Once a year, ghosts, ghouls, banana men, and sexy witches knock on your door and bring out the Halloween spirit. As you open the door they joyfully say, “Trick or treat!“ as you hurriedly reward them with your prepared treats hoping that these would satisfy their devilish temper. Most of the time treats work but sometimes, these aren’t enough to deter them from targeting you. You wake up with all kinds of messes around your property and you panic.
You’ve just entered… “The Halloween Cleanup Zone” (cue Twilight Zone music).
Halloween Cleanup Tips
Howard’s believes that cleaning up after Halloween doesn’t have to be a terrifying ordeal. As Orange Country’s and L.A County’s best house cleaning agency, here are our tips for getting your home back to normal. Disclaimer: we got these tips off the Internet, so your mileage may vary!
You’ve Got Eggs!
So you awaken on November 1 from a peaceful sleep. No goblins or ghouls in your dreams! You stretch. You yawn. You put on a pot of coffee and start toasting your bagel. You crack a couple eggs in the pan. You’re officially awake now!
That’s when you notice something yellow streaking down your window… and the same thing on your other window… and…and… ACK! Your whole home is covered with eggs!! You’ve been “egged”!
If you’re facing an abundance of dried eggs all over your house, no need to panic. Don’t pour hot water over them as these would only make the situation worse. High temperatures will start cooking the eggs, congealing their proteins, making cleanup even more difficult. Instead, wet the area around the eggs and wait a couple of minutes. Then, use your hose’s water pressure to take as much off as you can. If the eggs are stubborn, mix a cup of non-bleach detergent, wet the area with the solution. Let the solution sit for a couple of minutes, and then start scrubbing using a soft-bristled brush. After scrubbing, hose the area with water and repeat if necessary.
Your House as a Toilet Paper Zombie!
Ah, the common Toilet Papering (“TP’ing”) prank…
Back when they used to make toilet paper that was strong and really worked, it was a nightmare to deal with — what made it “good toilet paper” is what made it really hard to clean up!
Nowadays, toilet paper is designed to disintegrate when it comes in contact with water. In fact, you may have noticed that some toilet paper brands start to disintegrate the minute you start <ahem>, um, <ahem> actually using it for it’s <ahem> intended purpose.
Well, if your home has been “Toilet Papered” you’ll have a much easier time cleaning it up if the perpetrators didn’t use the best, strongest brand! I can just picture the Product Development team at the toilet paper company “spit-balling” some new product ideas and coming up with this one: “Let’s make our toilet paper SUPER WEAK, because our customers will thank us when their house gets TP’d.”
So, you can just wait for it to fix itself but you may want it gone as soon as possible. Use a power nozzle set to a direct spray to spray down your home or trees. Always remember to spray from the top, down. If you find the toilet paper isn’t disintegrating when in contact with water, then you’ll need to manually remove it. Sorry.
Glitter, Pumpkin Stains, and Candle Wax on Carpets
With Halloween costumes and decorations all over the house, you’re bound to have some messes. When it comes to glitter, a good old vacuum cleaner will do the job nicely. For fabrics and other surfaces, a lint roller will come in handy, and If you don’t have one at home, painters tape or masking tape will do the job just fine.
Pumpkin stains, though, are not so common. It only takes one careless move to make one pumpkin splatter everywhere. If you managed to drop a pumpkin, use paper towels to pick up the splattered pulp but be careful not to rub it into carpet fibers. As for the stains, pour a small amount of white vinegar and sprinkle baking soda over it, then let it sit for several hours and vacuum the area afterwards. If the stain is still there, use a carpet cleaning formula and remember to follow its usage instructions.
Ever since the good old days of Bella Lugosi, Vincent Price and Elvira Mistress Of The Dark, the candelabra has been a Halloween MUST HAVE as part of the decorations. Ordinarily, filling your home with candlelight fills the mind with romantic thoughts — “Honey, can you make some chocolate-dipped strawberries while I get the bearskin rug out of the attic?” — but somehow, on Halloween, even romantic things can take a sinister turn. It gets especially sinister when your candles melt all over your couch and carpet!
As for candle wax on carpet, do not handle it when it’s hot, you can potentially burn yourself or make the situation worse by spreading it around. Instead, allow the candle wax to cool down and solidify. After that, use something like a dull knife to break apart the wax and sweep or vacuum the broken up pieces.
For cleaning candle wax on cloth surfaces like a tablecloth or couch, first try to break it up and manually remove as much as possible. Then place some clean newspaper over the wax spot and roll a hot clothes iron over the newspaper. The remaining wax will get absorbed by the newspaper and come right out of your cloth.
Contact the Professionals
With all these tips, your Halloween cleanup will surely be a breeze. But if you can’t take care of your Halloween cleanup right away or if you want to have a stress and worry-free cleaning experience, book a general house cleaning appointment with Howard’s House Cleaning Referral Agency Inc.
Camilla and Jacob from Garden Grove are our frequent customers. Fortunately, last year’s Halloween wasn’t a prank horror-show for them, but we were still able to give them a hand. They’ve got this to say, “We had so many things planned, from house decorations to the Halloween party, we were pretty wiped out. Luckily, Howard’s had our backs. All we had to do was to give them a call and set up a general cleaning appointment… and the rest was smooth sailing. I would rate them a 5 / 5 stars.”
You can schedule a general house cleaning appointments suited for your needs. Call us through our hotline at 949-215-9550 or visit our website. You can also connect with us on social media. When you need professional house cleaning, carpet cleaning and window cleaning, Howard’s is always at your service.