How to Find a Maid that’s a Good Fit
Hiring a maid for Home Cleaning is a decision that shouldn’t be taken too lightly. This person will be given full access to your home and you want to be sure you’re working with someone you feel you can trust. Some services will even clean your home while you’re away, so you’ll be handing over your keys and alarm code to a new person. Before you make your choice, there are many important factors to consider.

How Does the Maid Service Operate?
Different maid services can operate very differently, so you’ll want to find a company that fits your personal needs. Some companies will send a team of three or four people with a set routine who will quickly and efficiently handle the housecleaning. Other services will send a single maid to assist with your housecleaning. This type of arrangement is often more flexible with following your routine rather than their own. You will also find different scheduling choices with various companies. If you need services at a very specific time, this is an important factor to consider when you’re comparing maids.

Do You Have Special Family Members?
If you’re home while your maid is cleaning, she may become like a part of your family during the time that she’s there. You want someone who feels comfortable with your family. If you have pets, it’s important that you find a maid who is comfortable with animals and certainly not allergic. Some maids may be more comfortable with children or the elderly as well. Language is an important factor for clear communication, so you should select someone that you and your family can communicate with well.

What Are Your Cleaning Requirements?
Consider your expectations carefully before hiring a maid so you can make sure you’re all on the same page. Some clients need only a light cleaning service, while others expect a deep cleaning. Make a list of what you expect on each visit and don’t take any services for granted. Do you want the windows cleaned, dishes done, laundry washed, porches swept and plants watered? You can’t expect your maid to perform all these tasks unless you’re very clear about what you need. You should also ask whether the service will pick up and organize your belongings, or if this needs to be done prior to each visit.

How Did You Hear About the Maid Service?
Reliability and trustworthiness are a priority when you’re hiring the cleaning services of a maid. If you’ve simply selected a company from the phone book, you may want to ask for references to see how other clients feel about the company. Online research will help you learn more about the reputation of the company as well. When you read user reviews online, keep in mind that dissatisfied customers are more likely to take the time to post a complaint than happy customers are to sit down and rave. A single poor review could be the result of one unfortunate incidence in an otherwise reputable company.

Microbes and your Septic Systems
First of all, let’s not confuse microbes with enzymes. Microbes are living bacteria that are activated in water and will continue to work in drains and septic systems long after their first use. Like yeasts, these microbes will die if there’s nothing for them to eat, and boiling water can kill them. But in a moderate environment, there’s nothing that some useful microbes like better than to chow down on a big, hairy, greasy chunk of clog. They actually eat it—soap, food, grease and all—and turn solids into liquids.
But microbes can do more than eat up clogs. The little bugs—some 90 billion per gallon of liquid— do a bang-up job cleaning all sorts of areas where you need some serious cleaning action but don’t want chemical run-off to damage your lawn or run into the groundwater. When you shop for microbial drain cleaners, make sure you know the concentration of bacteria in the product you buy. One of the reasons Drainbo works as well as it does is that it contains the highest count of bacteria on the market. The folks at Drainbo test each batch for quality, so you always know you’re getting the best. You can use microbial drain cleaner in gravel or asphalt dog runs without harming the dogs or the surrounding soil. On rocky ground, the microbes that wash into the gravel continue to work, eating waste and clearing up odors.
Other excellent uses for microbial drain cleaners include septic tanks and holding tanks for RVs. In the septic system, microbes that wash down the drain take up residence in the drain, the pipes and the tank. In the drain, they work to prevent potential clogs, eating grease or soap products. They work in pipes as well, preventing or dissolving potential clogs further down the line. In the septic tank, microbes eat and digest solid waste at such a rate that the tank can be maintained indefinitely. And when microbes are working in the septic system, you get more than extended septic life: drains smell clean and fresh.

Because microbes actually digest waste, they can get rid of bad smells in places as varied as porta-potties, camp showers and RV holding tanks. They can sweeten up the smell of garbage disposals, too. And because microbes stay in place and work long after being introduced to a drain, while enzymes tend to work once and die off, drains can stay clean indefinitely with the use of a relatively small amount of microbial drain cleaner.

In fact, microbes can be put to use nearly anywhere that waste meets water. Used in large, environmentally-based wastewater treatment plants, microbes work as sewage is put through initial treatment in holding tanks, after which the waste water is run through a series of ponds. Microbes in the ponds clean the water through a stepped cleaning process, resulting in sewage treatment that creates clean water with no chemicals. While many traditional water treatments involve the use of chlorine, which is harmful to the environment, microbial water treatment systems create no pollutants. Microbes are even being used to clean up serious environmental problems such as oil spills.