Translated material
I work as a cleaner and I'm fine
40-year-old Mirro Poison from Krasnodar froze her business in order to go work as a cleaner: she was burned out and disillusioned with entrepreneurship and decided to do what she liked. Mirro loves his job, despite the low salary and the fact that it is quite hard physical work. She told Kholod why cleaning makes her happy and what to do if you hate washing floors, washing curtains and vacuuming.
I had my own business, and now I earn 40 thousand rubles. But I do what I love
I am a journalist by profession, but I became disillusioned with this profession while studying at the university 20 years ago. At that time, all journalism in the Krasnodar region was, at best, provincial glossy PR, at worst, news of fields and vegetable gardens in newspapers of villages. Now I believe that journalism in Russia has been completely killed - it is simply dangerous to do it within the country.
Since the age of 17, I have changed more than 10 professions. It is difficult to count how many jobs I have changed. I was a marketer, salesperson, cashier, editor, social media manager, cook, and tried to open my own business. My thrift store “Scales” turned out to be a bright and interesting, but unsuccessful project. Four years of trying to turn a business into a profit left me mentally exhausted. I was burnt out and didn’t really understand what I wanted from this life, other than to crawl out of a financial hole.
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Then I remembered that while I was studying, I worked as a housekeeper to pay for housing, and I liked it. And I decided to return to the roots. Moreover, I have a thing for cleaning - a mild degree of OCD with a fixation on order. When I feel anxious, I start cleaning and it always helps. And if previous places of work were a source of stress for me, then the current one, on the contrary, calms me down.
A cleaner is a cleaner
I blog on social networks, and there I wrote that I offer cleaning services. Subscribers know about my extreme neatness and love for order. Soon I started receiving orders from subscribers. Then they started recommending me to friends and in all sorts of mom chats. Now I have three regular customers and one-time clients appear from time to time. I didn’t have any checks when applying for a job: I’m self-employed. I decided to work for myself because I don’t want to get involved with other people’s rules and regulations. All my work is based on the trust of customers, but so far there have been no dissatisfied ones.
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Most often I do regular house cleaning, so nothing has changed in my habits, I haven’t discovered any new life hacks for myself. Little things - I began to better understand the purpose and brands of household chemicals, and identified my preferences in devices. I recently worked with a steam generator: it turned out to be a very cool thing for removing stubborn dirt from hard-to-reach places, and now I want to buy one for myself.
Among my relatives and friends, everyone has a good attitude towards my work: it is important for them that I like what I do. In my social circle there are no people who profess “status”, and the opinions of strangers have been indifferent to me for a very long time.
The difference between a cleaner and a cleaner is only in the set of letters. In fact, this is the same profession, it’s just that for some people a beautiful foreign sound is important. I don't care - the name doesn't affect what I do. Some of my customers call me the “cleanliness fairy.” This is funny and actually reflects reality: they go about their business, and when they return, the house is in perfect order. We don’t even meet each other, so for customers it’s like magic.
I was initially looking for a job so that it would not take up all my free time, as was the case, for example, with my failed business. Therefore, I arrange my work schedule so as not to get too tired - I take no more than three custom cleanings a week. In addition, my husband and I live in a three-room apartment, which also requires time and effort to maintain the order I need.
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My salary is very small. I earn from 20 to 45 thousand per month, depending on the number of one-time orders. It’s not easy to live on that amount even in the regions. If my husband did not provide the bulk of the family budget, I would have to take on more orders, and this could lead to burnout, which I diligently avoid. In Moscow, I would probably earn more, but I’m not sure. I don’t know if I could live on my salary if I lived alone, but now I have enough money for my “wants”. Still, having a personal income, albeit small, is more pleasant than constantly asking for every little thing.
I’ve been doing cleaning for a little over a year, and so far I’m completely satisfied with this job, so I’m not thinking about changing my occupation at all. During this time, I tried several times to get back into copywriting, but it didn’t bring me any pleasure. So now I only write on my blog - so to speak, to prevent dementia.
“The apartment looked like in a Yerevan thread”
From an emotional point of view, my work balances my state of mind. Every time I finish cleaning a site, I feel universal harmony. It’s very nice to see the result of my work: many people say that after I clean the house, the energy improves. I also like to visit other people’s houses, study and absorb their atmosphere - it’s very interesting. When you see the life of other people, the most unexpected thoughts and ideas come to mind, so my work is also a process of self-discovery.
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But my work can sometimes be physically demanding - especially at new facilities, where deep cleaning is always required. Sometimes I work for eight or nine hours and hardly sit down, except for a 15-minute break to have a snack. I don’t like to rest for a long time while working - I lose my mood. This job is also not particularly healthy because I constantly have to breathe in chemicals. At the same time, it requires good physical shape, and I do yoga to maintain it.
I once had an order that I remember as the worst. A pensioner rented out a one-room apartment to two men and called a cleaning service. When my partner and I got there, the apartment looked almost like in the sensational “Yerevan thread ” from Twitter, where the tenant trashed and destroyed the entire apartment. Everything that could be broken was broken, even the toilet was wobbly, the surfaces were covered with all sorts of layers of dirt. It looked like an ax had been thrown at the kitchen table; under the layer of fat on the stove there were almost no burners visible. The before and after photo of this slab is my favorite presentation of the work. I never visited this apartment again: it seemed that after cleaning it was going to be rented out again, but to a woman I already knew.
If you don't like cleaning, don't force yourself
My main advice to people who find it difficult to clean their apartment: if you hate cleaning, don’t force yourself and order a cleaning service. This is not a shame - it is much worse to live in constant chaos and unsanitary conditions. Depending on the area and number of residents, I am invited once every one to three weeks, and this is enough to create a comfortable atmosphere at home.
If you prefer to clean yourself, develop a logical cleaning plan and schedule to minimize labor costs. Start with more difficult ones while you are full of energy. During basic weekly cleaning, do not be distracted by “sorting artifacts” - it is better to do this separately, without rushing anywhere. Don't worry about organizing the storage of things: when everything is in its place and drawers, it is much easier to maintain intermediate order than to constantly sort through chaotically piled up piles of everything.
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Use products suitable for specific surfaces. For example, do not wash the entire kitchen with a vigorous grease remover: it is only suitable for the stove and oven. Do not rub metal taps with acidic liquids - there are other, milder options.
Buy yourself devices to make cleaning easier: multi-colored microfiber cloths for different areas, a mop for washing windows, a good vacuum cleaner. Believe me, you will love washing floors if you don't have to bend over and splash your hands in dirty water all the time to wring out the mop. And always use gloves when working with household chemicals. Allergic dermatitis is a very unpleasant thing.
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Author: Marina Kiryunina Cover photo courtesy of the heroine