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SALT LAKE CITY - It's something you may not look forward to, but it's time for spring cleaning. More people may try to save money by doing it themselves this year instead of hiring someone else.
This is the busiest times of the year for Kelly Ballard, the owner of Second Hand Chic. Her business is one that benefits directly from spring cleaning.
"Spring time is definitely when people start to sell their stuff. They're remodeling, they're moving and so they're trying to get rid of some extra stuff they have," she said.
She likes to stock up at all the estate sales and garage sales this time of year, and that will hopefully sustain her through the winter.
"People are just kind of trying to simplify their lives, which means reducing the amount of stuff they have," she explained.
The Deseret News cited a survey showing 68 percent of all Americans are committed to spring cleaning this year. While some cleaning services are seeing just as many customers as they had last year, others say the bad economy has their spring cleaning bookings down a lot.
Stan, with 2 Local Gals Cleaning Service, said, "I know for a fact the business is down about 50 hours a week, and that's sizeable."
Stan only wanted to give his first name. He says customers have told him they're having money issues, and want to put their services off for a time. For people who want to do it themselves, there is something you should know about keeping dust off of electronics. There is really not a lot you can do.
"As soon as you turn on the heat in your house there's dust, so you're not going to avoid it. But if you unplug electronics it seems to keep the dust down," Stan said.
As a matter of fact, when it comes to dusting, people use liquids like Pledge or Old English. While that will make furniture look nice for a while, Molly Maids President Lance McBride says it could make cleaning harder later.
"It also has a tendency to trap the dust, so if the dust falls on that surface, it's going to get trapped in that residue," he said.
While working in the bathroom on hard water stains, McBride says he uses a product in which hydrogen peroxide is the active ingredient.
"We let it react with that and it chemically removes those hard water deposits. It still takes a little bit of scrubbing," he said.
McBride says Mr. Clean Magic Eraser work well on scuffs, but it also removes paint from walls if you scrub too much. Also, if you plan to use The Works toilet cleaner, don't spill any on your carpet, because that bit of the carpet will melt.
E-mail: pnelson@ksl.com
