Category: General Information

What Is Swedish Death Cleaning? The decluttering method to ease the burden on your loved ones.

There are all sorts of theories about what you should do with your life and belongings before you die, but Swedish death cleaning might be one of the more eye-opening ones we’ve heard yet. Developed by Margareta Magnusson, this method of organizing your home involves decluttering and using items to their fullest potential before you die so that they’ll be of better use to those in your life after you’re gone. The premise is simple, but the results can be incredibly powerful.

What is Swedish death cleaning?

Decluttering and organizing your home before you die can be a daunting task, but it’s one that can save your family members from unnecessary stress after you’re gone. Here are some simple tips for how to organize your home:

1) Create zones or categories in each room of the house. Zones might include clothing, books, office supplies and dishes – anything that may be stored in the room’s closet or cupboards.

2) Sort items in each category by whether they should be donated, thrown away or put back into their original place.

3) Decide what zone items should go into before you start putting them away where they belong – this will help prevent confusion later on about which items go where!

Why do people do it?

Many people choose to do Swedish death cleaning because they want their home and possessions to be as organized and easy-to-navigate as possible when they are gone. It also makes it easier for their family members who may not have a lot of experience with organizing or dealing with large amounts of clutter. These people often want their family members to find things quickly, know where everything is, and not spend hours sorting through boxes or stacks of items looking for one thing. People get started by going through all of the physical possessions in their house and deciding what needs to be kept and what can be thrown away or donated.

How do you do it?

A good place to start is by identifying what you want/need in your home. This can be difficult when we’re so used to thinking about what we don’t want, or what needs to be thrown away, but it’s very important that you have a clear idea of the purpose of each room and how it can serve you at this stage in life.

Once you’ve identified what’s important, make a list of that – clothes, kitchenware, books, etc. Then go through each room and start sorting items into piles: keep or donate? Don’t worry about making decisions right now; if you’re unsure whether something should go in either pile just set it aside for now and come back to it later once you’ve had a chance to think about it more thoroughly.

What are the benefits?

Swedish death cleaning is a form of self-care that aims to lessen the burden on one’s family after they’ve passed away. It also provides them with peace of mind, knowing their loved one died in a home that was well-organized and cared for. There are many benefits to this type of organization: it can reduce stress, give an elderly person a sense of purpose, prevent illness from spreading through contaminated dust or mold, etcetera. One way to be sure you’re taking care of your household is by keeping up with it weekly; as soon as you start neglecting it you’ll notice things getting out of control quickly! One suggestion for how to organize your home is by going room by room and finishing what you started – don’t leave any room untouched if you want to ensure a clutter-free environment. After each step make sure there aren’t any objects left in the designated area before moving on, this will save time when tidying up. Don’t forget about areas around the house like garages or sheds which may not be visible but should still have order maintained inside them.

When it comes to upholstering your furniture for either residential or commercial purposes, there is a lot to think about the fabric materials that will sheath your furniture and complement the atmosphere perfectly. Upholstery fabrics are way heavier, thicker, and more durable multi-purpose drapery fabric compared to any other fabrics. So whether you’re looking for brand new upholstery materials for your furniture or just reupholstering the old ones, the right fabric selection out of so many fabrics is very important, and not to mention confusing or overwhelming for multiple reasons.

The details of each type of upholstery fabric can be sorted into multiple aesthetic and functional purposes. You need to pick the fabric material that suits your furniture style and durability both together. To help you out with this complicated upholstery fabric sorting and choosing procedure, we have put together a handful number of tips to help you help make sure the piece will last for years to come.

1. Fix the Place Where the Furniture Will Be Placed

The first and foremost thing to decide when choosing the upholstery fabric is where precisely your furniture will be placed.

• Will the furniture be placed outdoor?
• Will it be exposed to direct sunlight or rain?
• Will it be placed in a high traffic area?

If your furniture is an indoor setting with low traffic, you can go for beautiful yet slightly stain, fade sensitive upholstery fabrics like cotton, silk, linen. If the furniture is placed in high traffic outdoor areas like near to patios and backyards, go for engineered upholstery materials like synthetic microfiber that are durable, fade-proof, UV, wrinkling, shrinking resistant and immune to heavy and frequent uses.

2. Decide What is Being Upholstered, and How

Next, decide how the furniture you choose to reupholster will be used, and where it will be positioned in your home, before selecting a fabric. If you’re planning to reupholster a very old or over-used furniture piece, make sure to choose a durable and fade-tear-stain resilient, hard-wearing, waterproof materials, vinyl or poly-cotton for instance. If your furniture is solemnly for luxury and show, you can use slightly fade or stain sensitive upholstery materials like silk or satin. Do note that these kinds of materials won’t be able to handle occasional spills, and the stains might be pretty difficult to take off.

3. Prioritize the Durability Over Everything

When you’re deciding on a brand new upholstery fabric material, it’s very important for you to choose one that will last. You need to make sure your chosen upholstery fabrics outlives your furniture itself since upholstery fabrics can serve multiple purposes. A piece of quality fabric with a bit of care will most likely exceed the overall lifespan of your other interior or exterior decorative materials.

If your furniture is placed outside and exposed to constant rain, heat, and storms, go for high quality, man-made fibers like coated polyester, acrylic, olefin and so on.

4. Consider the Fabric Pattern Carefully

The small patterns and details of your upholstery fabrics have more to do with the hiding and washing stains easily and efficiently, along with complementing your surroundings and the furniture piece itself. For instance, textured upholstery fabric patterns like woven ones are very much patterns that are capable of hiding stains efficiently. And don’t forget to opt for a fabric actually complements its surroundings.

5. Check Out the Fabric’s Wash-Ability

If you can remove your upholstery fabrics off your furniture and have the patience to wash up on a regular basis, you can slightly risk the slight possibility of staining or tearing by using natural upholstery fabrics like cotton or any natural blends with cotton. However, these cotton mix fabrics need to be cleaned by cleaning professionals.

But if you want easy-to-clean upholstery fabrics, here are some of the options you can choose from-

Microfiber

• Synthetic fabric that boasts longevity and low maintenance.
• A cheaper alternative to leather
• Claw-resistant, safe from pets
• Super easy to clean up stains

Leather

• Durable and can often last longer than average fabric sofa
• Can be gently vacuumed, damp-wiped as needed, and cleaned with leather conditioner or saddle soap.

Velvet

• Aesthetic with maximum durability and both water-fade resistance
• Wear-tear free, perfect fit for heavy foot traffic places

6. Verify the Fabric Grade

The fabric grade generally implies its manufacturing cost. Be watchful of this fact when selecting fabric for commercial upholstery. The higher the grade, the better the fiber type is and its construction procedure. There are different grades available in the market, both alphabetically and numerically. Consider asking the manufacturer about it before making your purchase.

Considering all the points mentioned above, you can be a little more relaxed while purchasing the most suited upholstery fabrics for your furniture, both for residential or commercial purposes. All you have to make sure is to pick the eco-friendly cleaning solutions, tailored for all types of upholstery fabrics and its decorative details. 

Choosing good tenants is a critical part of protecting your real estate investment. And when we say choosing tenants, we don’t just mean evaluating them based on their outward charm or meeting them and deciding whether or not they look like trustworthy, decent people. Every landlord should have a strict and rigorous screening process—complete with background checks—to ensure that they don’t end up with risky tenants who might end up costing them thousands of dollars in eviction attempts, lawsuits, and major property repairs.

Background checks with the help of people search websites should be standard for all tenant screenings. Most landlords usually just ask for basic information, employment verification documents, payslips or bank statements, references, and a variety of other requirements when screening their tenants. But the problem with that is that none of these documents can actually help you get an idea as to what problems these potential tenants can cause down the line. They can one day decide to run an illegal business out of their home, set the property on fire, or murder someone right there on your freshly re-carpeted floors.

With the sheer number of terrible people in this world, the possibilities are truly endless. Admittedly, there is no foolproof way to avoid getting a bad tenant. Even if the tenant has all the right credentials and requirements, doing background checks that include criminal records, credit histories, and other financial information is still the best way for landlords to avoid experiencing their own tenant horror stories.

But if you still aren’t convinced, here are a few outrageous tenant horror stories that may change your mind:

1. The Bankrupt Conman

Never let appearances fool you. Just because a prospective tenant looks clean, sophisticated, and well-to-do does not mean that he or she will be a good tenant.

A case in point: a member of the National Association of Independent Landlords submitted a story about an outwardly prosperous man who applied to rent one of the landlord’s apartments. He showed up “with nice clothes and a nice car” and gave some sob story about how he needed a place to stay immediately as his wife had recently died, which prompted the sympathetic landlord to speed up the screening process and skip important requirements—such as the background check.

After just one month of renting, the tenant stopped paying rent. As it turns out, the tenant had filed for bankruptcy prior to signing the lease, which meant he was legally not required to pay his rent while his case was in bankruptcy court.

The tenant was able to stay in apartment rent-free for seven months. The landlord later learned that this man had apparently pulled the same con on various other landlords.

2. “Latex Dog Poo Lasagna”

Many landlords do not allow pets on rental properties because of the assumption that having animals would mean physical damages to the property. But at the end of the day, it is still the owner’s responsibility to train the animal and take proper precautions to mitigate the consequences of their pet’s behavior. It is only when owners fail to take responsibility for their pets that these problems occur.

The problem is never the animal—it’s the owner.

This was exactly the case in a particularly horrifying story from an askreddit thread on Reddit.com. After evicting the tenant for unspecified reasons, the landlord went to the house to clean the place up. When they got there, what they saw in the basement was the stuff of nightmares.

“They had a dog that went in the basement to crap. Instead of cleaning it up they poured latex paint on it to seal in the smell,” the user wrote. “The dog kept crapping and they kept pouring [until] a latex dog poo lasagna [filled the] entire room. The floor was a mound about 4ft high and 10ft wide, filling the entire basement of nothing but layers of latex paint and dog crap from several years of them living there. Took air hammers and chisels and weeks of work to clean.” 

3. The One-Woman Horror Show

Sometimes, landlords get tenants who are just too horrible for words.

Brad Chandler of Express Homebuying, who used to manage a section 8 community in Washington, D.C. a few years ago, recalls one particularly bad tenant who “liked to start problems” and “may have been a prostitute and drug and alcohol abuser.”

Clearly unstable, this tenant was a menace not only to her landlords but to other tenants as well. “When she got mad at our office she would turn on her water, block the drain, and flood the apartments below her,” Chandler shares. “[And] she lived on the third floor. She did this three times in six months. We were left to pay for and clean up the damage and we still couldn’t evict her.”

Worse than the willful property damage, however, was the manslaughter that this tenant committed right in the apartment complex. “One day she got in an argument with a gentleman outside of her apartment door, in the hallway,” Chandler explains. “It turned physical and she pushed the man over the railing. He ended up dying. Still, we couldn’t evict her. A few months after that she was run over by a bus not far from the community and she died.”

4. Stolen Appliances, Buckets of Poop, and Massive Destruction

Here’s another story from the same thread on Reddit.com that will make any landlord vow to never skip background checks again:

“My best friend and his father run a property management company nearby,” the user wrote. “They had a couple for tenants in the third floor of a building that were pissed off, out of work, alcoholics, and apparently just not nice people.”

The user continues: “They were getting evicted and knew it… so they proceeded to take anything of value and destroy everything else. They took the dishwasher, refrigerator and some carpet. They destroyed the closets, bathroom fixtures, cabinets, walls, etc.”

And then, just for kicks, they decided to defecate in buckets and left them in the apartment. But believe it or not, those things weren’t even the worst of what the tenants did.

“[One of the tenants] used to work construction and mixed up some quick-setting concrete and poured it into [the drains],” the user adds. “It literally destroyed most of the plumbing in the building as the pipes all drained down to the floors below. They had to tear the walls apart and completely redo all of the plumbing it touched.

5. The Worst Tenant in the World

What’s worse than a bad tenant who destroys your property and annoys all your other tenants? A bad tenant who commits domestic violence, torture, murder, and arson on your property, and then proceeds to involve you and the other tenants in a long and arduous murder trial.

“Tenant and his wife were divorcing and in the middle of a nasty custody battle. Wife brought child over for weekend visit and got into fight with new girlfriend. New girlfriend knocked her unconscious, tied her to a chair and kept her locked in the apartment until tenant came home. Tenant and girlfriend spent a week torturing wife until she finally signed papers relinquishing custody,” a Reddit.com user wrote on the same askreddit thread of tenant horror stories.

The story gets even grislier. “[The] tenant and [his] new girlfriend kill [the] wife. Tenant takes the drywall off the wall in the apartment, shoves wife’s body between the wall joists and puts the drywall back up. He leaves her there until he can’t stand the smell in the apartment anymore,” the user continues. “Tenant then pulls the drywall back off, pulls out the body, puts it in apartment complex refrigerator and… dumps the body in the national forest and sets it on fire. Then tenant brings the refrigerator back to the apartment so he can keep using it. When the police come looking for the wife, tenant sets the apartment on fire to cover up the murder but only does minimal damage.”

Despite the cover-up attempt, the tenant gets arrested. However, he soon gets bailed out by his mother. The tenant then returns to the apartment and makes all sorts of demands. He tells his landlord to fix all the destruction and chaos that he caused during the murder, such as the damaged drywall, bloodstained carpets, and the pervasive odor (from the corpse of his former wife) that still lingered in the apartment. Predictably, he was served with an eviction notice.

But, like all bad tenants, he wasn’t going to leave without causing major grief to everyone involved first.

“He trashes the entire apartment then waits until his new girlfriend comes home. He douses her with gasoline, locks her inside the apartment and throws a Molotov cocktail through the window. When the cops come, he blames everything on his new girlfriend who is now comatose with severe burns over the majority of her body,” the user adds. “[The] tenant is arrested again and held without bond.”

But the story’s not over yet. “[The tenant’s] defense lawyer then subpoenaed every other tenant in the building to testify and begins taking depositions that come across as bullying/threatening. Apartment complex insurance company attorney refuses to represent the tenants and have the subpoenas quashed. Half the tenants move out so they didn’t have to deal with the lawsuit/press/murder. The other half group together and sue the apartment complex because the management failed to maintain a safe living environment.”

After all of the problems caused by that one bad tenant, the landlords ended up filing for bankruptcy. “It cost $3k for the eviction [and] $20k in insurance deductibles to repair the fire damage but the insurance company paid out almost ten times that. The insurance company also paid out over $75k in legal fees and settled out the lawsuits for roughly six figures.”

The Bottom Line

To ensure that you don’t end up with a tenant horror story as outrageous and horrifying as the ones we’ve included here, always take the necessary steps to find out everything you can about your prospective tenants. You can use people search websites like MyLife.com, where you can find out more about the applicants who are applying to rent your property and order full background checks to supplement the tenant screening process.

Being a landlord is definitely not for the faint of heart. Still, almost all of these tenant horror stories could have been avoided with a proper tenant screening process and by conducting complete and accurate background checks.

If you’re like most people, planning a move isn’t exactly your idea of a good time. Whether you’re moving across town or across the country, there are a lot of logistics to worry about before the big day. The good news is that you always have the option of hiring a team to help you with your move—and doing so can take some stress off your plate.

If you’re thinking about hiring moving help, this is something you’ll want to look into sooner rather than later. Moving companies can book up quickly, especially during busy seasons of the year (including summer). The sooner you decide on whether to hire moving help, the sooner you can get the ball rolling.

Not sure where to begin? Take a look at our guide to hiring moving help, which covers everything from determining whether you need moving help to what to look for when hiring a professional.

Hire Moving Help or Handle it Yourself?

Is hiring movers right for you? There are some potential pros and cons to think about for your next relocation.

Pros and Cons of Hiring a Moving Professional

Hiring a moving professional can cut down on the stress involved in moving, especially when it comes to transporting your belongings from point A to point B. The right movers will have the experience, equipment, and know-how necessary to tackle your move efficiently. You can even have them pick up storage right from your doorstep so you do not have to do any of the heavy lifting yourself.

Of course, hiring movers isn’t cheap. You can expect to shell out a pretty penny for professional moving services—and these costs can be difficult to justify if you’re already on a limited budget. Availability for professional movers may also be limited, so you may have a hard time finding help if you’re moving during a busy time of year (like a weekend in the middle of the summer).

Pros and Cons of DIYing Your Move

The main benefit to handling your own move without the help of a professional is that of saving money. By loading up all your own belongings and transporting them yourself, you’ll potentially save hundreds or even thousands of dollars. And if you don’t have that much to move in the first place, this could be a wise choice.

However, you also need to consider the value of your time and labor. When you move yourself, you generally won’t have access to the same tools and equipment that a professional moving company would. You also won’t have the experience and expertise as somebody who moves furniture and boxes for clients on a daily basis. As a result, it could end up taking you several hours to do what a moving team could do in less than an hour.

When you begin to think of things this way, it can be easier to see why spending the money on a team of moving professionals may be worth it.

Tips for Hiring Moving Help

If you decide to move forward with hiring a mover, the first thing you’ll need to do is to decide when you would need moving services. Because moving companies can book out far in advance (especially in heavily populated areas), having some flexibility here will be helpful.

From there, be sure to keep a few key considerations in mind as you being exploring your options for professional movers.

Find Out What They Can (And Can’t) Move

Most moving companies will have policies on specific items they cannot handle or transport for liability reasons. Firearms, for example, are a common item that many moving companies will not deal with. The same may also apply for especially large or heavy furniture, such as pianos. If the company you’re looking at does handle these types of items, keep in mind that you may be expected to pay extra.

What Other Services Are Offered?

In addition to moving services, you may also be interested in other services to help you prepare for relocating. Some companies, for example, may offer assistance with packing in preparation for your move. If you’re looking to take a hands-off approach with your move and cut down on your stress, you may want to find a company that offers packing and/or unpacking services as well.

If you’ll need a storage unit after your move, you may also want to find a moving company that offers this as well. In this case, your movers may be able to drop your belongings off at your new place and then take any excess boxes or furniture over to your storage unit on the same day, saving you time and hassle.

Inquire About Their Pricing Structure

Cost is almost always a concern when hiring a professional mover, so be sure to find out how your moving company calculates their costs and how you’ll be expected to pay. For the most accurate estimate, you may want to find a company that can provide an in-home quote on your services; some other companies may provide a quote based on an itemized list of boxes and furniture that you provide.

Regardless of cost, be sure to also find out what type of deposit (if any) will be required of you and what types of additional expenses you can expect. For example, if your moving company doesn’t include gratuity with your quoted price, you may need to set aside some extra cash to tip your moving team. If you’re moving a long distance, keep in mind that there may be fuel surcharges added to your estimate as well.

Moving companies can also vary greatly in how they charge for their services. One company may charge a flat-fee for your move based on the amount of furniture and boxes you have. Another moving company, on the other hand, may charge an hourly fee based on the estimated number of hours your move will take.

Is Your Estimate Binding?

Speaking of pricing, it’s important to find out whether the quote/estimate you’ve received from your moving company is binding. If it is, then this means you should not end up with any added expenses or surprise charges. A non-binding quote, however, is meant to give you a general idea of the price but can fluctuate based on how long it takes your moving team to complete the job.

Ideally, you’ll want to find a company that will provide you with a binding estimate. This will help you avoid surprises down the road, which can help you avoid additional stress as you prepare for your move.

Ask What Equipment They’ll Use

A professional mover needs to have access to the right equipment to get the job done quickly, efficiently, and with no damage to your personal items. Don’t hesitate to ask a moving company for an inventory of their equipment. Furniture dollies can really cut down on moving time, so there should be at least one dolly available for each mover on your hired team. You may also want to ask what supplies will be used to protect your flooring or wrap your furniture items during transport, as well as what extra costs use of these materials may incur.

Make Sure They’re Fully Insured

Never hire a moving company without obtaining proof of liability insurance; this type of insurance is a must whether you’re moving locally or long distance. Specifically, liability coverage is designed to protect both you and your moving company in the event that any of your belongings are lost or damaged during the move.

With many moving companies, your quote includes basic insurance coverage for a specific dollar amount per pound of furniture/boxes. Make sure you’re comfortable with this amount, and don’t hesitate to ask for additional coverage if your moving company is handling anything especially valuable.

Find Out Exactly What’s Included

Always be sure to find out exactly what’s included with your moving estimate versus what may not be included before you book any services. After all, inclusions and exclusions can sometimes vary greatly from one company to the next.

For example, if you’re moving into a high-rise apartment building in New York City, you may need access to a freight elevator to move your furniture and other heavy items to your new place. Obtaining a reservation for an elevator is something your moving company should handle—though some moving companies may charge extra for this and some may not.

If any of your furniture needs to be dis-assembled and re-assembled, you’ll also want to find out whether this will cost you extra. With a moving company that charges by the hour, assembly should simply fall into the hourly rate. However, if you’ve received a flat-fee quote for your move, furniture assembly may end up costing extra.

Ask for References and Referrals

Ideally, you’ll want to find a moving company that has at least a few years of experience. However, a newer moving company can still be a great choice if they have great reviews and referrals. Don’t hesitate to ask a potential moving company for a list of references that you can follow up on, especially if they’re a newer company without a lot of experience.

A list of references can put you into contact with past clients who have used the moving company’s services in the past. This can help you get a better idea of what to expect from the company based on past clients’ experiences. Online reviews can also be useful for this, but it’s important to make sure the reviews you’re reading are legitimate.

What About Background Checks?

When you hire movers, you’re inherently inviting them into your home and trusting them to handle your personal belongings. With that in mind, it’s important to be able to fully trust your movers. Many moving companies will perform thorough background checks on the movers they hire for your peace of mind and protection. If you’re thinking about hiring a moving company, be sure to ask if they run criminal background screenings on their movers. If not, then you may want to find a company that does.

Other Services to Consider

Finding the right moving team for your upcoming relocation will take some time, research, and careful planning. At the end of the day, however, hiring a capable and experienced moving team can provide you with peace of mind and much-needed stress relief during this chaotic time.

To make settling into your new place go even more smoothly, you may also want to consider hiring a professional maid service. A move-in/move-out cleaning from Maid Sailors, for example, can save you the hassle of scrubbing your new place from top to bottom before you move in. Instead, let our team of professional cleaners take care of this for you so you can simply move in and begin getting unpacked!

The festive season is one of the busiest in the year. This season comes with broad opportunities to make a significant connection with customers. This creates a brand image you would like customers to associate with your brand in the New Year. The holiday season is a wonderful opportunity to grow your sales. Here are ways to prepare your restaurant to cash in on the holiday season.

Festive Decoration

To put your restaurant in a festive mood, decoration is necessary. There are various Christmas and New Year decoration ideas to include in your restaurant. The decoration in your restaurant should be visible by people outside with some exceptional decoration at the entrance. Include lights, Christmas tree, and muffins on all tables for a festive ambiance. Customers will love this as soon as they step into the door.

Special Menu

Give your customers something new during the holiday season. Prepare a special menu for the holiday season. Include special meals you have not been serving or include some of the mouthwatering favorites including salads and cold meat. For the older generation, prepare traditional roast meats, plum pudding, and baked vegetables. Don’t miss the traditional Christmas dessert made with meringue base with whipped cream and fruit topping. You can create a special Christmas menu and one for the new year.

Enough Supplies

The best way to avoid stress and frustration during the festive season rush in your restaurant is to have enough supplies. Now is the moment to order wholesale restaurant supplies online before the season heats up. A reputable supplier will have a range of supplies in various categories to match your business requirements. Ensure to purchase supplies wholesale to ensure that your stocks don’t run out during the festive rush and to benefit from special discounts.

Efficient Customer Relationship Management

Calls and sending texts to people on your client list is part of a customer loyalty program. Ensure to target people who came to your restaurant during last year’s festive season. Calling or texting them asking whether you can book them this season too is a great idea. Customers love businesses that warmly invite them. The efficient use of your CRM builds customer relationships and fosters better rapport with existing customers to encourage retention and loyalty.

Alternatively, avail a range of royalty offers to attract new and current customers. When contacting the customers, begin with a warm greeting before inviting them to your restaurant for your festive preparations. Talk about your royalty program to make your invitation more appealing. This will make you except customers and create better relationships with customers for brand loyalty.

Organize a Festive Season Event

Most people prefer spending the festive season with their loved ones. However, you can lure them to your restaurant by organizing special theme nights. These will attract a crowd on days such as New Year’s eve. Alternatively, you can organize special nights for celebrations until the New Year comes. People are fascinated by special musical nights or events for putting them in a celebratory mood. Such events are socially exciting and fun-filled to put attendees in a festive mood.

Offer Gift Coupons and Freebies

The Christmas season is filled with immense spending opportunities. These make most people run out of cash. Fortunately, you can lure people to come to your restaurant with a promise to help them spend less. Additionally, with the immense gift-giving during the festive season, there is no reason why not to give a loved one a gift or shopping voucher.

These will attract more customers to your restaurant. People love vouchers for offering flexibility and various options. Dining coupons at your establishment are a wonderful gift option to boost sales. Keep the validity if the vouchers and gift cards longer. This will keep people flocking your restaurant beyond the festive season.

Preparing for Chaos

People are usually in a celebratory mood during the festive season. However, some customers can get rowdy after some drinks. This is true when you host an event or party at your restaurant. So, it pays to plan for this chaos. This is very important since one rowdy customer can become unruly and disrupt the peace of other customers and the ambiance of your establishment.

Have someone to take care of such people before your place becomes a war zone. Hire some bouncers to keep a keen eye on whoever might have the potential to cause chaos at your restaurant. This will ensure that all your customers make the most of their experience. Additionally, it saves you from this extra stress of trying to keep things in order.

Bottom Line

The festive season is the busiest throughout the year making it a wonderful opportunity to make some good money. This requires adequate preparation to ensure serving customers without any mishaps. Buying supplies for your establishment in bulk at wholesale price is a proactive idea to save yourself the stress when the season heats up.

Keeping the inside of your home clean and tidy can be time-consuming enough—but maintaining your lawn and its landscaping can seem like a near-impossible task for many. From weeding and mowing during the summer months to leaf and debris removal during the spring and fall, there’s a lot of responsibility that comes with owning land.

In addition to hiring a yard care service, many busy landowners also choose to employ yard clean-up services to keep their lawns looking their best all year round.

What Does a Yard Clean-Up Service Offer?

Specific services offered by a yard clean-up company can vary, but most offer the same basic options that include some or all of the following.

Leaf/Debris Removal

If you have a lot of trees on your property, you’ll likely be faced with the large task of removing them all towards the end of fall. This can be time-consuming, especially if you don’t have a leaf blower and are relying on an old-fashioned rake and lawn waste bag to get the job done. A yard clean-up service can handle the removal of leaves from your property, as well as other debris (like fallen branches or other yard waste).

Weed Removal

Weeds are a more common problem during the spring and summer months. Not only do weeds detract from the appearance of your yard and the curb appeal of your home, but they can pose a threat to healthy grass and plants on your property.

A yard clean-up service can handle weeding your yard and landscaping beds so they can look their best. This can also be done during the spring months to give you a “clean slate” before you plant any flowers, shrubs, or other seasonal plants on your property.

Tree and Shrub Pruning

Many yard clean-up companies also offer tree- and shrub-pruning services to keep your plants and shrubs healthy. Pruning is typically done during the fall months, but this can vary depending on the types of plants or trees with which you’re working. A yard clean-up company will know how much to prune to keep your shrubs and/or trees healthy and encourage proper regrowth in the following seasons.

Mulch Installation

Adding a new mulch bed or refreshing an existing mulch bed can be a lot of work, which is why many people hire yard clean-up services to have this project taken care of. A new or refreshed mulch bed on your property can also add lovely curb appeal to your home. A professional company will have the tools needed to lay mulch and will save you the hassle of hauling it to your home.

Pros and Cons of Hiring a Yard Clean-Up Service

Now that you have a better understanding of what a yard clean-up service entails, is hiring one right for you? If you’re still not sure, it can be helpful to weigh some of the possible pros and cons.

Advantages of Hiring a Yard Clean-Up Service

Perhaps the biggest benefit to hiring a yard clean-up service, as hiring a moving help service, is that it saves you an enormous amount of time and hassle. Depending on the size of your yard, you could easily spend hours of your valuable time each week taking care of your lawn. Combine the sheer amount of time required to maintain a lawn with the back-breaking physical labor that goes into it—and it’s easy to see why hiring a professional could be worth the money.

When you hire a reputable yard clean-up service, you can also rest assured that these are trained and experienced professionals working on your lawn. They’ll have access to some of the best tools, equipment, and other resources to get the job done efficiently and to keep your yard looking great.

Thinking of selling your home in the near future? A poorly maintained lawn can detract from your curb appeal, which may make it harder to sell your place. Many people looking to sell a home will hire yard clean-up services to freshen things up and make sure the home is presentable both inside and out before listing.

Potential Drawbacks of Hiring a Yard Clean-Up Service

As you can probably imagine, one of the biggest potential drawbacks of hiring a lawn clean-up service is the cost. DIYing your yard clean-up won’t cost you a thing (other than maybe the cost of a rake, some yard waste bags, and other basic supplies)—whereas hiring a professional isn’t cheap. Still, it’s important to think about the value of your time and energy when considering whether the cost of hiring a clean-up service is worth it. For many homeowners, it is.

When you hire a yard clean-up service, you’re also trusting the professionals to properly care for your yard and know what they’re doing. If you hire somebody who isn’t knowledgeable about a particular tree or shrub on your property, for example, he or she may end up harming or even killing the plant/tree by over-pruning it. For this reason, it’s important to make sure you’re choosing an experienced and knowledgeable professional for this type of work.

How Much Does a Yard Clean-Up Service Cost?

If you’re thinking about hiring a yard clean-up service after weighing some of the pros and cons, you may now be wondering how much this type of work is going to cost you. Ultimately, the cost of hiring a yard clean-up service can vary greatly depending on the region where you live and a number of other factors. For example, you’re going to spend more on yard clean-up in the middle of New York City or the Bronx than you would in Seattle or Minneapolis, where the cost of living is lower.

In general, however, you should expect to spend around $700 to hire a professional yard clean-up service for several hours of work. Be sure to also consider some of the most common factors that may affect the rate you end up paying.

Hourly or Flat-Rate?

Most yard clean-up companies will charge by-the-hour, but this isn’t always the case, so it’s important to ask. If the service is being charged by-the-hour, make sure to find out if any other costs will be incurred (such as the cost for materials if you’re having a mulch bed installed).

Timing/Notice

The time of year you’re looking to hire a yard clean-up company and how quickly you need the work done may also affect how much you pay. Generally, the demand for yard clean-up is higher during the spring and fall months, so you can expect to spend more during this time.

If you need a quick turn-around on yard clean-up, you can also expect the work to be more expensive. This may be the case, for example, if a tree limb fell on your property during a heavy wind storm and you need it hauled away as soon as possible.

Yard Size/Services Needed

The exact services and the size of your yard that needs to be cleaned up will also have a major impact on the price you pay. Lawn size can play an especially big role in your price if you’re looking to have a service like all-over weeding of leaf-blowing done.

Tips for Choosing the Right Yard Clean-Up Service

As you begin exploring yard clean-up services in your area, you may be overwhelmed by the number of companies available. How can you choose the one that’s best for your exact needs and budget? By following these tips, you can “weed out” the less reputable companies and find the best yard clean-up service in your area.

Seek Out Transparent Pricing

Any reputable yard clean-up company worth your time should be happy to provide you with an on-site quote for the exact services you’re requesting. It is important that the company actually come out to your property to provide you with the quote in order to ensure its accuracy; if the company will only provide you with a non-binding estimate over the phone, it may be time to look elsewhere.

When you receive a quote from a yard clean-up company, make sure to find out exactly what’s included. The written quote should provide a detailed break-down of costs so you can see what you’re paying for. Don’t hesitate to ask questions about costs; a reputable company will be happy to answer them for you.

Consider Availability

If timing is a factor on your yard clean-up job, make sure the company you’re looking at is available when you need them. For example, if you’re planning to list your home for sale next week and need the work completed before them, you’ll want to be sure the clean-up crew is available for a rush job.

If you prefer to be home when the clean-up crew is working on your yard, you’ll also want to check the specific scheduling availability for the company. Many clean-up crews only work regular business hours during the week, whereas others may accept requests for weekend services.

Make Sure Workers Are Vetted

For your protection and peace of mind, make sure the company you end up hiring takes time to carefully vet their workers. This means they should be background checked. If a company cannot assure you that their workers have been vetted, then it’s time to move onto another business.

Get Peace of Mind With a Guarantee

Ideally, you’ll also want to choose a company that offers some sort of satisfaction guarantee on their services. This way, if you’re unhappy with the clean-up work for any reason, you can have the crew come back out and correct any issues or mistakes.

Check Out Reviews and Testimonials

Reading online reviews and testimonials is a great way to learn more about a yard clean-up company’s reputation within the community. Check for third-party reviews (rather than trusting reviews published on a company’s website directly), as these will tend to be the most reputable and honest.

If you’re thinking about hiring a less experienced company that doesn’t have a lot of reviews, don’t hesitate to ask for at least a short list of references that you can contact personally.

Find Out Exactly What’s Included

Some yard clean-up companies may try to lure you in with a low estimate/quote, only to nickel and dime you when it comes time for you to pay. Make sure you know exactly what’s included and what may not be included with your quoted price. For example, if you’re paying for leaf removal, be sure that the leaves will actually be bagged up and removed entirely from your property rather than left in bags on your lawn. Some companies may charge extra for hauling things away, so it’s best to check ahead of time.

Don’t Overlook Insurance Coverage

Liability insurance is a must when hiring any company to work on your property, so ask for proof. Never hire a yard clean-up service that cannot provide you with proof of liability insurance. It’s not worth the risk! Overall, hiring a yard clean-up service can be an excellent way to keep your yard tidy while saving you time and hassle. Just be sure to heed our tips and advice to find the right crew for the job!