4 Hidden Clogged Home Filters And How To Clean Them

I was so shocked to do a walk though of a freshly cleaned 4 million dollar condo for sale that just needed a “touch up” (A realtors favorite line to use for hiring an Austin maid service). I had to take photos to convince the realtor that the new homeowner wouldn’t be thrilled once they discovered these things after unpacking.

The Austin Skyline is booming with views of every side of Lady Bird Lake (Town Lake) that realtors are staying busy listing and marketing the newest view on the market.

However housekeepers see the homes in a more personal way than realtors do. Our heads are deep in cabinets vacuuming up the last homeowners dog food that got lodged in the crevices of the cabinet. Or removing the trapped hair in the shower filter that no one knew was there for years.

The top things that housekeepers discover when cleaning Austin residences for sale is the lack of care of filter cleanings.

After speaking to many of our current downtown austin cleaning service clients, they made us aware that they truly didn’t know a lot of these filters even existed. We also believe that a lot of other cleaning services that may not be familiar with a lot of the downtown Austin condo buildings are also unaware of these filters.

After 27 years of providing cleaning services in Austin we have learned a lot of details that need to be maintained in cleaning and I’m here to share a few shocking ones.

We use so many things to clean for us around our homes that we forget those appliances also have filters. In order for them to continue to work for us efficiently, we need to understand how to find and clean them routinely.

Here are the 4 Hidden Filters that get clogged and how we recommend to clean them easily.

Dishwasher filter

How To Find and Clean The Dishwasher Filter

  1. Google The type of dishwasher you have to find where the filter is located unless you still have the manual
  2. Open the filter and remove any debris that is stuck that cannot go in the drain.
  3. Use a soft bristle toothbrush and gently clean the wire filter
  4. Clean the outer casings of the filter area before wiping and replacing .
  5. Repeat monthly. Check out our Instagram showing how we clean our client’s dishwasher filters!
Hidden Shower Drain Hair Catcher Filter

How To Find and Clean the Hidden Shower Drain Filter

If you have a newer modern shower then you most likely have instead of a small round drain, a long drain as shown in the video above or a small square drain. Did you know you are supposed to lift it and clean it? It may shock you when you do!

  1. Use a flathead screwdriver or skinny sharp object to carefully lift and remove the filter cover.
  2. Remove and clean the filter
  3. Remove, clear and clean the hair trap filter inside
  4. Scrub, rinse and replace the filters, covers, and drain area
  5. Repeat monthly because this place builds up slime and grime that over time clogs and smells horribly! Check out our viral video on this tip.
Washing machine filters

How To Find/Clean The Washing Machine Filter

If your washer isn’t draining properly, there is most likely a clogged filter. We’ve seen something as small as a hairpin stop the flow of a washing machine. Here’s how to find and clear it.

  1. Check your manual first or google the appliance you have to find where the filter is. This small door in the picture above is usually at the bottom of the machine that houses the filters.
  2. Open/remove the door and grab a container to place under to fill all of the water.
  3. Locate the small hose and release the water into the container. (This usually stinks!) Replace the cap on the hose and place back.
  4. Once all the water is drained you can move to the filter and twist to pull out. Remove the debris, and grime to clean, rinse and replace.
  5. Here’s a shocking video of how to find, clean and repeat this step monthly.
Hidden Rangetop Filter

How To Find And Clean The Range top Filter.

This filter area is usually under the microwave or above your range top. When cooking we press this filter/fan on to remove grease and odor particles. If not cleaned often it just can’t work efficiently and will become blocked.

  1. Google your appliance or read the manual on where to locate the filter.
  2. Remove
  3. Soak in a sink of hot sudsy amazing grease cutting dish soap like LemiShine or if it is too caked on we recommend the method in the above video.
  4. You can also place these in the dishwasher monthly to clean
  5. Repeat monthly if you cook often.

Purchasing a home is usually the biggest investment most of us make. We are overwhelmed with manuals when we first move in that we just shove them in a drawer. I would be honored to help you in any way personalize a routine hidden filter guide for your home. Feel free to email me and let me know how I may be of assistance to you for this.

5 Factors To Consider When Washing Your Sheets

It’s said that the average person will spend over 30 years in our beds over our lifetime. Sounds shocking, but whether it’s watching tv, scrolling through our phone, having personal time or actually sleeping, it sounds about right.

But what’s wrong, is the amount of time in between the frequency of washing our sheets. There are a few factors that make frequency in sheet washing a must. Let’s take a look at 5 factors to consider when washing your sheets.

Factors To Consider In How Often You Should Wash Your Sheets

1. Do you sleep in the buff?

2. Do pets get on your bed?

3. Do you sleep alone?

4. Do you have allergies?

5. Is your facial skin care a big priority?

All of these factors have a big impact on the frequency of washing your sheets.

What Is In Your Sheets?

The shocking truth about sheet washing is what you can’t see on your sheets.

Dust mites, their carcasses and fecal matter live off of your dead skin cells. And our friends over at Denise Bell Skin Care shared with us that we shed 50 million skin cells every day. So what you can’t see, dust mites can, and they eat it. Then you sleep in the remnants of that night after night. This isn’t a good thing for your skin care routine no matter what product you’re using.

When we sleep naked to free ourselves from the entanglement of clothes, our bodies release body fluids and fecal matter.

So taking a shower and getting into a couple weeks worth of entanglements just doesn’t sound relaxing to your skin and breathing does it?

Another Factor To Consider When Washing Your Sheets

Pets seems to love human beds more than their own. They alone shed dander and more which adds to what we are also shedding in the bed. Now that’s just an added reason to sneeze in the morning just reading this.

So the shocking truth is that you are most likely not washing your sheets enough.

Weekly washing is a must.

PRO TIP: Pre-treating stains that you can see before tossing them in the washer is a bonus.

SHOCKING FACT: Avoid the fabric softeners too. They add a residue that builds up over time and decreases your sheets breathability causing you to feel overheated in your sheets.

My personal touch note: I absolutely love a bamboo lyocell sheet. They combine softness and breathability. Leave a note if you’d like to know a few of my favorite brands.

How To Clean A Burnt Pot Easily

These two items aren’t even sold in the cleaning aisle but work magic to clean a burnt pot.

burn pot on stove
How to easily clean a burn pot

I’ve also used this method on a cookie sheet, crockpot, or any pot I don’t want to scrub.

We never know exactly what we may walk into when it comes to providing downtown Austin cleaning services. So having these time saving tips helps us work efficiently. Our Austin maid service clients are usually blown away by the amount of work that we do in the time we spend cleaning.

The Two Ingredients to Clean A Burnt Pot

1. One or two non used Bounce Dryer sheets.

2. Hot water.

Add about an hour or two depending on the amount of burnt on issues you have and let the dryer sheet break down the grime for you.

The Burnt Pot Cleaning Trick

Follow us on Instagram for many other smarter not harder cleaning tips and tricks.

2 Cleaning Products That Are Magic Together.

If your white sink ☕️🚰 is stained this blogs for you. If you’ve ever blown a candle 🕯out and the black soot left marks on your counter this blogs for you. The list goes on and on, but I can show you better than I can tell you.

READY…SET…CLEAN!

The above white sink transformation was from the after clean up of one of our favorite clients projects. Check out her bright talent at http://Chairwhimsy.com She also teaches you how to put your own personal touch on your own chair too!

Now I can admit that the after look of the sink is not spotless, but you have to understand that this sink has been used for paintbrush cleaning for years.

This tip is not only for white sinks. From stainless steel sinks with stains, white tennis shoes, hard water build up on shower doors and faucets and more!

The Two Cleaning Product Magic Trick

  1. Magic Eraser (SAVE MONEY💰tip and order from http://Spongeoutlet.com
  2. Bar Keepers Friend Soft Cleanser (SAVE MONEY 💰 and poke a hole in the removable seal under the lid, because it pours out a LOT of unnecessary product if you remove the seal, and you don’t need a lot)
  3. Wet the magic eraser, add a dollop of Bar Keepers Friend on the magic eraser and scrub to remove stains
  4. MAJOR TIP🚨Don’t let the product stay on the surface for longer than a minute as it can damage the surface! Rinse with water and dry with a dry rag.

Our coffee loving clients moved into their new Luxury residence at The Grove Atx http://Thegroveatx & chose a beautiful white sink in their kitchen. One day the homeowner asked me why she could not get her sink as clean as we do, and I shared with her the above tip. The Two Cleaning Product Magic Trick is a game changer for scuffs, coffee marks, stains that you never thought you could remove, and cleaning without damaging a surface.

Covid has made cleaning popular and has pushed me to share some of my best cleaning Smarter NOT Harder cleaning tips and trick we use. Check us out on Instagram for more. https://www.instagram.com/pennyspersonaltouchservices/

Tarrytown Cleaning Services with a detailed personal touch