What green cleaning means in a visit
A green cleaning visit shifts the mix toward microfiber, water and the mildest product that handles the surface. The habits below apply on any visit; the order on the day is still kitchen, bath, dusting, floors.
Fewer products, each used for one job
A folded damp cloth with a dry side handles more than people expect. A product only comes out when the surface asks for one, and no product gets combined with another. Bleach is never mixed with ammonia, vinegar, acids or any other cleaner. We give no homemade mixes, no ratios and no "what to spray" lists.
Microfiber as a practice
Microfiber lifts dust and film with less water and fewer products on the surface.
Fresh air where the weather allows
San Diego has mild weather most of the year, with Lindbergh Field's normal highs running from about 66 degrees in December and January to about 77 in August and September and almost no summer rain at the same station, with just 0.14 inch of normal rainfall from June through August. A cracked window and the bath fan on do a lot of the airing. In cooler weather, we open a window only in the room we are in, for the length of the pass.
Your own products, told on the call
If you have products you prefer, we work from them. Hand them to us on the first visit or set them in the cabinet you want us to use, with the label facing out. We use each product the way its label says, so no mixing and no off-label use. If a product in the cabinet is one we would not use on the surface in question, we leave it in the cabinet and tell you why. Asking a cleaner which products are used is a reasonable first question on any call.
Mopping and the City rule
Think Blue, the City's stormwater program, names mopping among the sources of wash water that must never enter the storm drain system, and the City lists the alternative as a sink, a toilet or a cleanout.
| Habit | What it changes | What to tell us |
|---|---|---|
| Microfiber and water first | A lighter pass before any product comes out | Any surface we should keep off a damp cloth |
| One product per job | Nothing combined, nothing off-label | Products in the cabinet you want used first |
| A cracked window where weather allows | Air moving through the room while we work | Smoke advisories, allergies, a window that is painted shut |
| Your products, used as the label says | What is in the home, used the way it was built for | Fragrance notes, pets, kids, scents to avoid |
When this page fits, and when another one fits
When green cleaning fits
You want fewer products in the home overall. Someone in the household is sensitive to fragrance or to a specific product. A pet lives in the home and spends time on the floors. You already keep a few products you trust and want them used as they are.
When another service page fits
The work itself is the same room-by-room cleaning the other pages describe. A regular visit done this way, a deep clean or a recurring schedule can be arranged with the same habits in place. See what a standard visit covers for the room-by-room list. If the home needs a top-to-bottom catch-up before any routine, the deep clean page is the right starting point.
From your call to the cleaning
- You call and tell us about the home: rooms, bathrooms, how we get in, pets, products in the cabinet and any sensitivities.
- We plan the visit with you, including which products come from your cabinet and anything to leave alone.
- You get a price and decide.
- The cleaning happens, and we walk a last look with you if you are home.
Old cleaners in San Diego, and where they go
Green cleaning often starts with the cabinet under the kitchen sink. The City of San Diego takes residents' leftover household hazardous waste, by appointment, at the City's Household Hazardous Waste Transfer Facility, and the City lists cleaners among the products the facility accepts. The City also writes that products labeled Caution, Warning, Danger, Poison, Toxic, Flammable or Corrosive must go to a collection facility, not into the trash or down drains.
That facility exists for residents, which is why we cannot take old products off your hands. The City says the facility does not accept business waste from contractors, landscapers or homeowner associations, and a cleaning company falls on the business side of that line.
Keep old bottles in a labeled bin and set an appointment at the facility. Nothing from that bin goes into the trash, into a City bin or down a drain.