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One woman who loves cleaning so much gave up her job as a professional to travel the world and scrub homes for free.
29-year-old Auri Katariina quit her job as a service manager at a cleaning company in the summer of 2021, to pursue her passion of cleaning other people's homes for free.
Katariina, who says she is in “heaven” when she cleans, visits people from all over the world to assist them to clean their filthy or cluttered homes.
She caught the bug when she helped a bereaved single mum declutter her home - and for months was out of pocket.
But, thanks to her viral videos of cleaning tips, she's now sponsored, and it covers her expenses, but she still never charges a penny.
Katariina has gone as far as the USA and the UK to help people who are in desperate need of help. She gets cleaning requests online but chooses only the dirtiest, grimiest homes belonging to people most in need.
By sharing her most shocking tidy-ups online, she has amassed a huge following of 7.8 million followers on TikTok, who tune in to see her latest cleaning adventures.
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Katariina who’s from Tampere in Finland said: “I only clean for free - you can't buy my services and I won't ever charge anyone to clean their home.
“My dream is to clean for free all over the world, and help people whilst doing something I absolutely love. I've always loved cleaning, and I began posting videos online of me just cleaning my family and friends home's two years ago.
“Then one day, a woman asked me for help because she was struggling so much and her home was so messy. She had three kids and her husband had just taken his own life, so she was finding it really difficult. I was more than happy to help, I was excited actually and I wanted to help her.
“I went at a weekend and cleaned her home for two days. By the end she was crying and her kids were hugging me and thanking me. It was the best feeling ever. I could see the transformation in the house and how happy they were.”
From then on, Katariina replied to requests on social media and cleaned three homes for free a month, while still working full time.
She is now sponsored by Scrub Daddy, a cleaning sponge brand that covers her cleaning expenses. But for six months she covered all travel and product expenses herself - paying up to 300 euros per visit.
She was able to quit her job last summer and focus on cleaning people's homes and creating content for her social media channels. Now, Katariina goes to clean a stranger's home once a week for two days and has compiled a list of some of her top tips.
She explained: “When I go in, I always start with just taking all the rubbish out and decluttering all the surfaces.
“From there, I usually clean the hallways first so I can walk through, but honestly it doesn't matter where you start - just start! My biggest trick when cleaning is to use cling film - it's absolutely magical.
“If you have a dirty stove, put oven cleaner and cling film on it, wait overnight and the stains will melt away - the same goes for inside your oven.
“A lot of the time, it's not about a fancy product that you use, it's about the time and the tools. If you have limescale in your bathroom, a lot of people ask what product is best to use, but really the most important thing is a strong tool like a scraper and a metal scourer.
“I also wash my toilet and shower with just dish soap - it's the best product ever. It removes grease, and in the shower, you of course have grease from your body so it can remove all of that.
“Another place where less is more is also people's home offices since I know people are working from home more. All you need for dust is a microfiber cloth and water, it removes 99% of everything – you don't need any product.
“In all my cleans I mostly only use a few very basic things. For products, my top things are vinegar, dish soap, power paste from Scrub Daddy and oven cleaner.
“Then for tools, I just use a scraper, a dish brush which is fantastic for tiny crevices, a duster, microfibre cloth, a scrub daddy sponge and a scourer. Companies will try and sell you a different cleaner for each room in your house, but it's not necessary.”
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Most of Katariina's cleans take her two days, and she will sometimes acquire some help from her relatives or loyal social media followers.
She now makes her income, mainly through cleaning sponsors and online videos, of which some have racked up a massive 24 million views. Out of the many cleaning requests she gets, Katariina picks people who seem most in need of a clear out.
She said: “Some cleans take even longer than the usual two days. There was one home which took four days because the girl had lived there for six years and was just too depressed to clean.
“She was such a lovely girl, but she was so depressed she had even shaved her head so she didn't have to take a shower. Her bathroom was totally black, but I cleaned all day and it was so great by the end.
“People that I help are often really struggling, but they want something to change so I come and help them take the first step. Many people send me messages after six months or a year, showing me their homes that are still clean, its great.
“I'd say my most memorable clean was a mother who had struggled with alcoholism, and her child had been taken into care. Her kid had seen me on TikTok and told his mum to contact me - she told me if my house is clean I can get my child back so I went and cleaned her home.
“Her kid said 'Mum, if Auri cleans out the house I can come home and have friends round.' It absolutely melted my heart, and I believe her child has come home now."
In her own home, Katariina’s attitude to cleaning is surprisingly laid back. She cleans her home once a week on a Sunday as her 'relaxing time,' but only does as much as she feels like doing.
This ranges from 20 minutes to the entire day, and Katariina feels passionately that cleaning should be a fun activity rather than a chore.
She said: “When I clean, I start with looking around the house and just seeing what's dirty - I don't do the same thing every time, because then it gets boring, and then during the week if I see something that needs cleaning I'll do it then.
“What I recommend is to put a 15-minute timer on and do as much as you can. It's okay to clean poorly, you don't always have to vacuum the whole floor, just do the living room.
“People stress too much about cleaning, it's not that serious if you have stains or have forgotten to clean something - your house doesn't always need to be extremely clean like it is in magazines.”
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Katariina’s full list of cleaning tips are:
1. Put clingfilm over cleaning products and leave it overnight to remove tough dirt.
2. Use dish soap to clean your toilet and shower.
3. Clean little and often - don't feel pressured to clean everything at once.
4. First job is to always take out the rubbish then go from there
5. Focus on using good tools rather than fancy products
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