It’s time to get jealous. I scored the best review opportunity ever. The EcoMaids came and cleaned my house! Oh sure, I’ve been envious of those bloggers who have gotten free dishwashers, refrigerators, and electronics equipment to review… but the EcoMaids came and cleaned my whole entire house. Eat your hearts out!
I met Jessica from EcoMaids at a Mommy Networking Night set up by Kelly from Albany Mommy at Tumbling Tykes. She told me that she was looking for bloggers to review their services, and wanted to know if I would be interested? Would I be interested? Heck yeah! Life got in the way for both of us for a while, and we played email tag and Twitter tag. The EcoMaids were booked up until Thanksgiving by the time we reconnected at another networking night, and then it was nearly Christmas when we got back in touch online. (It was truly a comedy of errors!) Thankfully, I did not have holiday company coming to our house, so I didn’t care whether or not the house was cleaned by Christmas. I asked Jessica to set up my cleaning for the following week.
D-Day in the Gleason Home
The EcoMaids arrived a few minutes before 9:00 am on Tuesday, December 29, 2009. (A day that will live in infamy! The mess was defeated!) We had a team of three eco-friendly housecleaners. Erin was the team leader, and she was accompanied by Jillian and Tara. (I hope I got everyone’s name right!) They were very friendly, and I’ll definitely be requesting Erin’s team the next time I need the EcoMaids to come in.
I have to tell you… My house was a messy place. Very messy. So messy that it was embarrassing. My mother-in-law always took the mess in stride when she came over, but my mom has a way of making me feel guilty about it. Whenever she comes over to babysit TJ, Tom and I do a speed cleaning to get everything look as put-together as we can manage… which is still not really “clean.” Dust was caked on our bathroom floor behind the toilet. Grease from cooking had dripped down our kitchen cabinets. I had a pile of clothes, papers, and other assorted items piled on my dresser. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and my anxiety manifests itself terribly when it comes to cleaning. (The OCD tendency to hate dirt means I don’t want to touch it, which is really counter-productive.) And my poor husband works hard enough to have to worry about keeping the house spotless as well. We’d come to accept the mess as the status quo, which is not really a good thing.
And then the EcoMaids arrived.
My house is CLEAN now. Like… really clean. We’re talking not just a clean kitchen counter and living room floor. We’re talking clean baseboards, no cobwebs on our amazingly high vaulted ceiling… They even cleaned the ash out of the insides of my candleholders! My house wasn’t even this clean when we bought it. (The previous owners left quite a mess.) You can check out their full residential cleaning checklist to see what else they did.
The EcoMaids were here for eight hours. That’s got to give you an idea of just how much work they did here. They were amazing. I gave them a free pass on two things: the oven and my desk. I failed to mention that we had company coming over around 5:00 and that I was making baked ziti for dinner, so cleaning the oven at 4:00 just was not an option. That wasn’t their fault; it was mine. And with a self-cleaning oven, I think we’re fine. My desk? Erin was practically twitching to get her hands on it, but they just ran out of time. And besides… the disaster that is my desk isn’t really something that someone else can take care of for me. It’s something I have to do by myself. Even my husband doesn’t know what’s safe to throw out and what isn’t. But Erin told me to ask for her specifically the next time we need service, and I won’t let her down. Next time, my desk will be ready for her!
Do you want to see my house? I’ll take you on a video tour. If you are prone to motion sickness, close your eyes when I get to the stairs.
How awesome was that? There are floors and surfaces we hadn’t seen for months. And what’s better? The EcoMaids use environmentally friendly cleaning products and have a green cleaning philosophy that most other cleaning services can’t even come close to.
The Cost
I nearly had a heart attack when I asked Jessica how much this cleaning would have cost me if it wasn’t bartered for the review. The initial cleaning would have cost – are you ready for this? – $159 before tax. Are you kidding me? Subsequent monthly visits would cost me $129 each for the same type of service we got this time. The only way this seems plausible to me is if they make up the loss on clients like us (with super messy houses that take forever the first time around) on subsequent visits where they’re only here for two or three hours. In any case… yes please! Honestly, we were all guessing that this would have been a $400+ job.
The Rest
I was literally giggling like a schoolgirl when I saw my freshly cleaned home. And I can have this every month for $129? I never thought I’d be able to afford a cleaning service, but I was pleasantly surprised! If I can get one more blogging client who needs at least two posts per month, that will pay for my housekeeping! EcoMaids, I think I love you. (Erin, my desk is waiting for you!)
The EcoMaids are headquartered in Albany, New York, but they’ve recently opened several franchises across the United States. You can find the EcoMaids in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Cleveland, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Raleigh, North Carolina; Charlotte, North Carolina; Marietta, Georgia; Orlando, Florida; Sarasota, Florida; Tucson, Arizona; and they will be opening soon in Fairfield, New Jersey. If you live in any of these areas, and you need someone to come in and clean for you, the EcoMaids come highly recommended. From a real mom who is a really terrible housekeeper.
Tags: cleaning, review
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I am so jealous! I mean bitterly jealous because in a little while I have to clean toilets and that makes me sad. I want someone to come clean my house!!
How do they handle clutter of the sort that can’t just be tossed out? Things that you’d like to keep and don’t have an organizational system set up to handle it? That seems to be the source of most of our household clutter. (Well, that and toys + 2 boys.)
TechyDad,
Some of our personal items were given new homes in the linen closet or drawers and containers that weren’t being used. We were given a quick overview of where these things ended up. Clothes that TJ had grown out of and stuff on my dresser ended up in some mesh bags I had laying around so I could sort through them. It was a good system!
You are so lucky and I am so happy for you.
I would be so nervous. And I was so surprised about the cost.
They aren’t located here.
That is AWESOME! Your house is fantastic btw.
Oh, I am so envious. Having someone like EcoMaids come in to clean would be my idea of the best present ever!
IF they ever open a branch in the NW Arkansas region they will have a client for life. I am totally incapable, incompetent, I cannot seem to find a system that works for me to save my life and you add in three kids and a husband that is almost never home….it just seems to fall apart quickly. Steff
Thanks for spreading the word Christine! Very nice review! They are pretty lucky that met you)))