October Newsletter 2018

denverconcierg on October 20, 2018

Firefighters & Puppies?

Yes, it’s a unique combination, but it definitely works! One of our Partners We Love, Misha Photography, donated their time to a very cool charity this summer. The photo below gives you a good look at this fun project, also known as the 2018 Fire Rescue Dogs Calendar.

This calendar project benefitted Lifeline Puppy Rescue, a no-kill organization established in 1993 that rescues puppies and each calendar sold gives one puppy a new home!!

We were able to come up with a few of these calendars and we are offering them to the first five people that email or call Angela to request one, free of charge.

Lastly, if you want to play with some of these puppies yourself and support a wonderful cause, Misha and Lifeline are hosting a “Puppies and Headshots” event on November 8thfrom 4-7PM at her studio in Broomfield.

For $150 you can contribute to this great cause, along with getting your very own 2018 calendar and fully edited business headshot for LinkedIn or any other use you might have in mind. We will also be there and hope you can join us!!!

For more information on this event, please see the details below, or you can learn more on Misha Photography’s Facebook page here.  To reserve your spot please contact Misha directly via her email here.

Your Clone

Have you ever seen your clone? The kids today call it “finding your doppelganger“, which means you encounter someone who looks just like you!

Well that’s impossible, you say?

It’s not. In fact, scientists have figured out that there are, on average, seven people who look just like you on the planet.

We ran across a fun article on Quora that got us interested in this topic, so down the rabbit hole we went.

The chances of you meeting your doppelganger are well….not very good, but not impossible.

If you are curious about the actual odds of finding your “semi-identical twin” or learning more about just who this might have happened to, we found a couple of articles that might interest you.

The folks at the BBC published this article last year, and the Daily Mail published this one, with some fun examples of people that have actually met their own!

Happy Birthday to Two Stars

We don’t like to toot our own horn very much, but we owe much of our success to the “people behind the scenes”. Since two of our best people celebrated birthdays in the past couple of weeks, we wanted to recognize them.

Maria Herrera, our General Manager, and her trusty assistant, Blanca Garcia both celebrated birthdays in late September and October.

These are the two people that make sure the ladies arrive at your home ready to go, on time, and efficient.

Both Maria and Blanca have been with us since back in the late 90’s and both started with the company cleaning houses.

Let’s just say they know what it takes to properly clean your home.

Please join us in wishing both of our superstars a happy birthday! Our company wouldn’t be the same without them.

Best Restaurant List 2017 

As our loyal readers know, we love to eat out in Denver and across the Front Range.

So, we get pretty excited when the annual list of our best restaurants is released by 5280 Magazine.

This year’s list is out and there are some new faces (and places) to go visit.

Old standbys like Frasca Food and Wine are there, and one of our favorites up north, Blackbelly Market in Boulder.

The complete list can be found here, and happy dining!!!

$200M Market Street Project

Larimer Square, Union Station and….Market Station?

On September 29, construction on the 370,000 square foot Market Station got underway (photo above).

Market Station will include 95,000 square feet of office space, 85,000 square feet of retail and around 225 apartments, including both luxury units and micro-apartments that are meant to provide a more affordable option.

Two levels of below-grade parking will be built for a total of 320 parking spaces that can be used by tenants, as well as the general public.

For the full story from the Denver Business Journal, click here.

More exciting stuff in our city!

Monthly Award Winners

Please allow me to introduce our September 2017 award winners for quality and client service.

Our best Cleaning Associates for the month were Sandra Vidales, Anita Solis, Salvadora Rosales, Maria Zapata and Juana Luna.

Our best Team Leaders for September were Socorro Ibarra and Perla Hernandez.

Thanks to all of our team members for their hard work, and a special thanks to our trend setting award winners!

Congrats ladies!

Queen Bee Corner

by Angela

I love talking to clients, in case you’ve missed the gazillion times I’ve mentioned it in these missives from my little corner.

Once in a while though, a call is inconvenient and a text is the perfect conduit. The ladies in the field can text any questions directly to me and I can then text you directly so you can respond even if in a meeting, restaurant, or out shopping.

The clients who have started texting me seem to like the idea.

However, please know that texting does not replace phone conversations altogether because there are times when we have to discuss larger issues.

For those clients who don’t want to text, please continue to call me (see paragraph one above).

The text number is different than our main number, so if you don’t have it already let me know and I will gladly provide it!

Happy October!

Bee

August Newsletter 2018

denverconcierg on August 20, 2018

Labor Day & Back to School 

Summer is rapidly leaving us, and we are heading into fall, which means school is starting as well.

As a reminder, we will be closed on Monday, September 3rd in celebration of the Labor Day holiday. We will be back open for business on Tuesday the 4th.

Since it’s time to get the kids ready for school as well, we wanted to provide a few handy tools to make sure you (and the kids) are ready.

For those of you sending your young adults off to college this fall, congratulations. We have a number of clients that have mentioned this to us, so we thought it might be a good time to provide an “off to college” checklist, which can be found here.

We also ran across a nice checklist from Good Housekeeping for normal back to school activity, and that can be found here.

We hope you have all had a wonderful summer. Also, we would be remiss if we didn’t remind you all that fall in Colorado is gorgeous and looks even better through clean windows. If you haven’t tried our super green, really cool window washing yet, please give Angela a call and mention our fall special!

Here’s to a great fall and go Broncos!

The End of PowerPoint?

Long before we got into the housecleaning industry, some of us spent some time in corporate America.

Not sure about you, but we saw our share of PowerPoint presentations.

They weren’t all great, and certainly were not all effective.

Then we ran across an article where Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, has outlawed PowerPoint presentations in favor of a more creative (and effective it seems) approach.

Early results of this new “narrative” methodology are promising, and the science behind how we learn and assimilate information best seems to back it up.

Visit Inc. here to learn more about this revolutionary approach to presentations.

Colorado Etiquette

Those of you that have been in Colorado for a while (including the few natives that are left) can relate to all the new faces in our state.

We have discussed the burgeoning population here quite a few times, and the effect it has on our city.

But beyond traffic and overall congestion, we thought it might be a good time to remind everyone about Colorado “etiquette”.

The nice folks at 5280 Magazinepublished a fun list in this month’s magazine about how to behave in our fine state.

Everything from trail etiquette to little quirky Colorado things are covered, and the full article can be found here, and it’s pretty entertaining.

So, for newcomers and long-timers alike, let’s all be kind to one another and enjoy this beautiful place we call home.

What $1M Will Buy you in Denver 

Short answer? Not as much as it used to.

Some fun facts…..the median home price in the Denver metro area was $440k in July.

Also, 2.65% of all homes in Denver are valued at $1 million or more. That is good for 10th nationwide.

Home inventory dropped again, pushing prices upward in what seems like a recurring theme here.

So, if you are curious or have $1 million burning a hole in your pocket, you came to the right place.

The Denver Business Journal published a slide show with 46 examples of homes in the $1 million range and it’s impressive.

To see those homes and what a million dollars can bring you, visit the DBJ for the full slide show.

Regrets, I’ve Had a Few

We hate regrets. In fact, most of us have likely spent most of our lives trying to not have too many.

While we don’t like to look backwards too often, there are some lessons in there for sure.

One of the untapped resources in our civilization is the wisdom of our older citizens. They have seen more, done more and have much to share, if asked.

The folks at Medium Daily Digest did an exhaustive set of interviews with folks in their 90’s, posing the question, “what do you regret most”.

The answers might surprise you, but our favorite quote from the article:

 “Do you wish you accomplished more?” He responded, “No, I wished I loved more.”

The full article can be found here, interesting read for sure.

Monthly Award Winners

Please join me in congratulating our best performers for July 2018.

Our top Cleaning Associates for the month were Ana Solis, Josefina Quinonez, Aurora Dominguez, Jessica Rios and Juana Luna.

In the Team Leader ranks, our top Team Leaders were Rosa Chavez and Natalia Olivas.

Thanks to all our team members for their hard work, and a special thanks to our award winners!

Congrats ladies!

Queen Bee Corner

by Angela

I hate to see the old buildings torn down.  We should be so thankful for the hard work of the preservation societies that fight to guard our city’s history.

A recent example is the makeover of Union Station.  There really is nothing else like its ambiance in Denver, and the bustle is reminiscent of a much larger and more diverse city.

It feels like a city within a city and the station itself is just stunning.   What an incredible salute to the glory days of our railroad town.

Quite a few of our clients have historic homes, which I praise.  And much of the newer architecture is innovative and quite beautiful; a segue into the future of our city.

Hopefully the changes will be gentle and not jarring.  Supporting whatever efforts are being made to balance past and future is a step toward the gentle, so let’s get on the train!

Bee

July Newsletter 2018

denverconcierg on July 20, 2018

Green Cleaning and You

Every now and then we feel compelled to remind you that we were the first Green Clean Institute certified cleaning company in Colorado, making us a charter member in our fine state.

Since we started this movement across the Front Range, many have followed. Most companies just do it for marketing because it makes clients “feel good” about using them. That isn’t why we do it.

Since we just renewed our certification with the Institute, we thought it might be a good time to remind everyone why this is important and just why we do it.

Here are five good reasons for cleaning your home with green, eco-friendly products.

1. Environment-This is the obvious one. Using green products ensures you won’t be putting harmful, non-biodegradable substances into our environment. Many cleaning products found in stores have harmful ingredients that should be avoided.

2. Health-Feel better with green cleaning products – literally. Unlike conventional cleaning products, you’ll know that what you’re using won’t harm you, your family, or your pets. Considering many of the hazardous chemicals in conventional products are often carcinogens, neurotoxins, mutagens, teratogens, or endocrine disrupters, it is worth ditching them in favor of natural green cleaning products.

3. Air Quality-Did you know that the use of conventional cleaning products can contribute to higher pollution indoors than outdoors? Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), which have been associated with a host of health problems like damage to the liver, kidneys, and central nervous system, are released when products are used and stored and can also linger in the air long after use.

4. Safety- Flammable/Toxic! With labels like these on some conventional cleaning products, you get a pretty good idea that they aren’t really that safe. Many chemicals (e.g., chlorine and ammonia), when mixed together, can be downright dangerous. Small children and pets are especially vulnerable due to higher exposure levels because of their size. Plus, household cleaning supplies are one of the top five substance classes accounting for calls to the National Poison Control Center.

5. Know What’s in Your Products-Shockingly, manufacturers of cleaning products aren’t required by the U.S. government to divulge ingredients; however, many green cleaning manufacturers make it their policy to be fully transparent, whereas some conventional manufacturers don’t and may only list a portion of their ingredients.

Rest assured that every product we bring into your home is fully vetted and green certified. We use lots of natural things as well, such as plain old vinegar and water to ensure that things are naturally clean.

Thanks for your support of Denver Concierge and our efforts to make your homes clean and safe for your family and pets.

Just How Expensive is Colorado?

Last week, someone told us that Denverwas the 3rd most expensive city in the U.S. to live in. Being naturally skeptical, we decided to research that for ourselves.

The folks at Expatistan did the work for us, with the most and least expensive places to live. They also provide a nifty calculator in case you want to compare two cities and what it costs to live there, anywhere in the world.

Anyway, it turns out that it’s expensive here, but not quite yet on the scale of many California cities or New York, for example.

Boulder checks in at 15th most expensive, followed by Denver at number 24. Colorado Springs is 55th.

So, it isn’t as bad as we think (yet). But, when it specifically comes to housing, things are a little worse.

We found this piece by the DBJ that shows just how many square feet $200,000 will buy you across the country.

For example, in Cleveland that number gets you a 3,700 square foot home and in Denver that gets you 661 square feet, 10th most expensive in the U.S. Most expensive? Still Manhattan at 126 square feet, take solace folks.

The full slideshow can be found here, fascinating stuff.

Summer Cleaning Tips

Summer brings with it another set of challenges for keeping your home clean. Kids are out of school and the warm weather opens our homes for lots of potential messes that we don’t see in the colder months.

Between visits from Denver Concierge, we know you all like to keep things tidy and we wanted to share some tips for making that easier for you.

We found a few resources that might help!

DIY network published a great list of quick summer cleaning tips that we thought we would share here.

We also like this list by the Huffington Post, which contains some cool tricks like cleaning your microwave with a lemon!

Finally, there is a list of cleaning tips by Clean and Organized Family Home that we thought was creative as well. That list can be found here.

Meanwhile, you can rest assured that we are on the job and will do our best to keep dirt and grime out of your homes this summer!

Don’t forget that our ladies also do things like sweeping off your patio or deck for those outdoor parties.

If you have special requests this summer, don’t hesitate to let us know!

State Health Insurance Increases Dropping

No, health insurance costs aren’t dropping, but the amount of increases in Colorado could be significantly smaller in 2019 than we have seen.

In 2019, small group policies will go up by an average of 7%. The good news is that individual policies look like they will rise about 6% in 2019. This doesn’t sound like good news until you realize that those increases were 34% in 2018 and 20% in 2017.

Interestingly, for the first time, less than half of Coloradans will have a plan through their employers.

In short, it seems like the health care market in Colorado is stabilizing a bit.

The full article from the folks at the DBJ can be found here.

You Are who Your Friends Are?

Businessman and motivational speaker Jim Rohn said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with”.

This caught our eye. We found a great piece by Medium that illuminates this idea.

From the article, “According to research by social psychologist Dr. David McClelland of Harvard, the people you habitually associate with determine as much as 95 percent of your success or failure in life.”

Building a group of competent, smart people to surround yourself with seems to be a pretty good strategy for improvement in life.

Lastly, we also found that common wisdom (and science, from the British Journal of Medicine) says smarter people have fewer friends. This caught our eye as well, and the details of why this is can be found in this article.

Interesting stuff for sure!

Monthly Award Winners

Please join me in congratulating our best performers for June 2018.

Our top Cleaning Associates for the month were Josefina Quinonez, Aurora Dominguez, Brenda Garcia, Maria Zapata and Josefina Puga.

In the Team Leader ranks, our top Team Leaders were Maria Varela and Socorro Ibarra.

Thanks to all our team members for their hard work, and a special thanks to our award winners!

Congrats ladies!

Queen Bee Corner

by Angela

Clients have asked me how our ladies manage to get the shine on stainless steel appliances.  Stainless steel is beautiful but easily shows water spots, drips and streaks, ruining the effect in no time.  A quick fix between Denver Concierge visits would be helpful, and I happen to have one!

Nothing is quicker or more effective than a simple clean microfiber cloth and a solution of water and green dish washing liquid.  Be sure to immediately dry with another clean microfiber cloth.  This works on brushed stainless steel, stainless steel sinks, and faucets too.

It’s amazing how the complete kitchen will look cleaner simply by taking care of the stainless steel!  And then we’ll be there to take care of the rest!

One product.  One solution.

Bee

March Newsletter

denverconcierg on March 20, 2018

Cleaning Products and Your Health

Did you know that simply cleaning your own home with the wrong products could be as dangerous as smoking?

It’s true, and it’s serious.

Researchers from the University of Bergen in Norway analyzed data from more than 6,200 people who used cleaning products over two decades. The participants had an average age of 34 when they enrolled in the study.

The researchers found that people who either cleaned at home or who had a job where they cleaned had a decline in their lung function that was equivalent to smoking 20 cigarettes a day.

The speculation is that the lung impairment (once isolated for people that smoked before and other variables) was directly connected to the many harmful chemicals that are frequently used in cleaning products.

While this is terrible news for people that clean their own homes (the offending products are not listed in the article, which can be found here), using Denver Concierge removes all of that risk.

All our products are 100% green and we use only microfiber cloths to clean your homes. Often we use water, vinegar and good old elbow grease to get your home clean. Beyond that, all of our products are certified green and we have to pass certification each year to maintain our credentials.

The safety of you and the people and pets in your home is the number one thing we focus on, as well as the safety of our Cleaning Associates.

Giving you a clean home at the expense of health is not something we would ever do (Hence the reason we refuse to use bleach or any other toxic substances regardless of who asks us to or how nicely they ask).

If you weren’t aware, Denver Concierge was the first Green Clean Institute certified cleaning company in Colorado . If we are in your home, you can rest assured that everything we use will assure that the air you breathe will be clean and chemical free.

Colorado Car Insurance Premiums

Has your car insurance been going up? Ours sure has.

Now we have the data behind why that his happening in our fine state.

There are several things driving significant increases in car insurance, including more people in Colorado, more distracted driving and an overall increase in crashes.

In fact, there were 77,000 more people on the roads year over year and deadly crashes increased to over 600, the most in Colorado in 10 years.

Finally, we have more hail damage than all but one state and the May 2017 hailstorm caused $1.4 billion in damage.

So, what can you do to reduce the cost of your insurance?

The folks at Car and Driver published a good list of things we can all do to make sure we don’t overpay. The full article can be found here.

Happy shopping!

Is the Flu Near You?

It has been an intense and deadly flu season in the U.S., and in Colorado.

We surpassed our record for hospitalizations in February and while the flu season is now winding down, there are also lots of other bugs out there that can affect us. That’s where the tool we found (see below) comes in handy.

Regarding the flu, good health practices include avoiding contact with people who are sick; staying at home when sick, instead of going to work; covering your nose and mouth when sneezing; washing your hands often; avoiding touching your eyes, nose and mouth.

Beyond those tips, and getting flu shot there isn’t much you can do.

However, we found a website that will tell you exactly what is going on around you, depending on where you live.

The folks at Doctors Report have created an “Illness Tracker”. By entering your zip code, you can generate a report that will show you what severity of different illnesses are close to you.

Any number of illnesses can be checked, including strep, flu, common cold, MRSA and many more. The information comes directly from doctors, and we found it to be very interesting.

We hope you agree.

Spring Home Maintenance Tips

Now that the weather is breaking and we are venturing into a mellower weather season, it’s time to tackle those things around our home.

The folks at Mr. Handyman provided a great list that includes everything from downspouts to caulking. The complete list from them can be found here, and includes a handy checklist to make things easier.

We also ran across a great and detailed piece from the folks at todayshomeowner.com  and that can be found here.

Finally, and in the spirit of our Queen Bee, Angela (see Queen Bee Corner below), we found a great piece on decluttering and simplifying your life.

To learn more about the freeing experience that is simplification, the entire article is here.

 

 

 

Home Design Trends

Color is back!!

Thanks to our friend Marina Dagenais at Designer Premier, we learned this and other cool design trends for your home!

The days of all-white interiors are passing, and homeowners are shying away from mild colors and becoming bigger risk-takers by injecting vibrant colors, such as warm wood tones  and neutrals (cream, blue, and gray), into the space to give it a warm, fresh and unique feel.

Marina published a great article on her site and the full content can be found here.  

For a second opinion on what design trends are taking over in 2018, we also found a good article here, thanks to the folks at Vogue.

Monthly Award Winners

Please join me in congratulating our best performers for February 2018.

Our top Cleaning Associates for the month were Anita Solis, Maria Zapata, Aurora Dominguez, Yuritza Caldera and Fidelia Bautista.

In the Team Leader ranks, our top Team Leaders were Rosa Chavez and Natalia Olivas.

Thanks to all our team members for their hard work, and a special thanks to our award winners!

Congrats ladies!

Queen Bee Corner

by Angela

Every year when Spring approaches we start  to think about the requisite Spring activities like planting, window cleaning, and my favorite, Spring Cleaning (well of course).

This year there seems to be a lot of talk about simplifying on a personal level, a kind of new Spring ritual falling somewhere between the typical Spring Clean (moving everything and then putting it back), and decluttering (getting rid of things to create a feeling of freedom).

The goal here is to take the time each Spring to ponder the importance of our belongings, decor, and activities; a conscious reckoning of what is truly precious to us and worth holding on to at this juncture in our lives, and what no longer charms us, and should be abandoned.

We are here to support all your cleaning needs and we wish you the best in simplifying your life.

Happy Spring!

Bee

February Newsletter 2018

denverconcierg on February 15, 2018

Living Longer and Happier

We love communicating with our clients and partners. Unfortunately, as a cleaning company, there is only so much to say about cleaning!!

We will always try and promote what we do, but honestly, it’s more important (and more fun) to connect with you on various interesting topics and we love to provide useful information.

So, this month, it’s life improvement time. For starters, we found some amazing information on how to extend our lives. Not only in terms of years but in terms of quality of life as well.

Did you know there is a simple test you can do at home to determine longevity and health? It’s called the SRT and you can learn all about it here . For the record, we can’t do this and we don’t know a ton of people who can, but we are all about trying!!

The best article we found on aging healthy and gracefully was recently published in Time Magazine . Fascinating stuff on exercise, friendships, habits and the impact of family on happiness.

The oldest recorded human lived to 122 years!! While we can’t all hope to live that long, we found lots of useful information that might help us squeeze out a few more years.

Finally, we ran across a fun site that will tell you what “biological age” you are, versus how many years you have been here. The test can be found here , and will tell you a lot about how your habits and lifestyle affect your “real age”.

Here’s to a healthy and happy year for all of you!

Where do we Eat Out?

Every now and then we find stuff that we absolutely must share with you.

The folks at medium.com did an exhaustive study of the most popular cuisines by city.

For example, Denver ranks 7th in Mexican food, and 10th in steak houses! We also come in 10th in coffee shop visits, (if you guessed Seattle as the unofficial coffee capital of the US, you were right).

You can enlarge maps down to the level of local Denver neighborhoods.

The complete article can be found here, happy reading (and eating)!

 

Car Thieves. In Denver?

If you are like us, we don’t think of Denver as an unsafe city. Sure, we have our share of crime, some of it violent, but in the grand scheme of things we live in a very safe place.

So, we were shocked to read that Denver has already had 633 motor vehicle thefts this year alone. We average 14 vehicles stolen PER DAY in Denver, or an average of over 425 a month.

With winter here, car theft goes up. This is primarily due to “puffing” where an owner warms his car up, only to come outside and realize it’s gone.  If you are curious there are laws that cover our state and what you can do legally and that info can be found here.

Lastly, there are some things you can do to deter would-be thieves from targeting your vehicle.

This article, written by a former car thief gives great insight into how to protect one of our most valuable assets.

 

How’s Your Snow Driving?

We all get a chuckle thinking about the folks that have moved here and don’t know how to drive in the snow.

It’s less funny when you realize how many people have moved here from warm weather climates, and that we are all on the road together!!

Blending those ideas, we were surprised to learn that Colorado is only the 34th safest place to drive in the snow! Crazy, right?

We thought we might offer some winter driving tips (you natives might appreciate the refresher as well) so we can have a less stressful driving experience in the snow.

The Post put out a great article on how to drive in the snow, for both us veterans and the newcomers to our fine city.

Be safe out there.

Investing in Your Home

As we cruise into spring, we are focusing on prioritizing the things we might want to do to our homes.

Obviously, there are lots of things that most of us have on our “list” when it comes to our home.

Not all those items will ever “pay for themselves”. Very few things you can do in your home will provide you 100% return on what you spend at the time you sell your home.

So, what are the things that provide the best ROI (return on investment) that you can do in your home?

Believe it or not, a garage door, comes in at number one at 98% ROI. We were very surprised by the roof replacement, which checks in at only 68% ROI. Kitchen and bath projects also rank very high on project ROI and can exceed 100% if done properly.

The full article can be found here. We also found other info from the folks at HGTV, and their take on things in a bit more detail can be found here.

Monthly Award Winners

Please join me in congratulating our best performers for January 2018.

Our top Cleaning Associates for the month were Maria Zapata, Salvadora Rosales, Martha Garcia, Aurora Dominguez and Josefina Quinonez.

In the Team Leader ranks, our top Team Leaders were Perla Hernandez and Martha Anchondo.

The race for top performers for 2018 has begun. Thanks to all our team members for their hard work, and a special thanks to our award winners!

Congrats ladies!

Queen Bee Corner

by Angela

Texting our clients has turned out to have a lot of unexpected benefits.  I won’t bore you with a list, but I will share that my very favorite is receiving photos of your pets.

Texting to confirm tomorrow’s clean really warrants only a yes or thumbs up gesture from the client.  But one day I received a reply with a photo of the client’s extremely large pet rabbit.

How cute is that?

Then I started receiving here and there photos of other pets until I have quite a menagerie on my phone.

And for the clients who email, please feel free to email photos!  (I wouldn’t mind a new photo of Kat and also one of Fred (Owners, you know who you are).

Stay warm, hug your pets!

Bee

July Newsletter

denverconcierg on July 17, 2017

Make them Green with Envy 

Each year, we invest time and money into making sure that our products and our processes are 100% environmentally friendly. This requires a constant review of everything we do to make sure that we not only clean your home the way you want it, but also that we don’t harm the planet as we do it.

We also don’t want to use anything in your homes that might be harmful to your family or your pets.

We get a lot of requests to use things like bleach (because that stuff really works) that we just cannot accept. Our commitment to the environment extends beyond the traditional sense and things like bleach can harm our employees as well.

Recently, our Green Clean certification was renewed for 2017 with the Green Clean Institute . We are very proud of this achievement as it requires a great deal of diligence to maintain. If you are curious about our certification, you can see all the details here .

We are still one of a handful of companies to invest in official certification, and we were the first in Colorado. While most companies claim to be green, we think certification is important and that it provides you peace of mind when we are in your home.

So please trust that we are using only the best products in your home for both cleaning and safety. Should you have the desire to use products of your own (we use Bona on hardwood floors when requested, for example), please check with Angela first to make sure we are in compliance. As always, thanks for your continued loyalty and your trust.

Partners We Love

That lovely lady in the photo is our friend Marina Dagenais, with Designer Premier. You may ask, what is Designer Premier?

We are glad you did.

We love Designer Premier as they take the stress out of finding the right design talent for you and your projects. They offer a complementary personalized matching service.

Selecting from a pool of accomplished interior designers, builders, and architects, Marina will recommend several options based on your specific needs, personality and style requirements.

Marina has also offered a couple of interesting design topics, including the top colors for summer and lighting design trends.

If you are considering any type of interior design changes, Marina can match you with the designer that best fits your needs.

To reach Marina, you can email her here, or call her at 303-916-9515. Mention Denver Concierge for a special offer, and happy designing!

Solar Eclipse Coming

OK we admit that we can be a bit geeky sometimes. We like the latest technology and to keep up with things that might interest our fellow geeks.

In fact, our VCR always had the correct time displayed, for those of you that know what a VCR is.  It was impressive in the 80’s at least!

Our geekiness aside, on August 21st, themother of all solar eclipses is coming.

Our view from Colorado won’t be the best, but if you are an intrepid soul, you could journey a bit north and get an amazing view.

Of course, we want you to do this safely and with all the information you need, so we leaned on the folks at B & H Photo to give us the low down on how this will all work.

Everything you need to know about this amazing event can be found here.

Top of the Town 2017

One of our favorite issues of 5280 Magazine is the annual “Top of the Town” rankings of all things Denver.
The 2017 list is out, and we didn’t make it again!!!
It might be because there is not a housekeeping company in the rankings.
Hmm, maybe a petition is in order!!
Anyway, we digress. The list of the best things in Denver, as voted by its denizens, can be found here.

Denver Crime Report

There are very few worse feelings than being the victim of theft. The official word for it is larceny.
Recently, the Denver Post published a list of all the larceny that has occurred in Denver over the past year.
As you might imagine in a large city such as ours, there is quite a bit of this sort of thing going on. The good news is that year over year, larceny in Denver is down.
The bad news is that it is still taking place, and we want you to know where, or give you as much information as we can.
The full report published by the Post includes locations, time of day and everything you want to know about theft in Denver. It can be found here.

Monthly Award Winners

Please allow me to introduce our June 2017 award winners for quality and client service.
Our best Cleaning Associates for the month were Dalia Escorza, Maria Zapata, Sandra Vidales, Brenda Garcia and Gloria Gonzalez.
Our best Team Leaders for June were Natalia Olivas and Socorro Ibarra.
Thanks to all of our team members for their hard work, and a special thanks to our trend setting award winners!
Congrats ladies!

Queen Bee Corner

by Angela
I was hoping to have good news on the handyman front; i.e. a reliable guy to do good work in a timely and reasonably priced manner. I may have found someone but I will be the guinea pig. If all goes well I will pass the info on. I know a lot of clients have asked me for referrals for various around the house chores. Stay tuned!
At the risk of being repetitive, please always feel free to bring any concerns to my attention. I sometimes have calls that come in several weeks after an issue, through reluctance on the part of the client to mention it, but then obviously it is still bothersome. I am here for you!
Happy Bastille Day!
Bee

June Newsletter

denverconcierg on June 17, 2017

Summer Vacations and Dad

Summer is finally arriving! Our favorite day, the Summer solstice, is on June 20th. That is the longest day of the year, which makes us happy. We also wanted to take this opportunity to remind you all to let us know if you are going on vacation or if you are planning to be gone for an extended period this summer.

As we have mentioned in past newsletters, the labor market in Denver is incredibly tight and consequently, we are very booked and are running an extremely tight schedule these days. Therefore, lockouts and cancellations become more painful for us, so please let us know your plans as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, enjoy summer and all that it has to offer. We have thrown some events your way (see below) to get things kicked off!!!

Finally, Happy Father’s Day to all of the dads out there. If you forgot it’s Father’s Day on Sunday the 18th, we have a last minute gift guide here .

4th of July Schedule

Independence Day falls on a Tuesday this year. Kind of a bummer as we all love a three-day weekend. Heck, maybe you can find a way to stretch it to four, so it’s better than falling on a Wednesday!

Here at Denver Concierge we want to work for you as much as we can, so we will be open and operating on Monday the 3rd.

We will be closing on the 4th so our folks can enjoy a day off with their families. If your clean day is on a Tuesday, we will not be arriving at your home on that day.

We hope you all enjoy the holiday and have included a list of the best fireworks watching spots around the Front Range here.

We will be back to work on the 5th. Happy 4th of July!!!

Denver Start of Summer Events 

There is so much to do in Denver in the summer. One of our favorite events is the Cherry Creek Arts Festival, which takes place from July 1-3.

There are also many other events taking place in our city, including the Cherry Blossom Festival, Buskerfest and how could we forget Comic Con? If you see superheroes walking the street don’t be alarmed.

There are also many things to do here that are completely free, and that full list can be found here. 

We hope you have a great summer and take advantage of all our city has to offer!

Denver Convention Center Upgrades

Let us start by saying we love our city. We have lots to offer and we have a great convention center. It first opened in 1990, so we agree that it can be updated.

However, the original budget for renovation of $104 million was slightly missed. The new number is $233 million!!!

The city is proposing a new taxing districtthat would primarily affect hotels and rental cars, but will also involve issuing of bonds to cover the new number.

If you are curious about the details of this project, the Denver Business Journal did a nice job, including a photo gallery. That article can be found here.

Let’s hope our personal and business budgeting goes slightly better than this one did.

Although we will agree that the updates look amazing and should propel convention business in Denver by quite a bit!

Cell Phone Interruptions

Have you ever been working diligently on something that requires your full attention only to be interrupted by a text or phone call?

Happens all the time. What we didn’t realize is the true time cost of those interruptions.

A study at the University of California, Irvine, found that “the typical office worker is interrupted or switches tasks, on average, every three minutes and five seconds.”

3 minutes and 5 seconds. That’s 185 seconds in total between one interruption and the next.

What’s more, “it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to the task.” (click above for the full detail, great stuff)

23 minutes! That’s over 7 times as long as it takes for you to be interrupted again.

After reading this study, we have gotten into the habit of leaving our phones in another room when we are facing important tasks that require our full attention, and it has helped tremendously!! We hope it helps you as well!

Monthly Award Winners

Please allow me to introduce our May 2017 award winners for quality and client service.

Our best Cleaning Associates for the month were Josefina Quinonez, Juana Luna, Fernanda Gonzalez, Maria Zapata Yazmin Mendoza.

Our best Team Leaders for May were Rosa Chavez and Socorro Gonzalez.

Thanks to all of our team members for their hard work, and a special thanks to our trend setting award winners!

Congrats ladies!

Queen Bee Corner

by Angela

Our aim at Denver Concierge, apart from cleaning better than anyone on the planet, is to simplify the process for our clients.

The operation of today’s modern appliances, light controls, door closures and plumbing fixtures are not always self- evident to our ladies.

If I receive detailed instructions via email from you then these instructions become a permanent part of your work order and whoever cleans your home will then know how things work.

It alleviates the need to explain and re-explain and also insures that things are being operated safely and correctly.

The complicated made simple helps us do a better job for you! If you have special situations please let me know and I will get it added to your work order.

You can email me here, or as always call me at the office 303-975-2808.

Queen Bee

 

May Newsletter

denverconcierg on May 17, 2017

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is our unofficial gateway to summer. We have had a wonderfully mild winter, and our spring has been quite pleasant as well.

Along with the coming of summer, Memorial Day is also a time for cookouts and hanging out with family. It’s also the first real three-day weekend of the year!

With all of that wonderful stuff in mind, it is also a time to say THANK YOU.

To those of you that have lost someone serving our nation, we thank you. We here at Denver Concierge value the freedoms that we have across our great country and we realize that it could not be possible without the selfless giving that people in our military offer.

We hope that you and your families get some time together and that you all stop to appreciate the sacrifices that have been made so we can enjoy our holidays freely and without restrictions.

This respectful holiday has a long history, dating back to 1868, with Logan’s General Order Number 11 . To learn more about the history of this remembrance, you can click here .

Thanks again to all of you that have served and to the families of those that have been lost serving our wonderful nation.

Partners We Love

When we run across someone that matches our values in term of customer service and dedication, we like to feature them here.

Our good friend Nancy Begley is just that person. She is a private banker at Fortis Private Banking in Denver.

Nancy is wonderful at taking care of clients and has a full portfolio of mortgage offerings, including interest only, jumbo mortgages and custom construction lending.

She is offering super competitive rates and encourages you to give her a call if you are in need of financing.

For your Denver banking needs, we highly recommend Nancy. She can be reached at 720-284-9484 or at [email protected].

Pop Up Park in Denver 

One of the things we love about Denver is its creativity.

Called “The Square on 21st”, the city is developing an unused space near Coors Field for a “pop-up park” this Summer.

From June 15 through August 15, the space in the photo above will be transformed into a very cool spot to enjoy Denver.

The Square on 21st will be set up on 21st Street between Larimer and Lawrence streets, two blocks southeast of the baseball stadium.

It will feature food trucks, a performance stage, bike ramps and street art.

To learn more about this cool idea, click here.

Our Inclusive City

We hear a lot of chatter about the growth in Denver and we talk about it here quite often.

It’s easy to get excited about our growing city, but we were even more impressed to read about how we are doing it.

Brookings Institute studied the top growing metro areas across the country and came back with some interesting data.

It seems that Denver is one of only four metro areas that are engaged in what Brookings calls “inclusive growth”. This is measured in a number of different ways, but we are super proud to be in a city that values diversity in our growth plans.

The full article on can be found here. Way to go Denver!

Ever try a Low Carb Diet?

Yes, us too. We typically try to eliminate carbs when we go overboard and the scale comes up 5 pounds or so the wrong way!

We are constantly on the lookout for health tips and we recently ran across this article that tells us going “cold turkey” from carbs may not be the best answer.

The folks at Fitness Genes (featured here in March) published this article on how the body processes excess carbohydrates and whey they might not be the “bad guy” we thought they were.

Unfortunately we couldn’t find the section that allows unlimited doughnut consumption, so that was somewhat disappointing!!

Happy reading!

Monthly Award Winners

Please allow me to introduce our April 2017 award winners for quality and client service.

Our best Cleaning Associates for the month were Dalia Escorza, Laura Rojas, Aurora Dominguez,  Josefina Quinonez and Salvador Rosales.

Our best Team Leaders for April were Natalia Olivas and Rosa Chavez.

Thanks to all of our team members for their hard work in April and a special thanks to our monthly award winners!

Congrats ladies!

Queen Bee Corner

by Angela

Denver has become a city of rapid change.

Not only noticeable by the new construction and cranes and demolition of old buildings (sadly), but we even notice it here in our little corner of the cleaning world.

We have never had so many clients moving from one house to another and yet not leaving Denver!!  And many are not even moving out of their neighborhood; they simply call to have their next scheduled clean done at their new house around the corner from their old house.

This of course generates many more move out and move in cleans as we call them, and our clients have been amazingly flexible and understanding in working with us to get these jobs done in a timely manner.  So thank you for inviting us along with you when you move!

Queen Bee

 

April Newsletter

denverconcierg on April 22, 2016

How May We Help You?

Did you know that Denver Concierge has been in business for nearly 20 years? The company started back in 1998 as a full-service concierge business. We were walking dogs, buying groceries and running errands. It was a lot of work! Back in the early 2000’s we became exclusively a housecleaning company, and our current owner, John Kitts, bought the company in 2006.

Since then, we have spent all of our time on being the best housecleaning company around and based on your feedback we feel like we are doing a good job, although we always strive for perfection.

While we love making your homes shine, many of you have requested that we offer other services. Some examples include carpet cleaning, window washing, handyman services and the like.

Our question for you today is simple. What other services could we offer inside your home that would make your life easier? We would love to hear from you. Just click on the services that make the most sense to you, then hit submit. It’s super fast and easy, just one page! The button below shall set you free. Thanks for your feedback!

Take me to the fast and easy survey!

Performing Arts Center Expansion Coming

Last month in a fairly quiet announcement, Mayor Hancock rolled out his vision for a new, revitalized performing arts complex We are fascinated by the modern look, and while the price tag has yet to be revealed, it looks magnificent!

The article on this project can be found here. If you just want to skip to the wonderful images of what this might look like, they can be found here. Certainly another exciting project in Denver!

If at First You Don’t Succeed, Fail Again

Our perception of success is typically very skewed. We all have a tendency to look at successful people as examples of success and prosperity. What we rarely see are the failures behind that success.

We found a great article on failure. Odd topic for sure, but most folks that have achieved success have done so with lots of adversity behind the scenes that we have never seen.

If you are thinking about starting your own business, or currently have one, hopefully you will find the article interesting. It can be
found here.

Queen Bee Corner

by Angela

We had an exciting start to Spring.  A water line broke in one of our houses while the team was there and a near flood ensued. When I called to alert the client to what was happening she luckily answered immediately.  I was worried I wouldn’t be able to reach her and she would have an awful surprise on arriving home at the end of the day.

Which brings me to emergency numbers.  I have telephone numbers for all of our clients, and emails for most.  If you have recently changed your number or have an emergency number to add please send it off in an email to me.  Our team leaders always call the office when they notice anything unusual in a house which is very reassuring but we need a way to reach you!

Worst Pollen Season? Ever?

Spring is an amazing time of year in Denver. However, for those of you that suffer with allergies, we might be in for a challenge this year.

We have read a few articles on El Nino and the affect it may have on increased pollens in the air this Spring. We found a good piece on the Weather Channel
which can be found here.

The folks at newswise.com also posted some great tips on how to cope with Spring pollens. That article can be found here.

Are you Good at Math?

Some days we are and some days we aren’t! We always forget the “rule of 72” and how it works with investments, for example.

We found a great “cheat sheet” for not only investments, but measuring our habits, how to accurately tip, and our income.

Take a look here if you want to see some easy and helpful tips on remembering important calculations in our lives!

March Newsletter

denverconcierg on March 20, 2016

We’re Number One!!!

Yes, we love our home city. Evidently lots of people agree, as Denver was named the NUMBER ONE place to live by U.S. News and World Report
. We pulled a 7.8 out of 10 overall, but 9.9 on desirability! Colorado Springs sneaked in at number five, giving Colorado two spots in the top ten. They also did a wonderful job of creating a spot where cities can be viewed, evaluated and sorted. You can find out average commute sorted by zip code, the job market, housing market and pretty much anything else you wanted to know about our fine city (and others, but just so we can gloat)! Full details can be found here .

Spring Break

It is that time of year again and many of you will be taking a break either with your kids, or for your kids this spring.

Either way, we know that our kids will be off from school for some portion of time and often, that messes up your cleaning schedule.

If possible, please
let us know immediately if you are going to change your scheduled clean in any way. We are doing everything we can to control our costs, and we still haven’t figured out a way to solve our lockout problem (yes some people just aren’t home when we arrive, or don’t call to cancel…you would be amazed).

So if there are changes to your schedule this spring, please let us know so we can manage our schedule and keep that efficiency up.

In the meantime, enjoy the end of our winter and the beginning of a wonderful spring!

Denver‘s Changing Skyline

Man, things are changing fast in Denver. On top of being named the number one city to live we are growing and expanding downtown like crazy.

We see all of the construction and we wonder what it might look like in a few years.

An enterprising young man used Google
Earth to project what our city will look like with existing and soon to be approved projects going forward. The bottom line? Our skyline will look radically different pretty soon.

The link takes a while to load, but is worth the view. Data was pulled from denverinfill.com,
which is another good resource to find out what is happening with development in Denver. The skyline link can be found here.

American Express Users

It has come to our attention that our American Express billing label is incorrect. This is not an issue on our end, but one that we are attempting to resolve directly with them. Evidently AMEX charges for your cleaning services are sometimes labeled “Concert Concepts” rather than Denver Concierge.

We don’t know who “Concert Concepts” is, but we are receiving the money in our
account. So, there is no action required on your part, but we wanted you to know that we are aware of the issue and hope to have it resolved in the next week or so. Thanks for your patience and thanks to those of you that pointed this issue out to us!

The Power of Words

Yes, we love words. We write lots of them each month, and we sure say a lot of them.

The folks at Buffer
have written an exceptional piece on what words (and phrases) motivate us the most. They also list some of the ones that don’t. We found this to be a pretty impactful piece and gathered some ideas we are going to begin using immediately.

We hope you agree, the link to the article is here.

Queen Bee Corner

by Angela

I will be out of the office part of this week for a medical procedure. Jenny will be answering your calls in
my absence (she is a sweetie).  If you have any schedule changes that you usually email to me, please call the office and run them by her. Any other non-urgent correspondence please go ahead and leave on my email.  I will be back on email within a couple of days.

Until this occurrence I have been self- sufficient and unaware of all the wonderful home help that is out there in Denver.  Our concierge partner at As You Wish, Allison Farrar, found a great dog sitter who will come three times a day and take care of the beasts.   King Soopers
delivers groceries within a two-hour window and I even found a company that cleans up the yard after the dogs.  And of course I have a super house cleaning company!

Bee

Our Fleet

We wanted to share a photo of our fleet, getting ready to come make your homes shine!

Our ladies are sure happy to be in our new fleet of Kia Sorentos. We hope you like the new look when you see us roll up to your home.

Special thanks again to our friends at Erlich I-25 Kia and the best GM anyone could ask for in Ron Volk. If you are in the market for a new vehicle and have been considering a Kia, please reach out to Ron and he will take excellent care of you. Mention Denver Concierge for a special offer!

You can email Ron directly here.