Extreme cleaning: woman spends 48 hours deep cleaning filthy flat featuring mushrooms growing out the wall

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Auri Kananen travels around the world deep cleaning people's homes

The 'world's best cleaner' has transformed one of her dirtiest bathrooms yet as she spent 48 hours cleaning a one-bed apartment - featuring a moss-covered loo seat and sink filled with sewage. Auri Kananen, 30, spent two days “extreme-cleaning” the one-bed apartment, featuring a toilet which hadn't been cleaned in six years.

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The bathroom was the "worst" as mushrooms were growing in the walls. But armed with a scraper, a toilet brush and oven cleaner, she managed to get rid of the grime - transforming the apartment from “trash” to “beautiful”.

Auri, a cleaner from Tampere, Finland, who tackled the home last month, said: “It was amazing - full of trash. We cleaned there for two days. There were pizza boxes, and a lot of dirty nappies - which is strange, because they didn’t have kids. The walls were thick with dust and there were mushrooms growing in the walls - the toilet bowl was dirty, too.

The 'world's best cleaner' has transformed one of her dirtiest bathrooms yet - featuring a moss-covered loo seat and sink filled with sewage.
Auri Kananen, 30, spent 48 hours “extreme-cleaning” the one-bed apartment, which featured a toilet which hadn't been cleaned in six years.
The 'world's best cleaner' has transformed one of her dirtiest bathrooms yet - featuring a moss-covered loo seat and sink filled with sewage.
Auri Kananen, 30, spent 48 hours “extreme-cleaning” the one-bed apartment, which featured a toilet which hadn't been cleaned in six years.
The 'world's best cleaner' has transformed one of her dirtiest bathrooms yet - featuring a moss-covered loo seat and sink filled with sewage. Auri Kananen, 30, spent 48 hours “extreme-cleaning” the one-bed apartment, which featured a toilet which hadn't been cleaned in six years. | Auri Kananen / SWNS

"I absolutely loved it - the sink was filled with s**t. The owners needed me to clean because they wanted to sell their apartment - it was totally empty after I’d finished with it.”

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Auri started professionally cleaning in 2011, at the age of 16, but she no longer charges her clients after she worked for her family cleaning company for 10 years, and learned how to use specific products, how to schedule cleans and different ways to use an all-purpose cloth.

A year before she quit, in August 2020, she began creating cleaning content on Facebook, YouTube and TikTok - in which she shared her expertise with her followers, and people around the world started contacting her on Facebook, asking her to clean their homes. Wanting to help as much as possible, Auri began cleaning her follower’s “messy homes” for free, earning her way through sponsorship.

She said: “I’ve been in the cleaning industry my whole life - I really love it, and I refuse to charge my clients. I give people a new lease of life - I don’t care if they don’t keep it clean afterwards, but for a short time I can remind them of what it feels like to have a clean house."

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Auri travels to clients all over the world and says the worst - or “best” homes usually take around 48 hours to clean - and regularly contain tons of “trash,” layers of dust and dishes that haven’t been cleaned in years.

She said: “One home had bottles of rotten milk in it. It was so smelly it affected the whole apartment block." She believes her free cleaning services work to improve her clients’ mental health - and says people struggling to keep on top of their tidying should “just start. When it comes to a massive cleaning job, you just have to start,” she said. “It doesn’t matter where you start, or what you do - you could just pick up a little bit of trash.”

Her most memorable client was an elderly woman who could no longer use her kitchen after having suffered from severe depression since 2017, the client’s house became so filled with rubbish that she struggled to get around.

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She said: “There was this elderly lady - her house was a total mess. She only had one wish - she still wanted to bake. She used to love baking, but her kitchen got so messy she had to stop. After I finished cleaning it, she sent me a photo of a cake she’d made for her friends and family.”

Auri made an estimated £433,000 from her cleaning business in 2022 - despite charging her clients nothing as her sponsors - including German brand Sini Cleaning - help boost her income, as well as flying her out to clients abroad. I always clean my clients’ houses for free - I make my money through YouTube and sponsors,” she added. “I really love that I get to do what I’m passionate about every day.”

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