· by Michael Blair, Nashville's Cleaning Service
Most people who call us about house cleaning already know they want the help. What they have not settled is how often. Weekly, every other week and once a month are the three schedules nearly everyone picks between, and they are not the same service at different prices. Each one keeps up with some parts of a house and lets others build, and which parts build depends on who lives there, whether a dog sleeps on the sofa, and how damp the bathrooms stay through a Tennessee summer. Here is how we think about the choice, and how our recurring house cleaning changes with the schedule.
The first visit tells us how fast the house falls behind
Whatever schedule a household picks, our first visit is longer and more thorough than the ones after it, because recurring visits can only maintain a level the house has already reached. We cover what that first visit takes off in deep clean or regular clean, and the difference. For choosing a schedule, its real value is what we learn on the second visit: how much came back, and where.
So we would rather settle the interval after a visit or two than guess at it on the phone. A house that looks nearly untouched after two weeks can go longer between visits. One where the pink film is back in the shower by day ten, or the hallway runner is gray with dog hair, is telling us the gap is too wide. We could not find a cleaning association that publishes a standard definition of a recurring clean, so what follows is how we do it, not an industry rule.
What weekly and biweekly visits keep up with
A weekly visit lines up with the chores allergy groups actually put on a weekly clock. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, in its guide to controlling indoor allergens, advises vacuuming once or twice a week and cleaning bathroom mold off each week to keep it from returning. A weekly visit meets both without anyone in the house lifting a brush in between. The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology advises washing bedding weekly in 130° F water in its page on managing indoor allergen culprits. The hot wash is laundry, but on a weekly schedule we strip the beds and remake them with fresh sheets you leave out, which keeps that rhythm from slipping.
Every other week is where most households land, and it holds up well for two adults without pets. Somebody runs a vacuum and wipes the sinks in the middle, and our visit does the full job. On a weekly schedule the kitchen and bathrooms are light work by the time we arrive, so we fold one extra area into each visit: the baseboards in one room, the inside of the microwave, a set of blinds. On a biweekly schedule that rotation shrinks, and the time goes back to the showers and the floors.
What slips on a once-a-month schedule
Monthly cleaning suits some houses, but it is worth being plain about what builds in four weeks. Bathrooms go first. The EPA’s mold cleanup guidance notes that places that are often damp can be hard to keep completely free of mold, and that mold that keeps coming back in a shower calls for more ventilation and more frequent cleaning. In a Middle Tennessee bathroom with a tired exhaust fan and muggy air through a long summer, a month is enough for mildew to work into grout that a weekly scrub would have kept on the surface.
The kitchen is next. Cooking grease on the range hood, the backsplash behind the stove and the cabinet doors beside it starts as a film that wipes off and turns into a tacky layer that holds dust and needs a degreaser and time. That is our experience on the job rather than a published rate, but it is consistent: the longer the interval, the more of each visit goes to the stove. Floors follow, especially with pets, since a once-a-month vacuum is a long way from the once or twice a week the allergy groups advise.
So a monthly visit from us looks different from a weekly one. Weekly is a maintenance pass through every room with one rotating detail task. Monthly is closer to a reset each time: longer, with more scrubbing in the shower and around the cooktop, the floor edges done by hand, and little room for extras. The CDC’s advice on cleaning and disinfecting at home is to clean high-touch surfaces such as light switches, doorknobs and countertops regularly and after you have had visitors. On a monthly schedule, most of that falls to the household between our visits.
Picking a schedule for your household
Pets pull the schedule shorter. The AAAAI notes that all dogs and cats carry the proteins people react to, so no breed is allergy-free, and it advises vacuuming carpets often. A shedding dog and wall-to-wall carpet rarely stay pleasant on a monthly visit. Allergies pull it shorter still. For anyone allergic, the AAAAI recommends a vacuum with a HEPA filter or a double-layered bag, and suggests having someone else do the vacuuming, which is a fair description of a weekly visit. It also notes that dust mites thrive above 75 percent humidity, which is why running the air conditioning or a dehumidifier through a humid summer does as much for a sneezing household as any schedule we could set.
Children and the way the house is used count as much as pets. Toddlers mean floors that get eaten off, sticky light switches and a hall bathroom used by people who do not aim; that is a weekly or biweekly house. A couple who work long hours and rarely cook can do well every other week. A single owner, a house that sits mostly empty or one that seldom has company can run monthly with a light tidy in between. If you entertain often, book the visit for the day before rather than the day after.
Wherever you are in Nashville or the towns around it, the simplest way to settle the question is to start with the first visit and decide with us once we have seen how the house holds up. Ask for a free estimate and tell us who lives there, whether there are pets or allergies, and the two things you notice first when the house slips.
Sources
- Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, Control Indoor Allergens — Vacuum once or twice a week; clean bathroom mold off each week to keep it from returning.
- American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, Managing Indoor Allergen Culprits — Bedding washed weekly at 130° F; HEPA or double-bag vacuum; no breed of dog or cat is allergy-free; dust mites thrive above 75 percent humidity.
- US EPA, Mold Cleanup in Your Home — Often-damp places are hard to keep free of mold; recurring shower mold calls for more ventilation and more frequent cleaning.
- CDC, When and How to Clean and Disinfect Your Home — Clean high-touch surfaces regularly and after visitors; disinfecting is likely unnecessary unless someone is sick; clean before disinfecting.