July Newsletter 2018

Green Cleaning and You

Every now and then we feel compelled to remind you that we were the first Green Clean Institute certified cleaning company in Colorado, making us a charter member in our fine state.

Since we started this movement across the Front Range, many have followed. Most companies just do it for marketing because it makes clients “feel good” about using them. That isn’t why we do it.

Since we just renewed our certification with the Institute, we thought it might be a good time to remind everyone why this is important and just why we do it.

Here are five good reasons for cleaning your home with green, eco-friendly products.

1. Environment-This is the obvious one. Using green products ensures you won’t be putting harmful, non-biodegradable substances into our environment. Many cleaning products found in stores have harmful ingredients that should be avoided.

2. Health-Feel better with green cleaning products – literally. Unlike conventional cleaning products, you’ll know that what you’re using won’t harm you, your family, or your pets. Considering many of the hazardous chemicals in conventional products are often carcinogens, neurotoxins, mutagens, teratogens, or endocrine disrupters, it is worth ditching them in favor of natural green cleaning products.

3. Air Quality-Did you know that the use of conventional cleaning products can contribute to higher pollution indoors than outdoors? Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), which have been associated with a host of health problems like damage to the liver, kidneys, and central nervous system, are released when products are used and stored and can also linger in the air long after use.

4. Safety- Flammable/Toxic! With labels like these on some conventional cleaning products, you get a pretty good idea that they aren’t really that safe. Many chemicals (e.g., chlorine and ammonia), when mixed together, can be downright dangerous. Small children and pets are especially vulnerable due to higher exposure levels because of their size. Plus, household cleaning supplies are one of the top five substance classes accounting for calls to the National Poison Control Center.

5. Know What’s in Your Products-Shockingly, manufacturers of cleaning products aren’t required by the U.S. government to divulge ingredients; however, many green cleaning manufacturers make it their policy to be fully transparent, whereas some conventional manufacturers don’t and may only list a portion of their ingredients.

Rest assured that every product we bring into your home is fully vetted and green certified. We use lots of natural things as well, such as plain old vinegar and water to ensure that things are naturally clean.

Thanks for your support of Denver Concierge and our efforts to make your homes clean and safe for your family and pets.

Just How Expensive is Colorado?

Last week, someone told us that Denverwas the 3rd most expensive city in the U.S. to live in. Being naturally skeptical, we decided to research that for ourselves.

The folks at Expatistan did the work for us, with the most and least expensive places to live. They also provide a nifty calculator in case you want to compare two cities and what it costs to live there, anywhere in the world.

Anyway, it turns out that it’s expensive here, but not quite yet on the scale of many California cities or New York, for example.

Boulder checks in at 15th most expensive, followed by Denver at number 24. Colorado Springs is 55th.

So, it isn’t as bad as we think (yet). But, when it specifically comes to housing, things are a little worse.

We found this piece by the DBJ that shows just how many square feet $200,000 will buy you across the country.

For example, in Cleveland that number gets you a 3,700 square foot home and in Denver that gets you 661 square feet, 10th most expensive in the U.S. Most expensive? Still Manhattan at 126 square feet, take solace folks.

The full slideshow can be found here, fascinating stuff.

Summer Cleaning Tips

Summer brings with it another set of challenges for keeping your home clean. Kids are out of school and the warm weather opens our homes for lots of potential messes that we don’t see in the colder months.

Between visits from Denver Concierge, we know you all like to keep things tidy and we wanted to share some tips for making that easier for you.

We found a few resources that might help!

DIY network published a great list of quick summer cleaning tips that we thought we would share here.

We also like this list by the Huffington Post, which contains some cool tricks like cleaning your microwave with a lemon!

Finally, there is a list of cleaning tips by Clean and Organized Family Home that we thought was creative as well. That list can be found here.

Meanwhile, you can rest assured that we are on the job and will do our best to keep dirt and grime out of your homes this summer!

Don’t forget that our ladies also do things like sweeping off your patio or deck for those outdoor parties.

If you have special requests this summer, don’t hesitate to let us know!

State Health Insurance Increases Dropping

No, health insurance costs aren’t dropping, but the amount of increases in Colorado could be significantly smaller in 2019 than we have seen.

In 2019, small group policies will go up by an average of 7%. The good news is that individual policies look like they will rise about 6% in 2019. This doesn’t sound like good news until you realize that those increases were 34% in 2018 and 20% in 2017.

Interestingly, for the first time, less than half of Coloradans will have a plan through their employers.

In short, it seems like the health care market in Colorado is stabilizing a bit.

The full article from the folks at the DBJ can be found here.

You Are who Your Friends Are?

Businessman and motivational speaker Jim Rohn said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with”.

This caught our eye. We found a great piece by Medium that illuminates this idea.

From the article, “According to research by social psychologist Dr. David McClelland of Harvard, the people you habitually associate with determine as much as 95 percent of your success or failure in life.”

Building a group of competent, smart people to surround yourself with seems to be a pretty good strategy for improvement in life.

Lastly, we also found that common wisdom (and science, from the British Journal of Medicine) says smarter people have fewer friends. This caught our eye as well, and the details of why this is can be found in this article.

Interesting stuff for sure!

Monthly Award Winners

Please join me in congratulating our best performers for June 2018.

Our top Cleaning Associates for the month were Josefina Quinonez, Aurora Dominguez, Brenda Garcia, Maria Zapata and Josefina Puga.

In the Team Leader ranks, our top Team Leaders were Maria Varela and Socorro Ibarra.

Thanks to all our team members for their hard work, and a special thanks to our award winners!

Congrats ladies!

Queen Bee Corner

by Angela

Clients have asked me how our ladies manage to get the shine on stainless steel appliances.  Stainless steel is beautiful but easily shows water spots, drips and streaks, ruining the effect in no time.  A quick fix between Denver Concierge visits would be helpful, and I happen to have one!

Nothing is quicker or more effective than a simple clean microfiber cloth and a solution of water and green dish washing liquid.  Be sure to immediately dry with another clean microfiber cloth.  This works on brushed stainless steel, stainless steel sinks, and faucets too.

It’s amazing how the complete kitchen will look cleaner simply by taking care of the stainless steel!  And then we’ll be there to take care of the rest!

One product.  One solution.

Bee