How Cleanfluencers Are Helping Our Homecare and Our Mental Health

There are always things we want to improve in our homes, and we can find any inspiration we need on the internet. Cleanfluencers have grown in popularity over the last few years by giving us tips and tricks to home inspiration on Instagram and other social media sites. Here, we look at how cleanfluencers are inspiring us, and why they are helping our mental health. Cleanfluencers growing in popularity The stars of Netflix and morning show guest spots now rank higher than ever before on our social media feeds. They offer advice on both how to keep a tidy home and how to remain positive, particularly during this adverse period. It’s unsurprising that the popularity of ‘cleanfluencers’ has never been greater. Stuck at home, we’ve become fascinated with Netflix shows including The Home Edit and Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. These programmes have inspired us to maintain our own slice of organised heaven. The past year has been a lesson in learning to love where you live. People have become more accustomed to their own four walls than ever before, with two national lockdowns in England and circuit breakers in the rest of the UK. One cleaning company, Fulcare, measured the influence of these tidy celebrities through analysing their social media followings and earning potential. Certainly, these programmes have spawned from weighty Instagram fame, with both @thehomeedit and @mariekondo both achieving 4.3 million and 3.8 million followers, respectively. Amongst these gods of clean is Essex-born Sophie Hinchcliffe, most commonly known as Mrs. Hinch. The sweeping star has claimed 3.8 million followers in only 18 months after writing four successful books this year on home cleanliness. She’s a step ahead of her competitors with an engagement rate of 8.85 per cent. In comparison, The Home Edit has an engagement rate of 1.22 per cent, while Marie Kondo has only 0.78 per cent. However, while their followings are impressive, their earning potentials are even more so. It's estimated that Mrs Hinch can earn £9,690 per sponsored Instagram post. Meanwhile, The Home Edit tops the charts with an annual income of £567,034. Their messages of tidy living are breaking through. Embracing a positive mindset To the unassuming, cleaning may appear to be a dull motivation to start a career. But the power of these cleanfluencers has certainly made an impression on home-keepers across the world. Their message is to lead a positive lifestyle, with cleaning used as a tool to keep your life in order. The Home Edit emphasises that proper organisation will help you in the long-term: “every project is rooted in functional systems that can be maintained for the long-term”. These influencers believe that organisation is not only a system but an aesthetic. It can contribute to how a home should feel. Marie Kondo believes there is a spiritual link between cleaning and personal wellbeing. Her KonMari method is about choosing joy. She suggests that decluttering your house is equivalent to decluttering your mind. The journey is simple—go through each individual item in your home. If it doesn’t bring you joy, throw it away. These methods are different to the usual instructions on how best to clean your kitchen surfaces. Instead, they reflect the choices of how we live our lives. Positivity is a more welcome cleaner than furniture polish—although sometimes a good microfibre cloth is essential to get your surfaces shining. Mental health and cleaning go hand in hand The cleanfluencer message is not to say that a tidy house can improve your mental wellbeing. Instead, they believe that the process it takes to get there can be beneficial. Mrs Hinch highlights that she cleans to help with anxiety and worrying. She believes that the activity of cleaning is a positive antidote to mental health issues. In an interview, she reflects: “When you feel at your weakest, you’re still achieving something.” Ultimately, we need to start looking at cleaning less as a chore and more as a hobby. Perspective is everything. Enjoying the task allows us to appreciate the outcome and to rest in a space that we’ve curated into a peaceful haven. Cleaning helps us to maintain control over our environment. In one study, The Mindfulness Journal found that people who took their time when cleaning up had improved mental wellbeing. For example, taking time to do the dishes and appreciating the smell of washing-up liquid helped to reduce nervousness by 27 per cent and improved mental inspiration by 25 per cent. You don’t need to flash a beaming smile while doing the laundry. However, using cleaning as a tool for our happiness is beneficial. When you enjoy what you do, you do it well. Your appreciation for cleaning is demonstrated through good organisation and high standards. Who knows? You might be the next cleanfluencer.