School's Out, and Kid-Made Messes are In: Merry Maids Helps Moms Take Mess Out of Summer Vacation

MEMPHIS, Tenn., June 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- From melting ice pops and wet towels, to sandy shoes and glittery art projects, the cleaning chores pile up during summer vacation, and moms pull double duty with their kids at home. This summer, Merry Maids, the nation's leading home cleaning company, is turning things around to help make summer equally enjoyable for moms and their kids.  To help moms everywhere enjoy a cleaner summer, Merry Maids puts the top kid-made summer messes to the test and offers easy cleaning solutions and helpful hints so moms can get their little mess-makers involved in the cleanup.

By finding fun and simple ways to remove the stains, brush away the sand, and clear the glitter, moms can manage the messes and enjoy a summer of "Mom-Cation" moments – those moments when moms get a little break from tackling the notorious summer messes by engaging their kids to help clean up.

"Summer vacation should be just that…a vacation. Messes are inevitable in households with busy kids who rejoice at the thought of a break from school, but moms deserve some time off in the summer, too," says Debra Johnson, home cleaning expert for Merry Maids. "The good news is there are ways to get the kids involved in cleaning up the spills and drips, making it a summer break that everyone can enjoy."

Johnson provides tips for cleaning up the most common kid-made summer messes:

The Ice Pop Drips
Ice pops are always a fan favorite once the weather warms up – but when the frozen treats start melting all over the carpet or furniture, they are not always a favorite to clean up. Johnson explains the best home remedy for removing an ice pop stain from upholstery or carpeting is to dampen the stained area with dish washing liquid solution. From there, place a white terry cloth towel over the solution and run over the towel with a hot iron – this will help transfer much of the stain to the towel.

• Make It a "Mom-Cation" Moment: An easy way for kids to help keep their hands clean and the floors dry is to make a DIY ice pop holder. Johnson suggests parents help their kids cut a hole in the bottom of a cupcake wrapper and place the wrapper around the base of the ice pop stick – use multi-colored or printed wrappers to make it fun and personal. This will catch all of the drips and drops and keep kids' hands (and moms' floors) from getting sticky.

Surviving Rainy Days with Glitter
On rainy summer days, keeping the kids entertained indoors is a survival coping skill, and many times, the best forms of entertainment involve glitter, glue, paint, and markers. A day of arts and crafts can be fun for the whole family, but leaves a lot to clean. Cleaning up glitter can be a nightmare, but Johnson has some simple steps to help contain the sparkly mess. She suggests spreading paper or plastic over the table before starting any craft projects – hopefully most of the glittery residue will stay on the paper, but prepare for some spillover.

• Make It a "Mom-Cation" Moment: Make DIY lint rollers with the kids so they can own the cleanup responsibility. Help them create a loop of tape, sticky side up, that fits loosely around their fingers or hands so they can tap the sparkly surfaces and capture any glitter that got left behind. 

Sticky Season
Neighborhood lemonade stands and juice boxes are summer staples, but there's no avoiding the spills when the kids are running in and out of the house for refreshments. To help prevent the spill area from being sticky, Johnson says the best trick is to wipe up the lemonade or juice immediately – first with a paper towel and then with a wet microfiber cloth, soaked in warm water, to ensure no residue is left behind. If the juice spill occurs on a cloth surface, rub the wet area with ice cubes and blot the area with a dry microfiber cloth.

• Make It a "Mom-Cation" Moment: Turn the cleanup task into a team project and get the kids involved by having one person rub the juice stain with an ice cube while the other pats the area dry.

Sand-y Days Ahead
One fun way to entertain the family during the long summer days is to plan a day at the beach. However, before leaving the beach, make sure to use a towel to dust as much sand off of the kids' feet as possible, to avoid tracking the sand inside. Johnson also recommends keeping a bottle of baby powder nearby. The baby powder helps remove moisture from the skin, making it easier to wipe the sand off before it gets into the house.

• Make It a "Mom-Cation" Moment: Before entering the house, Johnson encourages kids to do a little dance on a door mat with bare feet –taking four or five steps on the mat will transfer the sandy soil from their feet to the mat, instead of from their feet to the floor. This will keep debris out of the house and help prevent any scratching of the floor.  

Water, Water Everywhere
Warmer weather means kids are spending more time in the water – whether it's jumping into a neighborhood pool, splashing friends with the garden hose, or running around on a slip 'n' slide. However, water activities lead to wet swim suits and soggy towels that can leave marks and water stains throughout the house. Once the kids are done playing in the water, Johnson recommends parents entertain the kids outside for five to ten minutes before heading back into the house, allowing enough time for swim suits to dry.

• Make It a "Mom-Cation" Moment: To make it easier for the kids to help prevent any slippery messes, Johnson recommends setting up a towel tree by the pool or placing a laundry line in the bathroom on which kids can hang their swimsuits and towels to dry completely.

Merry Maids encourages moms and fans across the country to put these, and their own tried and true cleaning tips to the test this summer, and share their best "Mom-Cation" moments on the brand's Facebook page using #MomCation. Consumers are also encouraged to check out the Merry Maids Facebook page for fun contests throughout the summer.

For those interested in getting some help cleaning up all of these messes and more, a trustworthy team of Merry Maids cleaning specialists can create home cleaning plans customized for each household's needs to ensure a consistent, reliable, and thorough cleaning process every time.

About Merry Maids
Merry Maids is the largest home cleaning franchise network in the United States. Merry Maids provides services in 49 states and the District of Columbia through approximately 70 company-owned locations and 390 franchised outlets. Through its company-owned and franchise locations, Merry Maids employs more than 8,000 home cleaning professionals that service homes on four continents, including more than 200,000 homes in North America every month. Merry Maids is a business unit of The ServiceMaster Company, LLC, one of the world's largest residential and commercial service networks. The company's brands include Terminix, American Home Shield, ServiceMaster Restore, ServiceMaster Clean, Merry Maids, Furniture Medic and AmeriSpec. Go to www.merrymaids.com for more information about Merry Maids or follow us at twitter.com/MerryMaids and facebook.com/MerryMaids.

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SOURCE Merry Maids