Zen Home Cleaners: A review

I bit the bullet, three years later, and hired the Zen Home Cleaners to clean my home, justification being that I work from home, and needed a treat. I learned about them on Daily Candy and have planned it ever since. The fact that they burn oils during the cleaning part put me over the edge, and maybe the sprig of lavender that they put on their website. Even though that sprig doesn't come with the cleaning, and even though I can burn oils when I clean on my own, I was still sold.

To sign up, I had to give my card over the phone and agree to a four hour minimum. No problem, as I've had someone clean once before, and this was the norm. For their "accounting purposes," I had to fill out a survey, that interestingly, is at SurveyMonkey. This covered things like "What should we NOT do?" "What do you want done?", legal things they are or aren't responsible for, and the chance that the cleaners could recommend that they stay longer. Being a website person, I love doing things online. So anything I can set up online, makes me happier. They pressed me to fill out the form, however, calling me, saying it needed to be done by 3pm the day before the cleaning. Well, I have a pretty long to-do list, hence the need for someone else to clean my home, so I forgot several times to fill out hte form. No matter, I did it with an hour to spare.

The first cleaning person arrived 10 minutes early, out of courtesy to me if I needed to leave, she didn't want me waiting. Her co-cleaner arrived shortly after, who I didn't realize was coming but was fine b/c it cut the real time spent cleaning in half.

We went over my priorities around the house, what I wanted cleaned. I stressed dust, and that anything should be dusted. And that we have pets, so attention paid to pet hair on furniture, etc. They lit the oil, asking my preference (we picked lemon grass or something), and they went to town while I went to the bedroom until they needed to clean that. They moved sofas, gross kitchen trash cans, etc etc to get the major dust bunnies. And they aren't actually dust bunnies, as they are more like dust bombs. I make a point to vacuum once a week, and do surfaces twice a month, so it's not like we live in a total slum, but there are Secret Dust Bunny Societies living happily behind sofas and desks, so it was best that they were sucked up.

Halfway through, the cleaners made a recommendation that they stay longer. Of our five rooms (kitchen, office, living room, bathroom, bedroom - not including front hall), they were in the kitchen and living room, and had taken everything apart to clean behind it. I agreed to the recommendation, and the office charged it to my card right away. A little while later, a cleaning consultant/inspector person came to see how the cleaners were doing. Everyone was very nice, and the inspector had some notes of where they could re-wipe the kitchen cabinets a little better.

Overall, I am very happy with Zen Home Cleaners. They were nice, professional, and cared about their work. My tub was amazing, and totally white and soak-worthy for a bath. They do not use bleach, so whatever they used, that was organic, worked. There are a few surfaces that I wish had been hit, like the wall behind my towel in the bathroom, or all window sills wiped of grime. But that's OK. This can be gotten next time, and I already started making a list of what we can do next. Because you can't spend all day on every detail! I am thankful that they hit every room in the house.

Pictured above is the organic chocolate and loose tea they leave on your bed. Yum.