My wife and I have definitely taken advantage of the beautiful weather we’ve been having lately by christening our new kayaks in some nearby lakes. With all the free time you have on your hands since A Helping Hand is cleaning your house, here are a few ideas of how you can get out of that pristine home and into the great outdoors!

If you have kayaks, canoes, or just want to swim, or maybe you hate the water but love laying out in the sun, Wisconsin has some pretty good lakes and beaches for any of those activities. Lake Monana, Mendota, or Wingra are just a few in Madison that are just minutes away.

1260 acres of the world’s oldest and most varied collection of restored ecological communities lies just on the south side of Lake Wingra. Take a walk through tall grass prairies, savannas, forests and wetlands at the University of Wisconsin Arboretum.

So drop the mop, pick up the phone, and call A Helping Hand to take care of all your cleaning so you can be outside! Then drop the phone, and pick up a paddle. Or maybe to save time, bring the phone, and email us from out on the lake.

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mike@madisonhousecleaning.net

While we LOVE hearing about how much you like our cleanings, don’t just tell us, tell everyone! Refer us to your friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, coworker’s neighbors, co-worker’s neighbor’s cousin, ANYONE, and if they sign up for a routine cleaning service with us, YOU receive a FREE CLEANING! That’s right, FREE! Make it even easier on yourself by simply filling out our online Referral Form.

If you’re reading this and thinking, “I’ve never had A Helping Hand clean my home, how can I refer them?” then let’s fix that! Call us today and we’ll give you something to refer about!

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Mother’s Day is in a little over a week (May 13^th), so here are some fun facts about the holiday.

-Early celebrations of mothers and motherhood can be traced back as far as ancient Greece.

-Mother’s Day is a holiday celebrated in most of the world, and it is derived in big part from how we celebrate the day in America.

-In China in 1997 Mother’s Day was set as a day to help poor mothers.

-In France, in response to low birth rates, there were attempts in 1896 and 1904 to make a national celebration to honor mothers of large families.

-Mother’s Day was officially recognized as a US holiday by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914.

-Churchgoing is popular on Mother’s Day, yielding the highest attendance in churches after Christmas and Easter.

To celebrate your mom or a mother figure in your life, take advantage of one of the many Mother’s Day deals we’ll have going on this next week! Check our Facebook or Twitter pages to find out what deal we have going on that day, or just give us a call!

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Using white distilled vinegar for cleaning is great for many reasons. It’s good at killing harmful germs and bacteria because of its acidity level, but it’s not as harmful as something like bleach. It’s very environmentally sound, and won’t break the bank either. Here are some uses for white distilled vinegar.

-Clean counter tops

Use white distilled vinegar as a non-harmful way to leave your counter tops smelling great

-Deodorize sink drains and garbage disposals

Pour about ½ to 1 cup of baking soda, and the same amount of white distilled vinegar down the drain or garbage disposal, let sit for about 5 minutes, then pour hot water down.

-Clean microwaves

Heat up a mixture of half water and half white distilled vinegar to a boil in the microwave, and it will leave the appliance smelling good and baked on food will wipe off easier.

-Clean coffee makers

Fill water reservoir with about a cup of white distilled vinegar, run it through the cycle to clean, then run water through about 2 more times to rinse it out.

-Clean and disinfect baby toys

Add a little white distilled vinegar to some soapy water to add a little more kick to clean baby toys, without using harmful substances.

These are some easy things you can do around the house on your own, or you can call A Helping Hand to help you with your cleanings, and get an environmentally safe cleaning, and still have time in your day to do other things.

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Happy Earth Day! As a green company, A Helping Hand is excited to celebrate this weekend. Here are some ways you can celebrate.

Plant a tree

Yes, a classic way to celebrate Earth Day. I remember fondly planting trees in Elementary school to celebrate, and it could be a good tradition to start with your children (should you have any).

Nature walk

Spend some time outside, enjoying the Earth. Find a nice wooded path, a park, or nature reserve, and spend an hour just walking around, taking time to notice beautiful animals, foliage, or just bask in the glorious outdoors!

Use no or little electricity

Turn off the lights today! Use as little electricity as possible. During the day keep the lights off, try not watching TV, and maybe read a book by candle light once the sun goes down.

Call us this weekend (Friday-Monday) to find out about the Earth Day specials we have going on!

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Do you like A Helping Hand? If you like us enough to take 3 minutes to post a comment about how much you like us, you might get 25% off your next cleaning! I think that sounds like a pretty fair trade. Post your comments on our Facebook page, Google Place Page, or right to our Website. It’s that easy! And if we pick your comment to re-post on our next comment blog (like last month’s) then you get 25% off your next cleaning!

If you want to like A Helping Hand, just give us a call, and we’ll give you something to comment about! Schedule your cleaning today!

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One day, a housework-challenged husband decided to wash his sweatshirt. Seconds after he stepped into the laundry room, he shouted to his wife, “What setting do I use on the washing machine?”

“It depends,” she replied. “What does it say on your shirt?”

He yelled back, “Wisconsin Badgers.”

It’s spring, which means it’s the unofficial cleaning holiday. If you only clean once a year (which I’m hoping you don’t), this is probably the time. Here are some tips that will help make this seasonal a little easier.

-Make checklists for each room

Get ready before hand. Jumping in to cleaning your whole house is going to make your spring cleaning seem that much more daunting and impossible. Break it down into smaller parts. Set up a check list of everything you want to do in each room, and maybe even try tackling just one room each day, and get your whole house done in a week or so.

-Get rid of clutter

Clear out all the extra clutter in your house. It’s going to be harder to clean when you have things to move or clean around. Take extra clothes, toys, extra anything, and donate it, or if it’s unusable, trash it. Or you don’t have to get rid of it, but at least take excess stuff, not used regularly, and put it into storage.

-Get the family involved

There is strength in numbers. Get your whole family cleaning, or get some friends to help. We always ask friends to help us move, why can’t we ask them to help us clean the place we already live in? You should probably still bribe them with pizza though.

Or, to make it super easy, just call us. We even have a spring cleaning special going on! For new clients, just say our secret code, “Spring Has Sprung,” and get 10% OFF your one-time cleaning, or first-time cleaning of a routine service! If you’re reading this and already have a service, pass the info along. Anyone you refer that sets up a routine service with us gets you a FREE cleaning!

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Now, I took this idea from my bosses and their family. Mainly because my wife and I don’t have any kids yet, and it was a really cool idea. You’re going to get a lot of time back when A Helping Hand cleans your house, and it may not be enough time to take an actual vacation, but it is enough time to take an IMAGINARY VACATION! All you need is a long roll of paper, and something to draw on that paper. Lay it out, and with your family, draw all of the places you are going on your “vacation.” And make sure you draw yourselves in the picture too, doing fun things. You can draw yourselves zip-lining in the rain forest, or hiking up the Himalayas, or even digging to the center of the Earth! The possibilities are endless, and it takes a lot less time and money than it would to actually dig to the center of the Earth.

As always, if you’re reading this and feeling sad that you are cleaning instead of taking imaginary vacations, give us a call, and we’ll help you out with that!

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The winning post for this month’s comment contest is…

“I love A Helping Hand cleaning service. I’m a perfectionist and I really appreciate how detailed they are in their cleanings. I’ve gone through a few services but have now had AHH for well over a year and will never change!”

Congratulations to Stephanie for winning 25% off of her next cleaning! Wouldn’t you like 25% off YOUR next cleaning?! Of course you do, who doesn’t like saving money? It’s seriously SO easy! Just leave a comment about us on our website (like Stephanie did), our Facebook or Twitter page, or on our Google Place page. If we pick your comment and re-post it in next month’s Comment Blog, BOOM, 25% off!

Wait, you don’t have anything to comment about because we’ve never cleaned for you? That’s easy, call us today!

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