Cleaning For A Reason Archives

We are Proud to be Partners with Cleaning for a Reason

Breast Cancer awareness cleaning for a reason

It’s October, which means it is “Breast Cancer Awareness Month.” We want to recognize our partnership with Cleaning for a Reason and the tremendous work they do for people dealing with cancer in the United States and Canada.

Who Are They?

Cleaning for a Reason is a nonprofit organization, which gives free house cleaning to people undergoing treatment for any type of cancer in the United States and Canada. They help people who are focusing on treatment and recovery utilize maid services to clean their homes and keep everything in order around the house. This is a big help for people because they don’t have to stress on other day-to-day tasks.

How Do We Help?

Sponge Outlet has a partnership with Cleaning for a Reason in which we provide sponges, as well as sponsor events and run campaigns to promote them. We are proud to be a part of such an incredible cause, especially during “Breast Cancer Awareness Month” in October. It’s important to help those in need dealing with cancer, and even free housecleaning services can make a huge difference.

Check out all of our cleaning products, which are offered for a fraction of the cost of getting them from a brand name product. We will help you remove all the filth with our natural products without using hazardous chemicals and odors.

Sponge Outlet

Sponge Outlet provides cleaning products for all of your needs. If you’re in need of natural cleaning products for any type of cleaning, we can help you find the right product for the situation. Contact Sponge Outlet at 877-776-6430 today to get more information on our cleaning products!

Posted on October 10, 2019November 1, 2019 by spongeoutlet

What to Clean Before Brining Your New Baby Home

There’s no doubt about it, preparing your home for a new baby is a huge feat. You need to stock up on supplies, baby-proof areas like sockets and sharp corners, paint the nursery and that’s not even counting the ways you’ll need to mentally prepare!

One thing that new-moms-to-be are liable to forget about in the stress and excitement of having a new baby is cleaning the home. Bringing a new baby into your house is a great reason to do a little spring cleaning, no matter what time of year it is. You don’t want built up dust and grime bothering your newborn; plus, you’ll probably have a ton of visitors in the next few months, and visitors usually bring their germs with them.

If you’re not sure where to start when it’s time to start cleaning your home in preparation for baby, here’s a list for you and your partner to tackle together.

Clean the Crib & Changing Table Before Baby Arrives

Even if you just purchased your baby’s bedroom furniture, it will need to be cleaned before the baby comes home. The warehouse or shop where the furniture was built could leave a residue on the surface of the furniture that might be harmful to your child, so make sure to disinfect the surfaces.

If your items are hand-me-downs, use an eraser sponge to remove stickers, crayon marks, and other general wear and tear that may show on the furniture.

Clean the Nursery Curtains Before Bringing Baby home

If your nursery has curtains hung on the windows, take them down and wash them before baby arrives. Curtains are notorious for holding dust build-up, so if you’re making some cosmetic updates to the room, go with blinds instead. They’re easier to clean, and won’t hold as much dust.

Clean the Car Before Taking Your Baby Home

Head to the garage for your next cleaning task: Give your car a good cleaning on the interior before you drive baby home from the hospital. Build up on the door handles and steering wheel can transfer from your hands onto your newborn, and since they hardly have an immune system yet, you don’t want to risk them getting sick!

Use our microfiber cloths and disinfectant spray on all parts of the car’s interior (and exterior, like door handles) that you touch on a regular drive. And, while you’re at it, make sure baby’s car seat handles are disinfected, and if you can remove the padding for baby’s seat, toss it in the wash.

Clean the Carpets Before Bringing Baby Home

Carpeting is another notorious item for storing dust and mildew. Check out a non-toxic cleaning service. It may not smell as lemon-y fresh, but it’ll clean your carpets without leaving behind chemicals that can be harmful to your baby.

Clean the Kitchen Before Bringing Your Baby Home

Baby food prep, whether you’re breastfeeding or not, will most likely happen in the kitchen—those bottles of breastmilk won’t warm themselves up, after all. Make sure you do a deep clean of your kitchen, including all surfaces, the sink, and the inside of your appliances, including the fridge and the microwave. Anything that you do in the kitchen (like marinating cubes of raw chicken) could come in contact with a baby food item or your formula. Take precautions once baby arrives, but a deep-clean prior to that day will make you worry less.

Clean all Linens Before Baby Arrives

Don’t just open a fresh set of sheets for the crib and throw them on: make sure to machine wash them with soap that’s safe for baby. You should do the same for your bedding, too, including your comforter and any throw pillows that you have hanging around. Chances are, you and baby will be spending quite a bit of time napping in your bed, so cleaning the crib is only half the battle.

Preparing to bring home baby doesn’t have to be a scary process. If you make a list of all the items you need to clean prior to leaving for the hospital, then you and your partner can cross everything off in a couple of days.

Once baby arrives, don’t forget to work these disinfecting practices into your regular cleaning routine: wiping down surfaces with disinfecting wipes will keep your baby from being exposed to potentially germs! And tools like microfiber clothes and eraser sponges can help make your cleaning routine easier to deal with.

For more information on how to stay clean after baby comes home, click here to read our post about how eraser sponges will make cleaning a breeze for any mom. To learn more about our products, call us today at 877-776-6430.

Posted on May 1, 2018 by spongeoutlet

Importance of Household Chores

If you’ve got a couple of kiddos running around your house, chances are it’s a bit harder for you than it is for your friends without kids to keep the house looking spic and span at all times. Luckily, if your kids are old enough to locate their toy bin, you can usually have them help out with chores. But, the benefits won’t just be a tidier house.

Kids who grew up doing chores around the house are more confident, self-assured, and responsible later in life. So, asking your kids to do a set list of chores each week or each day, like making their beds and cleaning their rooms, or helping to take out the garbage, can actually contribute to making them more successful adults.

Teach a Work Ethic

Chores are the easiest way to instill a work ethic in your kids at a young age. If you decide to give your children an allowance when they’re old enough, without making them work a bit for the money—even if it’s just a few bucks—you’re missing an opportunity to teach them a lesson about the value of their time and money, and how to have a good work ethic.

Earning their allowance rather than simply being given their allowance will make your kids more aware of the idea of working for their money. They may spend it less haphazardly if they were working to earn a certain amount to save up for a toy. If money is just handed over at the end of the week, your kids might start to take the presence of money for granted.

Start with a chore wheel or a list of tasks that your kids need to do each week; if, at the end of the week, they successfully completed each task, dole out that allowance money. If they forgot to take out the trash, but still kept their playroom clean, doc a few bucks from their pay and explain that completing the chore list and contributing is what gets them that Friday payday.

Build Confidence

According to VeryWell.com, having your kids do chores around the house will leave them feeling accomplished, because they contributed to the household. That sense of accomplishment is an important factor in raising a child, especially when the pressures of school and social lives can be tough to handle, even from a young age. Allowing your kids to take part in the household chores gives them something to make them part of the team, leaving them more self-assured and confident in other situations.

So much in our childhoods is outside of our control, and that’s a tough concept for many kids to grasp; but when they are in control of their own toys and are invested in certain chores around the house, they’ll feel grounded, useful, and self-assured.

Grow Resourcefulness

Doing chores around the house isn’t about making things perfect; it’s about getting the job done. Participation in household chores will teach your kids to be resourceful, and how to manage time.

For example, if your child needs to clean the playroom one afternoon, but doesn’t want to miss their TV show, encourage your child to clean up during commercial breaks or before the show comes on. Having a goal-oriented task can force your child to problem solve, be resourceful, and manage their time.

Prepare for Adulthood

It might seem like a silly concept: your 7-year-old doesn’t have to worry about being a grown-up just yet, right? But in fact, ThirtyHandMadeDays.com says chores will help your kids by preparing them for adulthood—simply by showing them how to do household chores.

As your kids get older and take on more responsibility, they’ll learn the skills they need for running their own successful household as adults. For example, you may dust before vacuuming so that any errant dust gets picked up, and use bleach products in the bathroom. Your kids will notice these things, and carry them into their own homes when they move out someday. Plus, asking your children for help with the laundry will make learning how to do their own when they’re off to college that much easier.

Start Now

PBS says the key to instilling all of these things in our children so that they can have a successful life is to start while they are young; while toddlers may not be able to grab the vacuum cleaner out of the closet and go to town on the living room, encouraging them to keep their space neat and tidy, and contributing to other chores, like clearing plates and cups after a meal, will get them on the right track. As soon as your kids are old enough to start to understand a rewards system, use stickers or an allowance to help keep them goal-oriented on completing their weekly tasks.

When your kids are in their teenage years, they can contribute a lot more, like by being responsible for bringing in the mail, taking out the trash, and even doing their own laundry.

No household cleaning kit is complete without a great eraser sponge; no matter how old your kids are, your home’s walls are bound to be covered in either crayons and markers or smudges of some kind! Click here to learn about the eraser sponges we offer here at Sponge Outlet, and call us today at 877-776-6430 to learn more about our products.

Posted on February 1, 2018 by spongeoutlet

Why Cleaning is Good for Your Health

Have you ever felt like a good cleaning, top to bottom, in your house just makes you feel good? It’s true that we’re supposed to clean our homes, offices and cars regularly, but there’s more at stake than just simple presentation: cleaning is actually good for your health. In fact, the Huffington Post says that there’s a direct correlation between people who have clean homes, and people who lead active, healthy lives.

Here are a few reasons why cleaning is good for your health that just might inspire you to break out the broom and mop when you get home this evening.

Burn Calories

IndiaTimes.com says that cleaning is literally and physically good for your health because it burns calories. If you’re doing light calisthenics like vacuuming and dusting hard-to-reach places, on your feet and moving around, you can probably burn about 200 calories per hour while you vacuum. That’s not a reason to skip the gym all week, but the workout while you clean will actually contribute to making your body feel good afterwards. Exercise, after all, releases endorphins which make you feel good.

So, the next time you have to do a household task like scrubbing dishes or mopping the floor, think of it like a workout. You’ll be accomplishing two things (working out and cleaning) in the same amount of time.

Reduce Anxiety

For people who suffer from occasional anxiety, cluttered and unclean environments can sometimes heighten their emotions, leading to more stress and more unhappiness. If you make a point to regularly clean and de-clutter your space, you can actively reduce the possibility that your home environment will contribute to your anxiety levels in the future. The act of cleaning reduces stress, and a clean, clutter-free space can continue to stave off feelings of anxiety or stress that may be caused by your day-to-day life.

Improve Concentration

Cleaning and de-cluttering can also serve to enhance your ability to concentrate. This is especially important for people who work out of their homes. Messy countertops, piles of laundry, and garbage that needs to be taken out can be distracting while you’re trying to get work done. When you take care of all of that before you sit down to tackle your to-do list, you’ll end up being more focused and have an easier time concentrating on your tasks at hand.

Improve Allergy Symptoms

Many of us suffer from allergies; no matter how many times you clear off your countertop of old bills, if you’re not dusting, vacuuming and sanitizing your home, dust can still trigger allergy symptoms for you. Regularly cleaning your space and removing harmful allergens like dust and dandruff from your pets can improve your health by reducing your allergies.

Remove Harmful Bacteria

Every day, we come in contact with bacteria. On the train while we commute to work, at the office, at a restaurant, when we’re hanging out with our friends at the movies, and when our kids have a play-date at the house down the street. When we venture back into our homes at the end of a busy day, we’re bringing with us all of the bacteria we’ve come into contact with throughout the day. Sure, it’s important to wash your hands when you walk in the door, but harmful bacteria can be spread throughout your home via the soles of your shoes, your gym bag, your cell phone, and more.

Mopping your kitchen floors and your entryway isn’t just about removing stains and keeping the wood shiny and fresh, it’s also important to remove harmful bacteria that we’re tracking inside each and every day.

Some of the bacteria that we track into our homes can make us sick, so it’s important to regularly mop and disinfect your floors, wipe down your door handles, clean the tops of your counters, and make sure everything has been disinfected.

Prevent Illness

If someone in your family has a cold, cleaning your home can keep the other members of your family safe and protected from the virus that might be going around. Taking steps to prevent the spread of germs while a family member is sick is important, and starts with using disinfectant spray or wipes on high-traffic areas like door knobs, sink handles, the handles of the refrigerator, and more.

It’s important to look after the family member who is sick—but it’s equally important to make sure that your home stays clean so that the sickness isn’t spread to healthy family members.

Supplies You’ll Need

Here at SpongeOutlet, we offer everything you need to keep your home, office space and even your car clean and sanitary, so that you can maintain your good health. Click here to shop our products, and make sure to take a look at the eraser sponges, microfiber towels, regular sponges, floor pads, mops, dusters, and more. If you have any questions about our products or the materials we use to make them, give us a call today at 877-776-6430.

Posted on January 12, 2018 by spongeoutlet

Paying Tribute to Cleaning for a Reason

During the holiday season and throughout the year, it is important to recognize people doing good things and give them credit for their selfless efforts.

This December, Spongeoutlet would like to acknowledge an organization that we are a supporter of: Cleaning For A Reason.

Cleaning For A Reason is a nonprofit organization in the United States and Canada.

This organization has one mission: “To give the gift of free house cleaning to women undergoing treatment for any type of cancer.”

Cleaning For A Reason cleans the homes of women that are battling with cancer for absolutely no cost.

The organization has recruited over 1,200 maid services that donate free housecleaning services to women being affected by cancer.

The point of the organization is to take away at least one burden from women that are facing so many.

President and Founder, Debbie Sardone, began Cleaning For A Reason many years ago when she had an interaction with a woman that she could not forget.

At the time, Debbie was the owner of Buckets and Bows Maid Service. She was on the phone with a prospective client who told Debbie that she could no longer afford hiring a maid service because of her cancer treatment. The women hung up the phone and Debbie knew in her heart that she had to help the women in this situation.

In 2005, Debbie shared her heart-wrenching story at a national cleaning conference and gained the interest and support she needed to develop Cleaning For A Reason.

The nonprofit organization has provided maid services throughout the years that are now valued at six million dollars.

2,300 women have had their homes cleaned through Cleaning For A Reason and the organization has continued to expand.

If you are inspired by this story, we encourage you to donate to Cleaning For A Reason.When you donate, your name will appear on the organization’s website and they will send a card to the patient or their family that a donation was received. The organization will never release the monetary amount of the donation.

Posted on December 14, 2016January 31, 2022 by spongeoutlet