask us for "power clean" tips they can do in between our cleaning visits we share these three “Power Clean” tools that really save time:

 

Microfiber. Scientifically woven to pick up more dust, dirt and germs than traditional cotton cloths or paper towels, they require little, if any, cleaning solution because they are so effective at cleaning mirrors, glass, counters, furniture dusting, etc. using water alone. They really save time – and money too!

 

Bucket.  Keep all your house cleaning supplies in one bucket, and keep one bucket on each floor of your home. You’ll be surprised how much time it saves when you don’t have to stop cleaning to retrieve supplies from another area or level of your home.

 

Cobwebber.  This handy tool telescopes so that you can quickly reach high places, low places and corners. The average home can be cobweb-free in just a few minutes with this tool. Don’t forget the front porch – this is where lasting first impressions about your housekeeping abilities are made first!

Clean Green!

Posted on March 8, 2010 by - Green Cleaning Tips and Tricks, Uncategorized

After a long winter, a good spring cleaning is a great way to bring a sense of renewal to your home.  This year, try green cleaning your home.  Families across the country are adopting new ways to clean that are good for the environment and healthy for their families.  The main goal of green cleaning is to use cleaning solutions and methods that will keep our environment healthy.  Try using non-toxic cleaning products.  Look for green cleaners that are "biodegradable", "phosphate-free", or "petroleum-free".  Choose cleaners that do not contain ammonia or chlorine because they give off toxic fumes that can irritate eyes and respiratory systems.  Try making your own cleaners at home.  Even the biggest messes and toughest stains can be tackled with baking soda, borax, lemon juice and more. 

Why are children more vulnerable to common household chemicals?

Posted on March 5, 2010 by - News

Even products that are non-toxic and biodegradable can create health risks.  One problem with cleaning chemicals is that exposures can be from inhalation and skin absorption, not just consumption.  Another is that our families are exposed to these on a regular basis. Also, our body can’t purge all these chemicals and small exposures can add up to larger ones through accumulation.

Did you know that solvents, which are in many household cleaners (to cut through grease, for example) can cause a broad range of neurological damage, from as mild as headaches to as serious as dementia?  One example is 2-butoxyethanol (also known as 2-butyl).  It is in over 200 household products that families have trusted for years (even supposedly "green" cleaning products).  Yet the EPA’s Design for the Environment (DfE) has identified 2-butyl as having potential effects on blood, the central nervous system, kidneys and liver.
 
Maid Brigade’s green cleaning solutions are certified by Green Seal to meet stringent health and environmental criteria.  You can trust us to keep you home cleaner and healthier than any other cleaning service.
 

"Wipe Away" Those Winter Blues

Posted on March 2, 2010 by - Green Cleaning Tips and Tricks

Springtime and spring cleaning are right around the corner, but before you can think of cleaning your home, you need to organize it first.  Home organization is about finding the right place for the things you have in your home and letting go of those things which no longer need to be there.

Take a walk around your home and identify the clutter areas, the areas where things pile up the quickest.  These are usually kitchen countertops, kitchen drawers, and closets.  Start small, go through one area at a time.  Try to categorize the clutter into groups, such as important paperwork, magazines and articles, clothes, jackets, etc.  Make sure you store similar items together in an easy accessible place.  Go through clothes closets and get rid of clothes that aren't worn.  Lessen the "free items" that come into your home.  Do you really need every free t-shirt, bag and coffee mug that is offered to you?  Limit the free items to those that you will actually use and enjoy.  

Every couple of days, scan your home for clutter spots.  Try and clean these spots before the clutter accumulates too much.  Some areas, like kitchen counters, might need daily de-cluttering.  However you decide to de-clutter and organize, the happier you will feel.

 

Introducing Marie Stegner, our Consumer Health Advocate

Posted on February 17, 2010 by - News, Uncategorized

As a pioneer of the green house cleaning movement Maid Brigade sees it as our corporate responsibility to act as advocates for the consumer with regards to the health impact of cleaning chemicals. Most of our primary customers, busy working mothers, have neither the time to research these impacts nor the expertise to interpret scientific data which links certain chemicals to various illnesses.  Yet it is vitally important that you be able to make informed purchasing decisions to reduce potential chemical exposures and protect the health of your family.  Our consumer advocacy mission intends to assemble valuable information on the topic of household chemicals and cleaning products and convey that information in a convenient manner that is easy to understand. Our consumer advocacy web site, GreenCleanCertified.com, contains numerous articles and videos, and even an interactive quiz on green living. 

In 2010 we are doubling our efforts and have hired a Consumer Health Advocate to help us help busy working moms to achieve a healthier home through green living and especially green cleaning.  Through our research we have come to understand the “2nd shift” phenomenon – working a number of hours cleaning and keeping house after a full day in the paid workforce.  Our Consumer Health Advocate will also help busy moms with work/life balance – because this balance can have so much impact on health. 

Maid Brigade welcomes Marie Stegner as our Consumer Health Advocate.  A registered nurse, professional health and wellness manager and mother of three, Marie answers the call for more consumer education and advocacy related to the impact of common household chemicals on our health and the environment.   Marie came to us through our partnership with Mom Corps, the leader in the flexible employment arena.  She will be blogging for us on a regular basis as well as writing articles, creating videos and even appearing at local events - all to help busy women lead healthier lives and create healthier homes.
 

De-clutter this winter

Posted on February 16, 2010 by - Green Cleaning Tips and Tricks, Uncategorized

Around the house, a thorough de-cluttering this winter will help you feel calmer and more balanced going into the first spring of the new decade. Purging and de-cluttering is not easy and involves physical and often emotional effort. Here are some ideas to make the task more manageable:

One at a time. Look at the trees, not the forest. This project is really a series of small projects, not one massive one. Focus on the immediate closet, or dresser, or room you are de-cluttering. Don’t think about the next area until you have completed this one.

Take the history test. If you haven’t used an item in over a year, do you really need it? Of course this can’t be a hard and fast rule, but if you put each item to the test, you’ll be surprised how much clutter you can eliminate.

Make it green. Recycle or donate what you’ve purged to reduce landfill waste. If you’re going to have your home cleaned after you’ve de-cluttered, hire Maid Brigade, the only cleaning company that is Green Clean Certified® for your family’s health.

Maid Brigade Joins Forces wtih MomCorps

Posted on September 21, 2009 by - News

Maid Brigade and Mom Corps have partnered:  Helping busy working moms around the house. 

Mom Corps is an innovative staffing solution, supplying companies top-tier, experienced professionals "on demand" to meet business needs and cycles, while enabling candidates seeking flexibility to pursue their professional careers.  We provide professionals challenging work in their respective fields through virtual, contract, and full or part time flexible jobs that allow them to maintain work/life balance.

Maid Brigade and Mom Corps developed our alliance to foster a better sense of work/life balance for working women who juggle career, family and household management and worry about “doing it all well”.

Take our survey!

Our first venture as partners is a research project.  We want to know how busy women like you feel about balancing housework and career in an age of digital distractions and viral pandemics.

All survey participants will be entered into a sweepstakes to WIN a FREE green house cleaning, valued at $250. Plus, you will receive a FREE copy of our Green Guide to help you learn more about green living for health and the environment.  And, you’ll receive a FREE copy of the survey findings once the research is complete. 

It’s simple! Click the "Take our Survey" link above to tell us how YOU balance career and housework.  We invite you to learn more about our new partner, Mom Corps.

We've Earned Green Routing Certification!

Posted on April 28, 2009 by - News, Uncategorized

Maid Brigade is proud to announce that our company has earned Green Routing Certification from ServiceCEO.  Green Routing Certification means that we have met certain criteria to demonstrate that we strive to reduce our company's dependence on fossil fuels.  We do so by using special software that allows our maids and house cleaning crews to schedule client cleaning visits in geographic order.  In other words, the daily schedule is based on the most fuel efficient way to get the teams from client to client.  Spending less time driving means using less gasoline which means fewer carbon emissions, fewer green house gases, less dependence on foreign oil and a greener company overall.

We've been cleaning green for two years and will continue to offer the greenest house cleaning available today. Now Maid Brigade is taking a look at other green practices we can adopt to contribute to improving our environment.

EPA Considers Allowing Disinfectant Labels to Carry Green Claims

Posted on April 9, 2009 by - News

Traditionally, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not allowed manufacturers of disinfectants and sanitizers to make valid claims of environmental preferability on the package labels. The reason is that disinfectants are, by definition, pesticides since disinfectants kill germs.  Pesticides are effectively poisons.  In fact, there are currently no green cleaning certifications allowable for disinfectants for this reason.

Yet the EPA is considering allowing supliers to make factual claims of environmental preferability and is expected to make recommendations on green claims at the April 22 - 23 meeting of the EPA's Pesticide Policy Dialogue Committee, according to the industry "publication" Cleaning & Maintenance Management Online.  The move signals a turning point in the market for green house cleaning products and services and that's why I'm blogging about this today.  Whether science has evolved to the point where effective, eco-friendly disinfectant formulas are possible, or demand for these types of products has increased, or a combination of both has catalyzed the EPA's leanings are unclear.

EPA is currently defining the parameters of qualification for products to carry eco-friendly claims on their labels in conjunction with the agency's Design for the Environment initiative.

This is all well and good but I have my eyebrow up about the word "valid".  We've seen so much green washing lately (false or exaggerated claims about a product's environmental or health benefits) and I don't expect that disinfectants will be any different.  While I am concerned about the environment to a great degree, I am more concerned with your health and the health of our maids.  If something is truly better for the environment then it is likely a healthier choice than the other products on a grocery shelf and the reverse is also true - if something is healthier for humans and pets, then it's likely a better choice for enviromental stewardship too.  But just saying so doesn't make it so.

Reading package labels for the ingredients in a house cleaning product, such as a disinfectant or a glass cleaner, won't give you enough information to decide for yourself whether a product is safe and whether the claim is valid.  Also, claims aren't necessarily full disclosure.  (See my post on Sept 2, 2008 where I talk about Simple Green.  The stuff is non-toxic and it IS biodegradable but just because it won't kill you doesn't mean it can't do you harm!)

So, do your own homework.  Search online for the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for house cleaning products you use or are considering using. Find out what the ingredients are and then search online to see whether those ingredients are associated with any health risks.  I can't say enough about the Household Products Database - a great tool to help you research the safety of your cleaning products, as well as other household products you may be using on a weekly or daily basis.

As developments unfold with this disinfectants story, we'll keep you posted.