Let’s face it, denying your child access to Facebook is like telling them that they can’t go outside.  Although you may be taking this approach, enforcing this rule is rather difficult.  Facebook may not be here for good, but it is here for now — and it’s everywhere.  Although it’s a great way for your child to connect with others, it can also be a large depletion of their time.  Below are a few tips to help minimize your child’s Facebook time, while maximizing their productivity:

• Fight tech with tech. Limit their facebook time with software programs from companies like 123educateme.  This software allows access to personal websites in moderation (i.e. games, social networks, etc) without limiting your teen’s internet time for homework or school-related activity.
• Be smart about smartphones. Social networking and web use is no longer PC-centric.  Your child may be telling you that they want the latest and greatest phone, but smartphones are capable of social networking and may be a distraction both inside and outside of school.
  
• Ensure they aren’t giving up one addiction for another. Don’t be too upset with new-age social networking.  Teens have been wasting time for YEARS.  You will still need to be a parent and monitor what they are doing with their time.
• Supply budget sheets. Time charts or budget sheets can help give your teen insight to their time expenditure on various activities and allow them to make more conscious decisions regarding allocation.
• Allocate the BEST time for schoolwork. Does your teen work better at night or in the afternoon?  Make sure they are working at their most efficient hour.  Sometimes it’s not the amount of time they spend on work, but how they’re actually spending that time which will make the difference between a successful and unsuccessful student.
  

Back to school can be an exciting time, but can also trigger anxiety in some children. It’s important that in the days leading up to school, you really listen to your child and help ease any fears they may have. Avoid the morning meltdown(s) this year with the following tips:

1. Relax. Some children can absorb their parents’ feelings and emotions like a piece of tofu. If you are feeling rushed or anxious because you have left loose ends to the last minute, they can feel it too! Advance preparation can calm both you and your child.
2. Rekindle school-year friendships. Arrange play-dates with friends from school that they may have lost touch with over the summer.
3. Alleviate fears. Ask them to describe feared scenarios and role-play to help prepare and equip them for these situations.
4. Fuel excitements. Ask your child what they are most looking forward to and work these scenarios into the conversations leading up to the first day of school.
5. Practice a dry-run. Take them through their transportation route, classroom, locker, etc. Reducing unknown factors can help your child feel more in control.

Print out this Stain Removal Guide to help you get out some of the toughest, most common household stains. It is recommended that you purchase an eyedropper so you can apply the solutions with more precision.

Coffee Use lemon juice or vinegar to flush the stain, scrubbing with a soft toothbrush. If the stain persists, escalate to bleach.

Fruit Juice Spray diluted dishsoap onto the stain to remove the sugars, then flush the stain with white vinegar and hydrogen peroxide

Gum Freeze the gum using an ice cube, then use the dull end of a butter knife to pup the gum off and scrape off any excess pieces.

Ink Put petroleum jelly around the stain to prevent it from bleeding. Then use isopropyl alcohol to flush the stain.

Lipstick Blot the stain with nail polish remover, then wash with detergent and rinse.

Mustard Flush the stain with vinegar, then wash with a diluted dishsoap solution.

Oil Immediately cover the stain with cornstarch for an hour. This will absorb the oil. Then rinse with isopropyl alcohol, and soak the fabric in a mixture of hot water and dish soap. Rinse thoroughly and run through the regular wash cycle.

Red Wine Blot the stain dry, them mix 1 tsp. soap with 1 c. hydrogen peroxide, and blot the stain with a sponge soaked with this mixture. Blot with warm water, then blot dry.

Green Air Fresheners

Looking for a quick way to make your life a little greener? Consider changing the way you freshen and scent the air in your home.

Instead of plug-in air fresheners, make your home smell great with a mix of natural ingredients. Environmentally friendly air fresheners are easy to make. Simply bring a pot of water to a boil and add fragrant ingredients you might find in your kitchen, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and slices of lemon and orange. The warm aroma will fill your home immediately!

Last minute gifts. We all fall victim to them. This year, give a last minute gift the recipient will actually like.

Give a MaidPro gift certificate for house cleaning service. It’s perfect for those people who have everything, when you forget to get a gift for someone, or you let your holiday shopping wait until the last minute! MaidPro’s service providers will take care of the dirty work for your friend, mother, in-law, grandpa, nanna, sister, daughter…you know, pretty much anyone!

Click here to purchase a MaidPro gift certificate, or visit MaidPro’s website at www.maidpro.com

MaidPro is a Boston-based franchisor of house cleaning services with more than 100 offices in 33 states, in addition to the District of Columbia and Canada. Receive a FREE estimate for house cleaning services or inquire about how to start a cleaning business with MaidPro by visiting www.maidpro.com.

How To Wrap Odd Shaped Gifts

If some of your gifts don’t fit the usual mold, that doesn’t mean you’re confined to throwing it in a gift bag with a mess of tissue paper. Here are tips for how to wrap odd shaped gifts - you know, the tiny gifts, the big gifts, and the just plain weird gifts. Plus, you probably have most of these supplies at home already!

Tiny Gifts

Place the gift in a paper towel or toilet paper roll. The cardboard will give the gift enough structure for easy wrapping. Roll several layers of colorful tissue paper around the roll until it is no longer transparent, and secure with tape. Choose a beautiful ribbon and secure both ends, letting the excess tissue paper burst out, resembling the ends of a tootsie roll.

Big Gifts

Wrap the gift loosely with tissue paper, and insert the gift into a clean and attractive pillowcase. Secure the top of the pillowcase with a beautiful ribbon, allowing the gathered potion of the pillowcase to flow organically over the ribbon. Secure an oversized bow to the ribbon, along with some other fun knick knacks, such as a large gift tag made of cardboard and wrapped in paper, or a bouquet of ornaments.

Just Plain Weird Gifts

Cut a piece of cardboard in the shape of a circle slightly bigger than the bottom of the gift you’re wrapping. Choose a thin, flexible wrapping paper to cover the surface area of the gift, and place the cardboard circle in the center of the sheet. Pull up the sides of the paper, gathering it all at the top. Secure the end with a ribbon and bow.

MaidPro is a Boston-based franchisor of house cleaning services with more than 100 offices in 33 states, in addition to the District of Columbia and Canada. Receive a FREE estimate for house cleaning services or inquire about how to start a cleaning business with MaidPro by visiting www.maidpro.com.

Everyone knows someone who has everything, and if they don’t…they just buy it for themselves! So what gift do you get the person that has everything?

How about someone to clean their home? And no, that doesn’t mean you have to spend hours scrubbing counters and floors.

Give a MaidPro gift certificate for house cleaning service to those people who have everything, and MaidPro’s service providers will take care of the dirty work for your friend, mother, in-law, grandpa, nanna, sister, daughter…you know, pretty much anyone!

Click here to purchase a MaidPro gift certificate, or visit MaidPro’s website at www.maidpro.com

MaidPro is a Boston-based franchisor of house cleaning services with more than 100 offices in 33 states, in addition to the District of Columbia and Canada. Receive a FREE estimate for house cleaning services or inquire about how to start a cleaning business with MaidPro by visiting www.maidpro.com.

Don’t spend the holidays following your family around with paper towels and coasters. Post these clean-up tips on your fridge, and you’ll be able to handle any holiday stain, spill, and snafu!

Red Wine Blot the stain dry. Then mix 1 tsp. soap with 1 c. hydrogen  peroxide, and blot the stain with a sponge soaked with this mixture. Blot with warm water, then blot dry.

Cranberry Sauce Rinse with cold water and pre-treat the stain with a stain removing solution. Put the fabric through a regular wash cycle, but before you dry, check to see that the stain is removed. If not, repeat the steps before drying.

Lipstick on Napkins Use paper napkins. Just kidding. If you use cloth napkins, blot out the stain with nail polish remover, then wash with detergent and rinse.

Oil Stains Time is a factor here. Immediately cover the stain with cornstarch for an hour. This will absorb the oil. Then soak the fabric in a mixture of hot water and dish soap. Rinse thoroughly and run through the regular wash cycle.

Tabletop Ring Marks Dissolve the stain by wiping with a damp cloth, then apply a non-gel toothpaste to the ring. Wipe dry.

MaidPro is a Boston-based franchisor of house cleaning services with more than 100 offices in 33 states, in addition to the District of Columbia and Canada. Receive a FREE estimate for house cleaning services or inquire about how to start a cleaning business with MaidPro by visiting www.maidpro.com.

Are you starting to notice little cracks in your sidewalk or driveway? It may not seem like a big deal, but those once tiny cracks could become huge gashes, especially if you live somewhere that reaches below freezing in the winter months. Rain and snow will seep into those tiny cracks and freeze. Because water expands when frozen, you may find larger, less manageable cracks have formed in your driveway. So patch them up now, while they’re small and still quite simple to fix. Here’s how.

Start by getting rid of any debris in the crack, like tiny pebbles, leaves, and dirt. Just take a broom to the area, then blast the crack with a strong stream of water. If you’re feeling industrious, you can mix your own paste out of water and cement. However, we recommend just picking up a tube of premixed filler at the hardware store. Using a caulking gun, squirt the filler into the crack until it overflows, scraping the excess away.

Once it dries, you may find that the filler has settled slightly below the surface of your driveway. If this happens, simply continue to refill the crack until the surface is even when dry. By controlling these cracks when they’re small, you stave off costly professional repairs and add years to the life of your driveway!

Whether raking the leaves each fall is a time honored tradition or a much loathed chore, the fact of the matter is those leaves gotta go sometime. So, after the kids are done jumping in the piles, don’t just drag those leaves down to the end of the driveway with the rest of your trash. Save a little money and make your garden happy by chopping them up into mulch!

Mulching your garden will improve root growth, conserve soil moisture, protect soil erosion, and create an environment conducive to earthworms and other healthy soil organisms. Creating mulch is as simple as running over your raked leaves with a lawnmower. Simply add your mulch to your garden in a thick, 2-4 inch layer.

If you live in a climate that doesn’t provide for the falling of autumn foliage, you can make your own mulch out of grass clippings and organic food scraps. Start a slop bucket in your kitchen for discarded fruit and vegetable parts and grass clippings.

Regardless of where you live, make sure you don’t get invasive plant species like dandelions in the mix, or you could see weeds slowly invading your garden!