December 2011 Newsletter

by Jen
December 1st, 2011

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from Seattle Green Cleaner!  We hope your holiday season is full of good friends, family and good times.

SGC sincerely appreciates all of our customers, and especially our regularly scheduled customers who are the heart and backbone of our business. We are very excited to show our appreciation with hand made holiday gifts this year.  They’ll start being delivered on December 12th.  And of course, they’re totally green!  


Christmas Trees and Gift Ideas:

If you haven’t finished shopping, please consider making your holidays more green this year.  We have some great ideas that are both earth and wallet friendly!

  • It isn’t too late to purchase cleaning gift certificates. We’re happy to create gift certificates in any amount over $150.00.  Please contact us by December 19th so we’ll have plenty of time to customize the gift certificate and email it to you or the recipient.
  • For other green shopping ideas, we love this Green Deals site! 
  • Not shopping online this year?  Please shop local!  Your local neighborhood merchants work hard to earn and keep your business and care about their customers much more than any big box store!
  • Don’t have a Christmas Tree yet?  We’re excited to tell you about Ikea’s Annual Christmas Tree Rental event.  Ikea is holding their annual event December 3rd-4th.  Rent 3-7 ft Douglas Fir Christmas Trees for $19.99 plus tax.  When you return the tree for mulching January 7th-8th, you’ll receive a $10 coupon for your next purchase at Ikea through March 31st.  This is such a great deal!  $10 for a Christmas tree which gets recycled into mulch?  Now that’s environmentally friendly!  

Office and Staff:

  • We’re happy to announce Shawn’s new title of “Administrative Assistant/Head Trainer”.  She is now in the office full time helping Jen with scheduling, answering the phones and responding to emails.  In addition to being in the office full time, she trains all new cleaners and is able to fill in on the rare occasion that a cleaner is out sick.  This change should really improve customer service and our response time to your requests.
  • Now that Wim is “Head Cleaner”, he’ll usually clean on his own (instead of with a team), which will allow more time for his other responsibilities.  You’ll still see him around as he pops in occasionally to check on other cleaners’ work.  This should also greatly improve customer service.
  • We’re going to play around with the teams a bit for December.  For now the plan is to have the following teams:  1) Wim (by himself most of the time), 2) Jason, Hannah and Alicia, 3) Nathan and Jena.  Please let us know if you have a preference for scheduling/teams.

 

New pricing starts January 1st for our long-term customers:
Please remember the price increase for our long-term customers starts the first cleaning day of the New Year (January 2nd).  We raised our hourly rate over the summer from $40 to $50 for all new customers.  The discounted rate for our regularly scheduled long-term customers will be $45/hour.  We first announced this change in our September 2011 newsletter as well as October and November, but wanted to remind you again.

11/07:
Christmas Tree Rental

Rent 3-7 ft Christmas Trees from Ikea and return for mulching in early January.

12/12:
Holiday gifts from SGC starting being delivered!

We are very excited to show our appreciation with hand made holiday gifts this year for all our regularly scheduled customers.

12/19:
Holiday Gift Certificates

Please order by 12/19 so we’ll have plenty of time to create the customized gift certificate.

01/01:
Price Increase

Reminder: Over the summer we raised our hourly rate to $50 for new customers. The price increase for our long-term customers will be $45/hour (a discounted rate) starting 01 Jan.

01/01:
Turn your Christmas tree into mulch!

Return your Christmas tree for mulching and get a $10 coupon for your next Ikea visit.

All Year:
Referral Rewards

Remember that whenever you refer someone to us, we’ll take $25 off your next cleaning, following your friend’s initial cleaning.


Categories Newsletter
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Natural Air Freshener Recipe

by Jen
December 1st, 2011

Natural Air Freshener:

    • 50/50 ratio of White Vinegar and Water.
    • Add  a few drops of organic essential oils.
    • Combine into a spray bottle, shake, then spray away!

    • White Vinegar is particularly effective as a green cleaning agent and deodorizer. It helps remove unpleasant odors and is clear and gentle enough to spray directly on carpets, upholstery, etc. without the danger of staining or damaging materials, like more harsh products can do.

    • Eucalyptus and lavender extracts are our recommendation to give your home made air freshener a fresh clean scent that most everyone will love. Why not make your own unique combination of scents?

    Have some fun with it!  Make a holiday scented version and give it as a gift!

Categories Natural Recipes
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November 2011 Newsletter

by Jen
October 26th, 2011
Happy Anniversary:

Time flies when you’re having fun!  It’s hard to believe November 7th will be the 4 year anniversary since our first cleaning appointment.

Jen started the company when she was searching for a green company to clean her own home.  Back then there were only a few green companies and none were quite as green as Jen thought they’d be.  The light bulb turned on and Jen felt confident that with so many like-minded, environmentally aware people in Seattle, the business would be a success.

Back in November 2007 it was just Jen and 1 customer and now we’ve grown to Jen plus 7 employees and over 360 regular customers.  And we’re still growing!  We’ve hired 3 new cleaners this month: Hannah, Alicia and Nathan and they’re working out fabulously.  Shawn has started the transition from Team Leader/Cleaner to Administrative Assistant/Trainer.  Half of her time is spent cleaning and training new cleaners and the other half helping Jen in the office.  By this time next year (hopefully  sooner), Shawn will be the Office Manager.

You’ve come a long way, baby!

 

New Website and Blog:

We have a newly designed website that we are really excited about!  With a new Instant Estimate, our customers can fill out the quote request form 24/7 and will instantly receive the estimate in their email inbox.

The website also has a new blog which will be updated a few times each month with green living tips, recipes for natural cleaning products and more.  Check it out and tell us what you think.  This month’s recipe is for natural fabric softener.

 

Facebook Contest:

With the holidays fast approaching and the 99% feeling the strain, why not jump at the chance to win a $150 housecleaning gift certificate.

The rules are simple:

  1. Post a review about your great experience with Seattle Green Cleaner on the SGC Facebook wall.
  2. Tell all your friends to “like” your post.  Don’t hold back now.  Tell everyone!  You like us.  You really, really like us!
  3. The posted review with the most “likes” before 11:59pm on Friday, 11/11/11 will receive a $150 Gift Certificate for housecleaning with Seattle Green Cleaner.
  4. You can use the certificate yourself or present it as a gift to anyone you choose (in Greater Seattle). 


Holiday and Party Clean-up:

Do you have relatives coming home for the holidays?  Are you hosting a party at your house?  Want to impress your in-laws?  

With so  many mouths to feed and decorations to hang, cleaning probably isn't at the top of the list.  Why not save all that cleaning time and let us help?  We can clean your home from top to bottom before the party and can even come back post party to clean up the destruction.  Maybe your guests are nicer than most, but do you know someone who needs our help?

 Give the gift that makes a lasting impression.  Imagine how clean your conscience will be when you give the gift of a clean home.  We're happy to create a personalized gift certificate of $150 or more to anyone in Greater Seattle.  We'll even save you the trouble, and email it directly to the recipient, if you'd like.   It's easy, just email us the details of your request and we'll make it happen.

11/07:
4 Year Anniversary!

November 7th will be the 4 year anniversary of our first ever cleaning appointment! Thank you to all our wonderful customers, many who have been with us since November 2007!

11/11:
$150 Gift Certificate Contest Ends

The person with the most Facebook “Likes” on your posted review of our service will win a $150 gift certifcate for cleaning. Contest ends 11:59pm on 11/11/11.

12/01:
Holiday Gift Certificates

Give the gift of housecleaning. We’re happy to create a gift certificate for any amount over $150. We can email (or mail) the gift certificate to you or the recipient.

01/01:
Price Increase

Reminder: Over the summer we raised our hourly rate to $50 for new customers. The price increase for our long-term customers will be $45/hour (a discounted rate) starting 01 Jan.

All Year:
Referral Rewards

Remember that whenever you refer someone to us, we’ll take $25 off your next cleaning, following your friend’s initial cleaning.

Categories Newsletter
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Natural Fabric Softener Recipe

by Jen
October 19th, 2011

Natural Fabric Softener – Good for your clothes, good for the planet!

Who doesn’t like soft clothes fresh from the dryer?  Most of us do, but look a little deeper and you’ll find that commercial fabric softeners and dryer sheets are TOXIC!  Here’s just a partial list of what can be found in the majority of commercial fabric softeners and dryer sheets:

  • Benzyl acetate: Linked to pancreatic cancer
  • Benzyl Alcohol: Upper respiratory tract irritant
  • Ethanol: On the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Hazardous Waste list and can cause central nervous system disorders
  • A-Terpineol: Can cause respiratory problems, including fatal edema, and central nervous system damage
  • Ethyl Acetate: A narcotic on the EPA’s Hazardous Waste list
  • Camphor: Causes central nervous system disorders
  • Chloroform: Neurotoxic, anesthetic and carcinogenic
  • Linalool: A narcotic that causes central nervous system disorders
  • Pentane: A chemical known to be harmful if inhaled

Let’s ditch the toxic stuff and make our own.  Here’s the recipe Seattle Green Cleaner recommends:

Ingredients and Equipment:
  • 1 cup baking soda (we use Bob’s Red Mill – since their’s doesn’t contain aluminum)
  • 6 cups distilled white vinegar
  • 8 cups water
  • Organic Essential oil in the scent of your choice (optional)
  • Large clean bucket (preferably one with a spout for easy pouring, or you can use a funnel)
  • Clean bottle(s) for storing (left over water bottles or why not a thermos?)

Method:

  • Put the baking soda in the bottom of the clean bucket. Add one cup of water and stir to combine.
  • Slowly add the vinegar – and watch it fizz.
  • Add the rest of the water.
  • Once the fizz has died down, pour your natural, homemade fabric softener into conveniently sized bottles.
  • Add a few drops of organic essential oil to scent your fabric softener.  We love the relaxing and subtle scent of lavender.
  • Each time you do a load of laundry, pour 1 cup of your clean creation in the rinse cycle of your washing machine.  Now sit back, relax and know that you’ve made a huge difference for your own health as well as the health of the planet.
  • Voila! Clean laundry and a clean conscience!

Seattle Green Cleaner ~ For a cleaner home and a cleaner conscience ™

Categories Natural Recipes
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October 2011 Newsletter

by Jen
September 23rd, 2011

Exciting News:

Imagine this: It’s 2:00am on Sunday and you can’t remember which day your
cleaners are coming. Oh wait, all you have to do is log in to see your
schedule or look for the reminder email that will be automatically sent
before each appointment. Sound good? This is just one of the improvements
Jen has been working on that will be live in the next 2 weeks.

We’ve also been working on an automated quote system. Imagine referring
your friend to Seattle Green Cleaner. They get excited, fill out the quote
request form online and receive an emailed estimate from us right away.
They can even schedule a cleaning appointment online. Within the coming
weeks, all of this will be live on our website!

Hey, don’t forget: When your friend hires us (from your referral), you’ll
get $20 off your next cleaning.

Credit cards only:

Starting 01 Oct 2011 we will no longer accept check payments. Since only
about 8% of our customers pay by check we’ve decided to go even more green
by only accepting credit card payments for cleaning. We accept Visa,
MasterCard and Discover (credit or debit cards) for full payment on cleaning
day.

What about tips? Cleaners _really_ appreciate cash tips. Forgot cash? No
worries; if you’d like us to add a gratuity to your charge, it will be on
your cleaner’s next paycheck and reported to the IRS.

Price Increase:

Our long-term customers (many since November 2007) will remember when it was
just Jen cleaning by herself. The price then was $40 per hour and it’s
stayed there for nearly 4 years. While the cost of most consumer goods and
services (not to mention gas prices) have steadily gone up, our prices have
remained the same. The rising cost to hire and keep good employees (and the
company’s share of taxes), mileage reimbursements, cleaning products and
supplies, office overhead, etc., requires us to increase the price of our
service too.

Over the summer we raised our hourly rate for new customers from $40 to $50.
Effective January 1st, the price increase for our long-term customers will
be at a discounted rate of $45. If the cost for cleaning last January was
$100, it will be $112.50 this January. If the cost for cleaning was $200
last January, it will be $225 this January. We’ve done extensive research
and have found that we’re still competitively priced among other green
cleaning companies.

We guarantee that you’ll see improved customer service, top notch cleaning
products and supplies, a personal visit from Jen to check on how cleaners
are doing (every few months), and most importantly, a dedicated team of
cleaners that make your complete satisfaction their top priority! Wim and
Shawn are still here (we hope they never leave!) and we’ve added some new
faces who truly have a passion for “a job well done”, an eye for detail and
a terrific attitude. We truly have the best cleaners in the business!

Our hope is that with 3+ months notice of this rate change, we’ll have the
opportunity to show you our dedication and why our customers continually
tell us “you get what you pay for”.

We appreciate your business!

10/01:
Credit cards only

We will only accept credit card payments for cleaning as of 01 Oct (Visa,
MasterCard, Discover).

Tips: Cleaners _really_ appreciate cash tips! If you’d like us to add a
gratuity to your charge, it will be on the cleaners’ next paycheck and
reported to the IRS.

11/01:
Holiday Gift Certificates

Give the gift of housecleaning. We’re happy to create a gift certificate
for any amount over $100. We can email (or mail) the gift certificate to
you or the recipient.

01/01:
Price Increase

Over the summer we raised our hourly rate to $50 for new customers. The
price increase for our long-term customers will be $45/hour (a discounted
rate) starting 01 Jan.

 

Categories Newsletter
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September 2011 Newsletter

by Jen
August 5th, 2011

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www.seattlegreencleaner.com
Thank you!Thank you for being our customer!  Whether you’re a new customer or you’ve been with us since day one, we appreciate you!  Seattle Green Cleaner is successful because we have built great relationships with equally great customers.  

News and Information:

We are working on a new scheduling system which will eventually allow our customers to track and schedule their appointments online, from both our website and Facebook.  It’s very exciting!

We have a couple of big announcements coming in the next weeks and months so keep an eye out for our next newsletter.  If you don’t already, please follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Meet the Team:

As we continue to expand, we thought it would be great to have a page on our website to show off our terrific cleaners.  Not everyone is on the page yet, since our two newest cleaners, Jena & Jason, still need photos.  Check out the new page here so you can put a name to a face and read a little about your cleaners.

Customer Satisfaction Survey:

We do value your opinion and apprecaite the feedback you give us.  The information you provide helps us maintain quality service and keep happy customers.  Remember to complete our Satisfaction Survey within two days of your last cleaning appointment to get $5 off the next cleaning.  

Article:

Did you see the Angie’s List article written about Jen in the April (Earth Day month) issue of Angie’s List magazine?  The print article was awesome, but you can still see the online version here.  Thank you to the wonderful customers who helped us earn the Angie’s List Super Service Award two years in a row!

Thank you!

Jennifer and the Seattle Green Cleaner team.

It is easy being green!

We use the following products for cleaning.  All can be purchased online and most can be purchased at your local PCC.

Baking Soda: Not just for baking.  We use Bob’s Red Mill baking soda as a scouring powder.  It’s aluminum free!

Dr Bronner’s liquid castile soap is made from organic ingredients, including hemp oil.

Paper towels? No way! We use Twist sponges, made from bamboo and compostable!

Paper towels?  No way!  Twist sponges are made from bamboo.  They’re compostable too!

Bio Green Clean – made from leafy green, fast growing, seed-bearing plants and not tested on animals.  Nothing toxic here!

Categories Newsletter
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How to choose a cleaning company

by Jen
March 19th, 2010

How to choose a cleaning company

There are several good reasons to choose a cleaning service over an individual cleaner.  Are you ready to be an employer?  Does the cleaning company you’ve hired have employees or contractors?  Is your property insured against theft or damage?  Here is a handy guide for choosing the right cleaner to fit your needs.

  • It sounds great: You hire an individual who will charge less than a cleaning company and all you have to do is provide the cleaning products and supplies, right?  Wrong!  You’ll also want to supply the IRS with a Publication 926 for Household Employees, but only after supplying the Employment Verification Form I-9.  Then be ready to withhold and pay their Federal Income, Social Security and Medicare taxes. (See IRS for more information) What if something is broken or stolen?  Are you covered?
  • Before you hire a cleaning service, ask if their cleaners are employees or contractors.  If they are contractors, the cleaning service you hire doesn’t need to provide liability insurance and in most cases, can’t even ensure how the job is done; only the end result.  If the cleaner is a contractor (1099 worker), they must provide their own business license, cleaning supplies and products and hopefully they are also licensed and bonded.  Do you have the time to verify their credentials?  What if something happens?
  • Hire a professional cleaning company with W-2 Employees (like Seattle Green Cleaner).  The company should be licensed and have liability insurance and a bond to cover any theft or damage.  The cleaners are W-2 employees, which gives them benefits (protection if they are hurt on the job, unemployment benefits, Federal Income, Social Security & Medicare taxes withheld, etc.) and the company has done all the leg work of background checks, eligibility to work, training and so on.  This option provides the most protection for you and your home.

Seattle Green Cleaner is environmentally responsible and socially responsible!  Our cleaners are employees who enjoy paid time off, top pay for a job well done, have everything they need provided for them, and they are protected. When you hire Seattle Green Cleaner, your home is also protected.  We are fully licensed, bonded and insured.  After all, you hire a cleaner to ease your work load, not to add to it.

Categories Green Tips

5 Steps to Going Green

by Jen
March 18th, 2010

5 Steps to Going Green

Switch to re-usable shopping bags.

  • The average American family of 4 throws away about 1500 plastic bags a year – and each one can take up to 1000 years to decompose.
  • Plastic bags are manufactured from crude oil and natural-gas derivatives, to the tune of 12 million barrels per year.
  • 14 million trees were cut down in 1999 to supply the U.S. with paper bags
  • The manufacturing process of paper bags produces 50 times more water pollution than plastic.
  • The answer? Switch to reusable bags. They cost less than $5 and can be used over and over. Just keep some in the trunk of your car.

Bank Online

  • 405,000 trees are used annually to make the paper required to send everyone in America their phone bills.
  • If each U.S. household viewed and paid its bills online, we would save more than 29 trillion BTUs of energy and reduce 1.7 billion pounds of waste per year and annual greenhouse gas emissions would drop by 2.1 million tons.

Plant Bamboo

  • If we planted one million acres of bamboo, we could eliminate up to 4.8 million tons of CO2 per year.
  • Bamboo stores more CO2 and generates 35% more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees.
  • Bamboo is a grass, doesn’t require fertilizers or pesticides, it stabilizes the soil and when used in place of wood, reduces rainforest deforestation.
  • Bamboo is commonly used in flooring, utensils and textiles. Just be sure to choose sustainably grown bamboo products, produced without pesticides and not in newly cleared forests. When buying bamboo flooring, ask for formaldehyde-free materials.

Become a Vegetarian

  • Livestock adds more greenhouse gases to our atmosphere than motorized transportation!
  • One pound of meat requires eight times more energy to produce than one pound of veggie protein (such as tofu).
  • The 2006 U.N. report, “Livestock’s Long Shadow,” calls the livestock sector “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to global warming.”
  • In the U.S.: 86,000 pounds of excrement per second are produced by livestock (vs. 660 pounds produced by humans).
  • The livestock-to-human grain consumption ratio is 7 to 1.
  • 32,900 calories of fossil energy are required to raise one 12-ounce steak!
  • Even more emissions come from the collateral effects of raising livestock: deforestation of pasture, fertilizers for feed crops, and energy to run meatpacking plants.

Use green cleaning products and/or green housecleaners

  • Use only household cleaners made from plant-derived ingredients.
  • Use only household cleaners which come in recyclable packaging and are biodegradable.
  • Use your morning newspaper and vinegar to clean mirrors and windows (you can still recycle the paper when you’re finished).
  • Don’t use chlorine bleach – ever! Chlorine bleach is a known lung irritant and was even listed as a hazardous air pollutant in the 1990 Clean Air Act.
  • Choose a cleaning company that only uses green cleaning products and green cleaning methods. We of course, suggest Seattle Green Cleaner!
Categories Green Tips

What is “green”?

by Jen
March 17th, 2010

What is “green”?

Before deciding to go green, we first need to know what “green” means. It seems to be a term that is loosely thrown around to describe anything natural.

Wikipedia describes green as: “used to refer to goods and services considered to inflict minimal harm on the environment.”

Clorox even has their own brand of “green” cleaning products. They describe their products as “Eco-friendly, made with plant and mineral based ingredients and not tested on animals.” Clorox?  The same company whose major contribution to the planet is chlorine bleach? Chlorine bleach is a highly toxic and harmful product and it definitely isn’t necessary to maintain a clean home.

While we see it as admirable that the main-stream is moving toward a healthier contribution to the planet, we wonder if it’s not just another band-wagon. How can a company that routinely tests their products on animals and that uses harmful, toxic ingredients create a truly green product?

Seattle has a handful of cleaning companies that say they are green. But are they? Hopefully they at least use products that only contain plant-derived and cruelty-free ingredients and are from a company that has never participated in animal testing. But to be green they must take it a step further. Do they use paper towels? Do they drive from house to house giving quotes? Are their cleaners in Ballard for one appointment and Maple Valley for the next? Do they buy products in bulk? The list goes on and on.

At Seattle Green Cleaner, we take pride in the fact that we are the greenest game in town. It goes beyond the products (Ours are excellent, by the way. Click on the Cleaning Products tab to see just how green they are).  Also:

  • All of our Quotes are done on line. All of them! And they’re accurate.
  • We schedule our appointments by proximity, not by profit.
  • We don’t use disposable products (paper towels, dust wipes, wet wipes). Even our sponges are compostable!
  • All of our Cleaning Products are purchased in bulk, are bio-degradable and come in recyclable packaging.
  • We use Energy Star appliances to wash all rags and mops.
  • Our office only uses compact fluorescent light bulbs, Energy Star Appliances, and yes, even low-flush toilets.
  • Our printer/copy paper is 100% recycled paper (and our business cards are printed on 80% recycled paper)
  • We consider the kind of fuel we use. We do hope to only drive electric vehicles in the future, but for now, we drive fuel efficient cars and use gas provided by responsible companies.
  • Seattle Green Cleaner is an Energy Star for Small Business Partner and has signed the Seattle Climate Partnership Agreement

While we are intentionally tooting our own horn here, we mainly just want to get the discussion going. We are dedicated to the environment and hope you will be too.

Come back and visit this page often. We will continue the discussion periodically and welcome any feedback.

If you have comments or suggestions or your company is green and you want to cross-link, please email Jennifer at info@seattlegreencleaner.com.

Seattle Green Cleaner ~ For a cleaner home and a cleaner conscience.

Categories Green Tips
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