I moved to Point Pleasant four years ago thinking I’d hit the jackpot – beach town living, cute downtown, good schools for the kids. What nobody told me was that keeping a house clean near the ocean is basically impossible. The salt air makes everything gross and sticky, there’s sand literally everywhere even though we’re like eight blocks from the beach, and don’t even get me started on what happens during summer when this place goes nuts.
I was spending every single weekend cleaning, and by Wednesday the house looked like crap again. My sister kept telling me to hire a cleaning service, but I’m stubborn and figured I could handle it myself. Yeah, right. After two summers of missing beach days because I was home scrubbing salt off my windows, I finally gave up and called the company my neighbor Diane uses.
Best money I’ve ever spent. Now I can actually enjoy living here instead of being a slave to housework.
House Cleaning Done Right For You
The Reality of Shore House Cleaning
Look, if you don’t live near the ocean, you probably think I’m being dramatic about the salt thing. I thought the same thing before I moved here. But after one winter, every single window in my house looked like somebody had smeared petroleum jelly on them. Regular Windex does absolutely nothing – you need special stuff that cuts through salt buildup.
And the sand – oh my god, the sand. I vacuum twice a week and still find it in places that make no sense. How does sand get inside my bedroom dresser drawers? I have no clue, but it happens. My cleaning company, The Cleanest Room NJ, showed me sand hiding in corners I never even thought to look.
Summer is when things get really bad. Point Pleasant turns into a zoo from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Between beach traffic, renters, and tourists, everything gets twice as dirty twice as fast. I was losing my mind trying to keep up with it all.
The Moisture Problem Nobody Warns You About
The humidity here is insane. Bathrooms stay wet for hours after showers, everything feels damp, and I was constantly worried about mold. I had three dehumidifiers running all summer and it still wasn’t enough.
My friend Karen lives right by the bay and she said mold was growing in her closets. Her cleaning service knows about moisture issues and uses products specifically for preventing that stuff. I wish I’d known that earlier because I probably could have saved my basement carpet if I’d gotten professional help sooner.
Actually Finding People Who Show Up
This is the part that almost made me give up on the whole idea. The first cleaning service I called sounded great on the phone but then didn’t show up for the first appointment. No call, nothing. Just left me sitting there like an idiot.
The second company was cheaper but totally unreliable. They’d call the morning of cleaning to reschedule, or show up three hours late, or send different people every time who had no idea how I wanted things done. It was more stressful than just doing it myself.
Finally, Diane gave me the number for the people she uses. They’ve been coming for almost two years now and I can count on one hand the number of times there’s been any kind of issue.
What Good Service Looks Like
The team that comes to my house now – it’s usually a few girls – they know my routine. They know I hide a key in the fake rock by the front door, they know not to move my husband’s work papers on his desk, and they remember that my cat freaks out during vacuuming so they do his room first and then shut the door.
When they had to send someone else because one girl was sick, The Cleanest Room called me the day before to let me know. When they noticed my dishwasher was leaking all over the kitchen floor, they texted me a picture so I could call a repair guy. That’s the kind of stuff you want from people who have access to your house.
Stuff That Actually Works Here
Regular house cleaners from inland don’t always get what Point Pleasant houses need. You need people who understand beach house problems – salt damage, sand removal, dealing with constant dampness.
Post-Summer Recovery
Every September I have them do what they call a “hurricane clean” even though we didn’t have any hurricanes. It’s basically undoing three months of summer damage. They clean salt off every window inside and out, vacuum sand from places I didn’t know had sand, and scrub down everything that got sticky from humidity.
They also hit spots I never think about – like the inside of kitchen cabinets, ceiling fan blades, and baseboards. After dealing with beach crowds all summer, these places need serious attention.
Keeping Up During Chaos
During regular cleanings, they focus on bathrooms, kitchen, and floors because that’s where the salt and sand do the most damage. My hardwood floors were getting destroyed from all the grit getting tracked in until The Cleanest Room staff started using this special cleaner that actually removes salt residue instead of just pushing it around.
They also do weird stuff I never thought of, like wiping down door handles and light switches. Sounds basic, but when you’ve got salty, sandy hands touching everything, those spots get nasty fast.
Is It Worth the Money?
I’m not gonna lie – professional cleaning isn’t cheap. But when I added up what I was spending on cleaning supplies that didn’t work, plus the fact that I was basically giving up my entire weekend to housework, it made sense.
The biggest thing is flexibility. During summer when everything gets gross faster, they come weekly. In winter when it’s just regular dirt, every two weeks is fine. The Cleanest Room NJ works with me on this instead of forcing me into some contract I don’t want.
What You Actually Get
These people have equipment I could never afford. Their vacuum cleaner sounds like a jet engine but it actually pulls sand out of my carpets. Their floor cleaner cuts through salt buildup that my regular mop just spread around.
Plus they’re fast. What used to take me four hours every weekend, they knock out in about an hour and a half, and they do it way better than I ever did. They see stuff I miss and know how to clean things I wouldn’t even think about.
Look, I love living in Point Pleasant, but the cleaning situation was making me hate my own house. Now I actually get to enjoy beach life instead of spending all my free time scrubbing salt off everything. Worth every penny.