Showers aside, April brings snowbirds back to the Maid To Clean world. As in, if you took off for warmer shores – and this winter, who wouldn’t given the choice?! – you’re probably returning to the DC region about now.

If that describes you, and you’re a Maid To Clean client, this post is for you!

Seemingly Surreal Swallows in a Spring Snowstorm
Tree swallows wait out a rare mid-May snowstorm, Whitehorse Yukon, Canada, 2011. (image via Keith Williams)

When are you back?

Our clients are great about communicating with us, but if you didn’t let us know when you’d be back and we haven’t been cleaning for you in the interim, please call our office and confirm your arrival date and first cleaning with us. If you want a clean house to come back to, definitely call us and schedule that, and we can make that happen.

Are your utilities on?

If you had your utilities turned off when you were gone, and want us to clean your house in time for your return, please do make sure you have everything turned back one before we arrive. As we’ve said before, if we get there and your utilities are out, we’ll do our best to improvise and “dry clean.” But there are things we can’t do without power. And as a basic courtesy, it’s just nice to have our crew not work in a cold, dark facility.

Your house gets dustier than you’d think.

You’d be amazed how dusty a house can get even if it’s been shut up and no one’s come in or out in several months. For example, surfaces, ledges (including windows and picture frames), and corners (hello dust bunnies!) can get pretty dusty. So if we didn’t clean for you over the winter, please know that it may take us a bit longer and your bill may be a bit higher as a result.

Allow for travel delays.

If you’d like us to clean for you after you’ve arrived, please be sure to allow for travel delays. This is especially true if you’re travelling from overseas, or really, have any flight plans that include tricky layovers. (Like, say O’Hare or Hartsfield airports just about any time of year!) That way we won’t arrive if you’re still horribly jet lagged, or worse, asleep because you only finally got home three hours before we showed up.

That all said, regardless of when we see you, and whether you’re there when we clean your house – welcome back! (Just please tell us you brought back some normal springtime weather in your wake.)