Cleaning is latest online trend - 14th April 2023

Cleaning has become the latest social media trend. Whether it's quick tips on how to bring that extra shine to your home or extreme cleaning for people whose homes are in a state of chaos, millions of viewers are going online to find out more.

Abbi from Liverpool in England is one of the growing army of 'cleanfluencers'. As a lone parent, Abbi finds cleaning the cooker, making the children's beds and keeping her home perfectly clean helps her to de-stress.

Abbi:"For me it's just like therapy, so if I have something on me mind, or I'm feeling anxious or stressed that day, I'll just start cleaning and I feel like it just takes me mind off things and then I feel more relaxed afterwards."

But it also generates an income and Abi now earns from $720 to $1200 per video as brands sponsor her to use their products.

Finnish cleanfluencer Auri Kananen has over nine million followers on TikTok and two million on YouTube. She's taken her filming global, travelling the world looking for the dirtiest homes she can locate. Auri enjoys helping people who are struggling and, having suffered from depression herself, she knows there's usually a reason behind their filthy homes.

Auri Kananen:"Usually people have some kind of mental health problem or some other tragedy or something has happened in their lives and then they send pictures of their homes to me. And of course I look for the dirtiest homes possible. That's my goal."

Cleanfluencer videos vary greatly in style. In the case of Ann Russell from England, they are detailed explanations of how to do a specific task or get things sparkling since, as Russell says, we weren't born knowing how to clean.

Ann Russell:"How on earth are you supposed to know? It's not some instinct to pick up a duster and a can of furniture polish. It's not, we're not born learning how to vacuum a carpet. It's something you have to be shown."

Whatever you need to know, it seems social media's cleanfluencers have it covered.