No doubt you’re already imagining the mouthfuls of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and whipped cream-laden pumpkin pie hopefully to be enjoyed with family and friends!  If your house needs a little pick-me-up before you’re ready to welcome guests we have a little coupon to help you out - Save $20 on house cleaning services through November 26th, 2008.  Just schedule a cleaning to take place before November 26th and use the coupon code - BLOGHOLS - at checkout.  Go to BidMyCleaning.com - Instant Bids, Online Scheduling for maid service, window cleaning and carpet cleaning. [New customers only, one coupon per customer]

As we all adopt the latest and greatest technology whether it be the latest Blu-ray DVD player, the new ergonomic iPod Nano or the newest, just launched, revolutionary gadget, all of our now obsolete DVD players, mp3 players or dinosaur-gadgets need to be discarded.  Teaming up with Waste Management, Sony has built a recycling program that makes it easy to dispose of electronics in an environmentally-safe way. The Sony Take-Back program gives Sony customers a free and convenient way to recycle up to five Sony products per day by dropping them off at designated Waste Management eCycling Drop-Off Centers throughout the country.

A study by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency showed that in 2005, used or unwanted electronics amounted to approximately 1.9 to 2.2 million tons.  Of that, about 1.5 to 1.9 million tons were primarily discarded in landfills, and only 345,000 to 379,000 tons were recycled.

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We all want to celebrate the holiday season in a home that is clean, organized and looking festive.  We look forward to our holiday parties and overnight house guests but not all the work involved in cleaning our house, cooking those delicious meals and shopping for gifts.

A little bit of planning and a couple of hacks or shortcuts can help you have a beautiful, decorated home and a stress-free holiday season.

Here is our top 5:

1. To save time create holiday decor like table centerpieces and wreaths with a neutral base of greenery that can be enhanced with fall leaves and thanksgiving themed pieces and then be easily transformed with some holly or poinsettias for December.  You can even begin this with Halloween.
2. Keep a few wrapped gifts on hand that for those situations when someone visits with a gift for you and you hadn’t planned on giving them a gift.  Most people will enjoy some special chocolates or biscotti, photo albums and scented handcreams are also great generic gifts.
3. To reduce the stress of creating those family feasts for the holidays prepare some of the side-dishes and sauces ahead of time.
4. Do you holiday shopping online and select the gift wrapping option.  Don’t forget to look for coupons for online retailers which in many cases will offset the extra cost for shipping so you don’t end up paying more than you would if you went into the store.  There are many sites like RetailMeNot.com that have hundreds of coupons.
5. Don’t try and do all the cleaning yourself - visit us at BidMyCleaning.com and schedule a standard cleaning or a deep cleaning.  To make it even easier we have a $20 coupon through November 26th, 2008.  Just schedule a cleaning to a value of $100 or more.  [Coupon Code - BLOGHOLS]

Bonus tip:  Keep a sense of humor!  You’ll probably need it!

Tees For Change designs eco-friendly tees that inspire positivity.  How could you resist a t-shirt that promotes uplifting messages such as LAUGH OFTEN, TODAY MATTERS, CHOOSE HAPPINESS and PRACTICE KINDNESS.    Do they practice what they preach?  As a matter of fact they do.  They’ve partnered with Trees for the Future to plant a tree for every tee you buy and their tees are organic cotton and bamboo.  A bamboo tee doesn’t sound like it would be too comfortable or stylish but these tees are super soft and come in many styles and colors for women, men and babies.

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To get into the Halloween Spirit we have scared up a super special discount offer!

FOR ONE WEEK ONLY!

$50 off any service of $100 or more
$25 off any service of $50 or more

This is a great time to schedule a deep cleaning to get your house spruced up before the upcoming holidays! Choose an annual cleaning or deep cleaning or get your windows or carpets cleaned. Also available for move-in or move-out cleanings.

Don’t forget to forward this offer on to family or friends who might appreciate a little help around the house!

Service must be scheduled and completed by 5pm Friday 31st October!

Use Coupon Code SCARY50 at checkout for $50 off a service of $100 or more.
Use Coupon Code SCARY25 at checkout to save $25 off a service of $50 or more.

We’re cleaning up the east coast!  Our first stop was in Philly, then we went to the big city; New York then down to Jacksonville and now we’re in the nation’s capitol.  BidMyCleaning is now offering service in Washington DC.  All house cleaning, window cleaning and carpet cleaning services are offered throughout the greater Washington area.

When you’re looking for reliable domestic cleaning services, maid service, carpet cleaning and window cleaning providers in Washington, District of Columbia look no further than BidMyCleaning. Whether you are an homeowners, renter, leasing or property manager or realtor, visit our online marketplace to find housekeeping or carpet, upholstery and window cleaning services.

The providers on the BidMyCleaning marketplace offer residential cleaning services tailored to meet your needs based on the size and condition of your home or property in Washington DC whether and apartment, Condo or Single Family Residence.  The types of service include standard housekeeping for regular maintenance, deep cleaning for less frequent cleanings or jobs requiring a little more elbow grease, annual Cleaning for the once a year spring cleaning or holiday cleanings and move-out or move-in cleaning.

Our local Washington companies do all types of windows, doors and skylights. As an optional extra our window cleaning service providers can clean your mirrors to let the outside in.  Window cleaning services will put the sparkle back in your home and let the sun shine in.

Carpet and upholstery cleaning services for the Washington area are also represented.   Cleaning of Rugs and drapes is also a service offered by our carpet cleaning companies.

So, if you live in the Washington DC area of know someone who does try out BidMyCleaning.com to find an affordable, reliable service provider to clean your home, your windows or your carpets.  We are offering an inaugural discount to our Washington customers.  Just enter the coupon code WASHDC at checkout to receive a 5% discount.

We wrote a blog post on 1st October about the wonderful DonorsChoose program and the Blogger Challenge. We don’t want to miss out on all the fun and so we have decided to donate $20 for each new customer transaction which comes to BidMyCleaning.com from one of the participating bloggers.

If you are one of the bloggers vying for the top spot honor … and the prizes, then let us help you to get there. All you need to do is add a BidMyCleaning.com widget or link to your blog which will be pre-loaded with a unique coupon code. Every time someone arrives from your blog and signs up for a maid service, window cleaning or carpet cleaning appointment we will donate $20 to your DonorsChoose Challenge Page.

If you are interested then e-mail me, candice (at) bidmycleaning.com, and I will get you setup with your coupon code and custom widget or link. It’s quick, it’s easy and it could give you a little edge over the rest of the pack!

It is hard to escape the bad news about the economy and everyone is starting to feel the pinch. It is becoming more important to shop around for the best deal! Comparison shopping sites are seeing increases in traffic and BidMyCleaning.com, as the first site to offer you comparison shopping for your cleaning services is one of them. Whether you are looking for maid service, window or carpet cleaning, we can provide you with instant bids from pre-screened service providers.

You can compare prices, learn more about the cleaners and read customer reviews and then schedule online immediately with the one you choose. In addition, for maid service you can often get a better deal by signing up for bi-weekly or monthly service. If you know you will probably have a maid or housekeeper come in regularly anyway then you can save by scheduling ahead of time. There are no contracts or commitments; you can cancel, reschedule or switch providers at any time.

With the holidays coming up, house guests may be arriving and you may want to give you’re a home a quick spruce up. It has never been easier to find a reliable cleaner and schedule a cleaning visit. In the past you would have had to look through the Yellow Pages or a classified site like Craigslist but then you would have had no way of vetting the cleaner. Directory and review sites like AngiesList and Yelp can help you with that process but you will still need to call or email each cleaning provider in order to get a bid/quote and then repeat the process to schedule an appointment with one of them. What used to typically take from one to several days can now be done in just a few minutes on BidMyCleaning.com – It’s so easy!

To help out a little, we are offering a 5% discount on any of our cleaning services; maid service, window cleaning or carpet cleaning. To get started just enter your zip code and we will show you bids from local cleaners.

Click here – http://www.BidMyCleaning.com and enter coupon code BLOGALOG at the checkout to receive your 5% discount.

Look forward to being of service to you!

The time has come to toss the wrapping paper and paper gift bags! Clean up your act when it comes to wrapping up the carefully chosen presents you give your friends, families and co-workers. A side benefit is that you’ll never spend time hunting for scissors and the tape again either.

Lucky Crow Gift Bags are a waste-free way to wrap a gift. You will be playing a major role in the elimination of the massive amount of garbage created from the disposal of wrapping paper, tissue paper, paper gift bags, and ribbon - over 2.7 billion dollars a year worth of gift wrap that usually ends up in our landfills?

These gift bags really are are stylish and they are a gift in and of themselves.
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I often tell people that at EWG we are swayed by facts, not emotion. And the facts really piss us off.

Ken Cook, President and Founder of the Environmental Working Group

The Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group (EWG), a public interest research and advocacy organization uses the power of information to protect human health and the environment. Ken Cook and the EWG’s research and analysis are major forces in national policy debates over toxic chemicals, pesticides, air and water pollution, and the environmental impacts of modern agriculture. Cook and EWG colleagues also developed the presentation called “Ten Americans” based on a groundbreaking biomonitoring study EWG conducted of toxic chemicals in human blood.

The EWG has conducted perhaps the deepest analysis of the pervasiveness of environmental pollutants and toxins. They tested the blood for 413 toxic chemicals and found 287 chemicals - 200 chemicals per person. Among these were 28 waste byproducts, 47 consumer product ingredients and most disturbing 212 industrial chemicals and pesticides banned more than 30 years ago. Most disturbing of all is their finding that industrial pollution begins in the womb.

If, like me, you are concerned about your children’s safety then the video of Ken Cook’s Presentation at the Tides Momentum 2008 event is a must see.

Stop by the EWG’s For Parents website too for information on how to clean up your home and avoid potential pollutants. Look forward to hearing your comments.