The Art of Cleaning

Who doesn’t love a fresh clean home? We stop and gaze at it in wonder and satisfaction. It’s relaxing and soothing because, if for no other reason, it’s done. The nagging chore checked off the to-do list. We’re aware we will have to do it again another day, but in the moment…this is bliss.

I’m a professional cleaner and have been for the better part of the last 30 years. I love my work. I know, I know… loco, right? When I tell people that I love to clean, they wrinkle their noses or wave me off and call me crazy.

I started cleaning for others part time to earn extra cash as a young woman in my 20’s and continued sporadically over the next decade. After my divorce from a very short marriage, I supported myself and my daughter with cleaning and two other low paying hospitality industry jobs. As I perfected my craft, I ventured into full-time self-employment and demand grew beyond what I could do. That’s when I opened my first small business. But, knowing how to do a thing and applying that to a business model are two different universes. It failed. So, I had to go back to the service industry workforce and, with no help from my daughter’s father, I worked 3 jobs.

Eventually fed up with the insane hours and never seeing my daughter, I decided to give full-time housecleaning another go. I could schedule my work for when she was in school and not rely so heavily on expensive, and sometimes dodgy, child-care providers. I set a high enough fee that it was my only job. People happily paid it.

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer a couple years later, I had two immigrant women help me stay in business while I underwent treatment. During my down time, wanting to know *why* I got cancer, I researched the harmful effects of excessive exposure to chemical cleaning solutions. It’s one thing to clean your own place with scrubby bubbles and blue window spray every week, but professionals are exposed for long hours daily in their work. I went completely green.

In consideration of Climate Change, there is no need for toxic chemicals (there really never was). I have also developed a complementary method, utilizing tools and technique rather than slathering cleaning products on the problem.

My customers loved the improvements! So, for the next 12 years I ran the small company until the pandemic forced me to shut down. People were afraid to have us in their homes and they worried that “green” wouldn’t be strong enough. I couldn’t wait out the long lock-down nor could I afford to pay my employees for those months without any income. I made the difficult decision to make the closure permanent.

Truth be told…I didn’t like running the business. I didn’t like being a “boss”. I didn’t like sitting in the office doing paperwork all day. I wanted to be in the trenches with my staff and work alongside them. I wanted to teach my young charges the joy of getting something clean. Of standing back and saying, “I did this! I made it better!”

But to many of my workers, it was just a job. A job that, like most people, they really didn’t want to do. It’s hard, physically demanding, labor and carries many (unfair) stereotypes. A job they were often judged for by their peers. Most didn’t stay long enough to learn the ropes well or the deep satisfaction of having this skill.

This skill. Housecleaning is a given. Especially for women, it is presumed that we just *know* how to clean house…that it’s built into our DNA. I’m here to tell you…it’s not. Not even close. I once hired a 24-year-old who didn’t know how to hold a broom. Good times.

If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s that keeping things clean should be a priority. Not obsessive level wiping-everything-down-with-chemical-disinfectants-clean, but just starting as simply as…your house doesn’t have to smell or look bad.

Overcoming the Stereotype

Almost every person I have known who has used a professional cleaning service loves it, but they are often unwilling to pay a fair price. We are hired for many reasons but, by and large, it’s because people don’t want to do it themselves. There are those who treat our professionals as “servants” or “the help” rather than a “service”. There is an underlying bias that “people who clean” are uneducated (I am a college graduate) or otherwise unable to get other “legitimate” work. There is also an unspoken elitism for some to be able to hire a service, but there are many who truly need assistance like the disabled, infirm, or elderly.

Nobody wouldn’t dream of telling a plumber, “You’re just a plumber. I’m not paying that outrageous price!” But I have lost count of how many times I’ve heard that or some variation of over the years. Being able to match the expectations of the average customer and the fair compensation for someone doing this work, day after day, is an ongoing struggle for many professional cleaners and businesses.

My Raison D’Etre

Alas, my passion is rare. Cleaning is how I meditate (I’m not very good at sitting still). I love the texts and notes I get from people. However, as I have aged, my body is unwilling to give me an 8-10 hour day like I used to do. It’s time to pass the bucket, so to speak, and share my skills with those who want to learn. Whether it is someone who is interested in doing better for their own space, or someone who wants to begin cleaning professionally, or offer certification for those already in the industry so they can improve their earning power with their employers.

I have always believed professional cleaning should be a trade like plumbers, electricians, or car mechanics. It needs to be regarded as a vocation; a valid means to earn a living. It’s taken me a lot of years to be proud of what I do; to embrace my gift. I’ve always known I was good at it but being a “good cleaner” isn’t something many people readily admit to, and I used to be one of them. I want to help shed the “shame” of the industry. We all have dirty toilets and dusty living rooms.

Oh, the stories I could tell…

What’s Out There

You Tube® and Instagram® videos. That’s pretty much it. If we do a web search on “how to clean my kitchen”, what you will find are articles on *why* you should clean your kitchen (duh), but mostly the instructions are broken down into sections, so you will have to go through several videos on things like cabinets, sink, refrigerator, etc. to get the full picture. If you look for “house cleaning training”, most will be geared toward business owners for training new and existing employees, and are priced accordingly. Homeowners don’t want to be the guinea pig for a greenhorn who is trying to go pro, though that is often how it happens. My course would give them, at minimum, the knowledge base and confidence to build a business.

Closing the gap between skill sets and customer expectations is what being a trained tradesperson is all about. The time it would take to impart the detail to truly clean a kitchen, for example, is long and boring…genuine snore-city stuff. Better than sleeping pills, actually. The training manuals I was required to have (and write) were so specific, that just the kitchen section alone was 18 written pages... in a size 9 font. But that is exactly the kind of detail customers, who pay for a service provider, want. They expect that the person doing the cleaning knows how to wipe down a stainless steel appliance without streaks or scratches, or how to get cooked on grease off a stovetop, or what the difference is between a laminate countertop and granite. It’s minutiae…but it’s important. I can teach that.

My Vision

I would like to start with educating household cleaning techniques, from basic to advanced, through relatable honest written copy and video courses. I have the beginnings of a curriculum outline that can be adjusted by level of experience and/or desired outcome.

Basic (novice) skills would teach the “whys” of cleaning. From bacteria growth to poor air quality and how regular cleaning is better for overall health. This information alone is usually “gross-out” enough to get people started.

Coverage would begin with differences in non-toxic and chemical types, proper usage, and surface identification. Additionally, it would discuss the tools most often used, and balked at, by practiced professionals that provide efficient and effective cleaning in less time.

It would also provide a room-by-room how-to for their own homes. For the budding professional, it would establish the all-important routine of doing things properly the first time, in the same pattern, and for every visit. I don’t teach short cuts, I teach efficiency.

Competent-Proficient students will get a more detailed program and will begin with self-employment basics including:

• Self-employment taxes

• Liability Insurance

• What are “business” expenses

• Integrity in business

• Knowing when to say “no”

We will also go over the pros and cons of self-employment and why it’s not for everyone.

The course will expand beyond the basics to include:

• Knowing what to look for to properly bid for work

• How to schedule your work

• Customer care/how to have happy clients

• “When in doubt…” scenarios

• Damage control/sh*t happens

• How to ask for help

Supplementary cleaning tricks and practices will be included to reduce costs and maximize their earning power and will also embrace:

• OSHA best practices to prevent injury

• When to know if you’re hurt/injured

• Self-care/time off

Experts will be taught to handle advanced cleaning situations such as:

• Move-in/outs

• Cleaning after a hoarder/rarely cleaned property

• Office/commercial cleaning

• Vacation Rentals

• Overview of other, more specialized, niches available such as organizing, and crime-scene cleanup.

The potential to make money in this field is nearly endless, but integrity and learned skill is an absolute must. Like any industry, there are scammers and poor quality contractors who can make it more difficult, even to the point of wanting to quit. But one of the best aspects of being a cleaner is that people will ALWAYS need their homes and offices cleaned, and if you’re good, you will never, ever lack work!

Small business is what supports this country. Providing a service is one way to dodge sub-par low-wage jobs and create a fulfilling life.

“Only a life lived in the service of others is worth living.” ~ Albert Einstein

I have experienced many people crying tears of joy when I’m done cleaning for them. Nothing compares to knowing you’ve helped someone and building an enterprise to support yourself and maybe even a family is golden.