Month: October 2022

How to Keep Your Carpets Looking New – 7 Tips From the Experts

Carpeting has many advantages over other types of flooring. It provides warmth in the winter, traps cool air in the summer, muffles noise, reduces dust and allergens in the air, and is comfortable to walk on. Proper carpet cleaning will keep your carpet looking great, improve your air quality, and save you money.

Cleaning your carpet the right way is easy. All it takes is a little know-how, and N&C Service is happy to provide this knowledge to you!

1. Get stain-resistant carpeting.

Most carpets can be treated with stain-resistant products. When you’re shopping for carpeting, be sure to mention if you have pets or children. Ask if the carpet you are considering is pre-treated. If not, check with the manufacturer to find out if the carpet can be treated with stain-resistant protection. The stain-resistant product will coat the carpet, reducing friction between the fibers and giving you extra time to clean up spills before they soak in and stain.

2. Vacuum regularly.

Dirt will shorten the life of your carpet by cutting and fraying the fibers. And carpet that is damaged from dirt will stain easier. Even if your carpet looks clean, the dirt is hiding in the fibers. Regular vacuuming is absolutely necessary to keep your carpet in good condition. You can never vacuum too often. We recommend a thorough vacuuming at least once a week, and more often for high-traffic areas.

Vacuuming tips:

• Be sure to vacuum both backwards and forwards to reach the most dirt.

• A full vacuum bag will reduce your vacuum cleaner’s efficiency. Be sure to change the bag when it’s 2/3 full.

3. Place a mat outside your entrances and a rug inside.

These will catch some of the dirt it reaches your carpet. You can also use carpet runners to protect high-traffic areas of your carpeting. Better to replace a worn out rug than an entire carpet!

4. Clean spills immediately.

Leaving a spill on the carpet too long can cause it to stain. When spills occur, take action quickly! Blot up liquids, don’t rub or you will fray the carpet fibers. The internet is a good resource for instruction on removing specific types of spills. For large or difficult spills, call in the carpet cleaning professionals.

5. Take off your shoes.

Removing your shoes at the door will greatly reduce the amount of dirt that is tracked across your carpet. Not only that, it will reduce the amount of dirt in your house overall, and you will need to dust, mop and vacuum less often.

Ideas:

• If you don’t like to walk around without shoes, consider having “house shoes” which you only worn inside.

• You can keep a shelf for guest’s shoes next to your door, and a chair for them to sit on as they remove their shoes.

• Keep a box of shoe-covers handy for service people who visit.

6. Rearrange your furniture.

By changing the position of your furniture once in a while, you can alter traffic patterns and therefore extend the life of your carpet.

7. Call the professionals.

Even if you take steps 1-4 above, dirt will build up in your carpet over time. Most experts recommend you have your carpet professionally cleaned every six months to remove the dirt your vacuum cleaner leaves behind. When you can notice the carpet needs cleaning, the damage has already begun. So remember to plan ahead!…

College Students’ Finance Management Tips

If you are a college student, you are probably suffering from a serious lack of money. However, all this can change once you learn how to manage all the money that you have, because that way you will be able to have a lot more money available for you. Here are some of the best tips for money management for college students:

First of all, make sure that you will spend some time and keep track of all the things that you are buying. That way you can easily see what amount of money you are spending on items that you do not need and later on you will be able to cut those expenses.

Get all the possible college student discounts that are available, because that way you will be able to save a lot of money from, for example riding the bus, going to movies or even ordering pizza. There are a lot of places where you can get information about the college student’s discounts that are available, so make sure that you will spend some time and see what you can do for that.

Be caution when giving any kind of personal information. That is one of the best ways to protect yourself from possible theft of our money. Make sure that you will not give your Social Security number to anyone. Furthermore, remember that you should never give any information about your credit cards or other places that you keep your money.

Use only of the credit cards that you have, because that way you will be able to keep yourself from getting in debt. Furthermore, make sure that you will set a credit limit on your own and do everything possible not to exceed it. For example if your credit card have $5000 limit, make sure that you will set a limit of $2000 and keep it.

Organize all the money that you have and create a budget that you will follow. That way you will be spending only the amount of money that you had set, which will allow you to avoid getting into any debt. Furthermore, make sure that you will keep your money in a place that you do not have access, because that way you will be able to resist the temptation of spending them. It is a good idea to get a debit card issued.

Start saving money for emergency expenses, which will allow you to cover all the expenses that may occur. It is a good idea to buy a piggy bank and start putting money in it. You will be amazed how much money you will have after an year, if you place only 5% of the money that you get there.

Start buying all the books that you will need during your college period. There are a lot of websites that are offering comparison services, which will allow you to choose the best price for the book that you need.…

How to Select Your Commercial Cleaning Company

Find three qualified bidders.

We all know that Google (or Bing or Yahoo) will provide you with countless options to choose from with a few simple search keywords. The important thing to remember is to use wording that will eliminate the providers that don’t specialize in your area of need. For instance, be sure to add “commercial” or “office” to the rest of your search phrase to weed out residential-only cleaning companies. And if you have a medical facility (or another property with specific cleaning requirements), include that as well. For general office space “office cleaning service” or “commercial janitorial service” along with the name of your city should bring up more than enough options to choose from.

In addition to your online search, ask around!! Positive word-of-mouth is the best indicator that a cleaning company is good at what they do. Most every commercial facility employs an outsourced cleaning or maintenance outfit in some form or fashion. Ask your friends or family if they work with someone they are happy with.

As you are narrowing down your search, check each potential bidder’s website to make sure they do in fact provide the type of services you are looking for. Also look for customer testimonials and any other ancillary services they may provide which might be of interest to you. If the health of the planet is even a small concern to you (and no matter where you stand on the politics of it, it really should be at least a small concern, right?) check to see if the provider has a green cleaning program. It should be noted that using environmentally friendly products and procedures is neither less effective nor more costly. Most cleaning companies have “gone green” in recent years because there’s no good reason not to.

Once you’ve narrowed it down to three, schedule a walk-through with each bidder.

At this point, when you are speaking with actual humans (as opposed to reading web pages), you’ll begin to get a feel for what really matters – the kind of people you will be working with. There is a common misconception that anyone could do a cleaning job. Anyone who has ever cleaned an office building, refinished a floor, done carpet detailing or washed windows can tell you, there are tricks to the trade that sometimes take years to fine tune. Experience is key. You want the personnel handling your cleaning duties to have had plenty of practice in the business. The same is true for the representative you will be working with, perhaps even more so. The company owner or account manager should be professional, responsive, and knowledgeable and they should treat their staff with respect. The working relationship between management and staff is crucial to things running efficiently. Be sure to ask the kinds of questions that will reveal just how the operation works, and more importantly, what type of people will be responsible for the account.

Other things to bear in mind during walk-throughs (in no particular order of importance):

1) Provide each bidder with the exact same information so you are comparing apples to apples.2) Try to be specific about what you are looking for and any areas of concern that are most important to you. 3) What is included in the proposal price? Are chemicals extra? Periodic services such as semi-annual floor refinishing included? (If these are not included, be sure to have them listed separately.) 4) What quality control measures does the company employ? 5) Can the company provide paper products, soaps, and trash liners? If so, have them include a paper price sheet with their proposal. 6) Does the company carry general liability insurance? Workman’s compensation? Fidelity bonding? 7) Be sure to ask for references from each bidder.

Making your final selection.

You now have three proposals to choose from. Look through the cleaning specifications and make sure they all include the services you need for your facility. Obviously, pricing is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle, but try to avoid the lowest bidder trap. If the price is too low (considerably lower than the other bids), corners will likely be cut and you’ll be going through the whole process again in short order. If you like everything about one provider’s proposal except for the price, ask if they have any room to work with you. When we bid jobs, we submit our lowest number on the first go-around (we want the work!), but I never mind if someone asks. No one should mind. It simply means, “I like you, but I don’t know if I can afford you.” It’s worth a shot if that’s all that stands in the way of a deal.

Above all, if you like the representative …

Discount Moving Boxes

How many times have you moved from home to home, and used cardboard boxes that were falling apart and had to be taped up just to make it to their destination? This has happened to all of us, and it is not a good way to move. After all, we all have certain possessions that should be taken care of, and they can be damaged when we move. When these items are properly packed, you won’t have to worry about this, and this includes making sure that you are using the right type of boxes and packing materials.

Saving Money on Moving Boxes

If you are living within the Los Angeles area, there are many places you can go for moving boxes. One of the more obvious choices is to hit all of the local supermarkets and ask for boxes. The only problem is that even though these boxes were once sturdy enough for canned goods, chances are that they are not nearly as sturdy once the supermarkets are done with them. Things leak, and when boxes get wet, they become weak. A damaged box can lead to damaged items when you move, and this is something that you don’t want to happen.

Another option is to actually buy some good quality moving boxes. You may think of this as an unnecessary expense, but in the long run, it really is worth it to make sure that you are using the best quality boxes possible to protect your possessions during your move. You have many options available to you when you are purchasing boxes, and prices can range from extremely reasonable to extremely expensive, and everything in between.

There is one company where you can find all of the boxes you will need, at a price that you can afford. Moving Day Boxes offers boxes that all have the manufacturer’s seals, but are less expensive than what you would pay for the exact same thing at stores. To make the deal even better, you can have your boxes delivered to your home for free which is going to save you even more money.

What Makes a “Good” Moving Box?

When you are looking for boxes to pack your belongings in so you can move, there are certain qualities you need to look for in the boxes. For one thing, they should be strong enough to withstand other boxes being stacked on top of them. If they cannot bear weight, they should definitely not be used to pack anything that is fragile. Boxes that have been certified as 32 ECT and have undergone edge-crush testing are the best ones to use, and you can be sure that your belongings are going to arrive at their destination safe and sound.

Even if you are always trying to take steps to protect the environment and try to always use recycled products, one product that should not be recycled are your moving boxes. There are companies that are making moving boxes from recycled products, but these boxes are not nearly as strong as those made from new products, and they usually do not have a seal of approval. Any boxes that you purchase from Moving Day Boxes is guaranteed to have a manufacturer’s seal of approval, and you are free to verify the seal to make sure that it is the real thing.

It is always best to use new boxes when you are moving. Boxes that have already been used are often worn, and may not protect your possessions as well as new boxes. You are also not going to have to worry about dirt with new boxes, which is something you have to consider with used boxes. You can tell if a box is new just by seeing how thick and stiff the cardboard is.

Finding Moving Boxes

As we mentioned above, there are many ways to get the boxes you need to move. You can scour the supermarkets and other stores for used boxes which may or may not be sturdy enough to protect your belongings during the move. You can also get boxes from friends and family members who have just moved themselves, but again, these are going to be used, and if they got them from stores, they will be even weaker when it comes time for you to use them.

When you purchase moving boxes, you will know that you are getting brand new boxes that have not been weakened by previous use. You will find boxes in all shapes and sizes, so you can pack anything, and, you will also be able to get all of the packing materials you need to keep your belongings safe while you are moving. When you need moving boxes, take a look at what Moving Day Boxes has …

Starting a Cleaning Company

For those of you contemplating starting up a business in the cleaning industry you will find a huge amount of resources on the internet to help you come to a decision. Some of them are free and some you have to pay a small fee for. Some are proclaiming the benefits of cleaning franchises others are advising how to set up by yourself. One thing they all seem to have in common having taken a look at many of these resources is that they will tell you how easy it all is!

They maintain that a cleaning business has low start up costs, is easy to do and easy to run in comparison to many other businesses that might be under consideration. They often proclaim that you do not need any special skills, presumably cleaning skills or business skills, and for a very small outlay you can be up and running. Some of the franchise opportunities even suggest that you can carry on your normal job as it is virtually self running!

Some of this is indeed true. Start up costs can be very small. However the other things are a little off the mark.

What sort of business do you want to run? Office cleaning only? Domestic cleaning only? Industrial Cleans? Builders Cleans? Or a combination of all of them? Office cleaning is a very difficult market to break into and competition is incredibly high. There will always be someone who can under cut your pricing structure. How do you propose breaking into this market? Are you going to employ people or do you do it all yourself? If you decide the latter then you are limiting your growth and eventual income generation. What will actually make your company different to all the others out there? How are you going to advertise? What is the best form of advertising? All these things you have to consider beforehand and build a plan for your company. It is no good arming yourself with a vacuum, mop and bucket and a boot full of cleaning chemicals and then expecting to find contracts easily.

Many people believe that cleaning should be very lucrative and easy to run, after all, the majority of businesses require the services of cleaners at some point and regardless of the economic situation they still have to be cleaned. The reality is that most businesses already have cleaners in place and during hard times they often cut back on their cleaning. So how do you sell your company and services to clients who already have cleaners in place? With great difficulty! You have to be in place when they decide it is time for a change or things are going wrong with their cleaning.

How do you get to these people? Join networks, business clubs, chambers of commerce and anything else in your area which attracts businesses. That way you get to meet the decision makers in social settings and if they like you when the time comes they will think of you!

Despite what many of these on line resources tell you it requires long hours and hard work to propel your cleaning services business into one which is financially viable and rewarding.…