I've always loved cleaning and laundry. I find it really therapeutic and relaxing, but I never imagined I could make a living from my passion.
I wanted to share my love of cleaning, so I set up my cleaning Instagram account in 2018 to chat about my favourite cleaning products and where to buy them. At the time, we had just moved house into a big renovation project and creating videos helped to motivate me to get my clean on.
I never thought my love of cleaning would result in me quitting the job I'd had for almost 20 years, though.
I’d worked for M&S since I was 17 as a shop assistant and worked up way up to visual merchandising commercial manager and store manager roles. But while I was originally just making content in the evening, I started to get offered paid work from the brands that I was sharing on my Instagram page.
In 2020 I made the decision to take a leap and become a full-time content creator. I had about 50k followers at the time, so it was a huge risk and I was incredibly nervous to make the move, but I knew that if I wasn’t brave then I would never leave to follow my dreams.
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Taking a leap of faith made me happy, but cleaning is what lifts me up every day.
Why does cleaning make me happy?
1. Cleaning is self-care
Making our home clean and tidy is part of my self-care routine and using cleaning products gives me the same joy as using beauty products.
Our environment makes a huge difference to our mental health and wellbeing so self-care for our homes is important because it truly is self-care for us.
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2. Time to unwind
Cleaning the house helps me to switch off and unwind. My mind is focusing on spritzing, scrubbing and shining, and I feel that the state of my house is a reflection of my mind.
When I'm busy, stressed and disorganised my house is a mess but if I am calm and in control, then my house tends to be tidy too.
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It is such a good feeling when a room is fresh, clean and tidy (even though it might not last for long!)
3. Cleaning makes me feel proud
When I moved into my first home, I felt a sense of pride to be able to look after my own place and it was also a huge comfort when I was feeling homesick or going through difficult times.
© Cristina MasseiI love having a tidy home, but am a realist and we don’t live in a show home so I don’t put too much pressure on myself when it is a mess. I focus on doing what I can, when I can and that is enough.
Read on for an exclusive extract from Laura's book, Live, Laugh, Laundry: A calming guide to keeping your clothes clean – and you happy, on how to create a laundry routine – and a happier life…
Creating a laundry routine
Rituals help me incredibly day to day, especially if I am having an anxious time. You may be able to relate to having those unexpected sensations of a cloudy head, a sick feeling in your tummy and not being able to think clearly for no reason.
During these times, I find that having rituals enables me to take back control and not let anxiety have a hold on me and my day. In this extract I want to share with you my laundry routine and how it helps me on a daily and weekly basis, as well as throughout the year, so that you can start working towards creating your own.
Every household is different and depending on how many people live in your home, you’ll have different priorities. Hopefully me sharing my routine will help you find one that works for you.
My daily routine
I tend to put a wash load on every day, which may seem excessive for a household of just the two of us, but I’ll explain how I sort my laundry and hopefully it will all become clear!
I sort my laundry into whites, lights and darks then knitwear/ delicates and sportswear. Every day I will tackle whatever has built up the most.
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So, on a Monday there might be lots of dark items so I pop on a dark wash. Tuesday it might be lots of knitwear and so I might wash these, depending on how many items have built up in the basket. I don’t like to put on a wash if there are only a few items as I don’t want to be wasteful, but it does then feel like my laundry basket never seems to be empty!
I use the colour catcher cloths which I find really help to wash mixed loads without the colours running but I still don’t mix lights and darks.
As I work from home, I tend to put a wash on first thing in the morning but in my previous job I used to always put one on in the evening as soon as I got home. If your washing machine has a timer, you could set it so that it finishes first thing in the morning when you get up. Do whatever works for you but the most important thing is that you are able to remove the washing from the machine as soon as possible when the cycle finishes, so you can either hang it up to dry naturally or use the tumble dryer.
Usually at the end of the day once everything is dry, I will then take it upstairs and immediately sort all of the clean items into piles ready to be put away. If I don’t do this before I go to bed, then I find that I put it off for ages and it disrupts my routine for the next day as I can’t start a new load until the basket full of clean items is empty ready to transport the next lot of dirty items to the machine.
My weekly routine
On a weekly basis I put wash loads on for bedding and the towels that have accumulated over the week. I wash our bedding weekly, usually at the weekend so that it is lovely and fresh to start the new week.
Towels can be cleaned every 3–4 days and do not have to be washed daily unless they are particularly dirty. I also wash the bath mats weekly with the towels.
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Once a week I will wash all of the cloths that I have used for cleaning along with the tea towels that have accumulated throughout the week. I don’t know what it is about a tea towel, but I just think they are so homely.
I have a couple of caddies in my laundry room that I put the dirty cloths in; I tend to use quite a lot of cloths because I reach for them as an alternative to disposable cleaning wipes as they are much better for the environment. I put them on to wash with a detergent and replace the fabric conditioner for a laundry cleanser to give them a deep clean and remove any bacteria or viruses.
