A woman loves cleaning so much she gave up her job as a professional to travel the world and scrub homes for free.
Auri Katariina, 29, quit her job as a service manager at a cleaning company in the summer of 2021 as she wanted to follow her passion.
She’s since admitted she feels like she’s in “heaven” when she cleans, and visits people from all over the world to assist them to scrub their filthy and cluttered homes.
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She caught the bug when she helped a bereaved single mum declutter her home, and was out of pocket for months.
But thanks to her viral videos where she shares cleaning tips, she’s now sponsored, and the money helps to cover her expenses which means she doesn’t have to charge clients a penny.
She has travelled as far as the US and the UK to help people who are in desperate need of a home makeover.
(Image: Courtesy Auri Katariina / SWNS)
Auri picks where to clean from the requests she gets 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 7.8million followers on TikTok, who tune in to see her latest cleaning adventures.
Auri, from Tampere, 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 while 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.”
(Image: Courtesy Auri Katariina / SWNS)
Auri said she spent two days scrubbing up the mum’s home, and it left the woman “crying”.
She said it gave her the “best feeling”, as she could see how happy the family were with the transformation.
From then on Auri replied to requests on social media, and cleaned three homes for free, while still working full-time.
She is now sponsored by Scrub Daddy – a cleaning sponge brand who cover her cleaning expenses.
Even though she now has help, she spent six months covering all travel and product expenses herself.
She was eventually able to quit her job last summer, and focus on cleaning people’s homes, and creating content for her social media channels.
Now Auri goes to clean a stranger’s home once a week for two days, and compiled a list of some of her top tips.
(Image: Courtesy Auri Katariina / SWNS)
She said: “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.”
She now makes her income mainly through cleaning sponsors and online videos, of which some have racked up a massive 24m views.
Out of the many cleaning requests she gets, Auri 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.”
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