A “cleanfluencer” is a social media creator who shares helpful cleaning and organizing tips on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube.
Where They Came From
The modern-day viral cleanfluencers began with a group of social media creators who focussed on sharing decluttering and closet organization content. Some say this trend is a reaction to the popularity of e-commerce overindulgence in the 2010s. The hashtag #homeorganization began to amass millions of followers on a Chinese Reddit-like forum called Zhihu.
The Pandemic helped cleanfluencers skyrocket in popularity, as lockdown nudged home dwellers to elevate their living environments. Professional organizer Marie Kondo’s show, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, became everyone’s quarantine binge-watching pleasure. The public found solace in keeping their spaces neat and organized, seeking expert advice for long-neglected household projects and deep cleaning tasks.
Who They Are
One of the first cleanfluencers to dominate the West was Sophie Hinchcliffe — a 32-year-old from Essex, UK. Known on Instagram as Mrs. Hinch, Sophie’s cleaning tips garnered her 2.5 million followers by June of 2019. Her videos provide fans with a peek into her life raising a family on a farm, sprinkled with useful home décor hacks.
The cleanfluencer fad has reached far beyond Mrs. Hinch. On YouTube, cleanfluencers create long-form content that provides detailed instructions on how to tidy up around the house. Famous faces in the community include Auri Karatiina, a Finnish professional home cleaner, who offers her services to the severely mentally ill. In her videos, she shows her viewers how to sanitize anything from stubborn stains to dirty sinks.
TikTok has become home for cleanfluencers, many of who integrate cleaning rituals into their daily short videos. Users like okcallie create a calming atmosphere by sharing intimate cleaning routines in minimalistic, upscale environments. Others like Catherine Benson have earned over 9.5 million followers by sharing her latest Amazon finds and grocery hauls.
What Cleanfluencers Mean to You
A cleanfluencer’s spotless home can inspire and aid you in the quest to clean up your own space.
1. It Can Be Inspirational
Cleanfluencers can provide the inspiration you need to scrub away your own anxieties. In a paper for The Sociological Review, researchers explain how cleanfluencers connect with young women who feel overwhelmed by keeping a clean home. The content helps “soften the idea of housework” by demonstrating accessible homemaking tips with entertaining editing, leaving viewers feeling empowered to tackle their own tasks. Videos that provide before and after results help viewers visualize cleaning their own environment
2. It Can Be Therapeutic
Cleanfluencers add a therapeutic element to organizing and tidying by sharing relatable situations. On social media, one is often bombarded with pictures and videos of unachievable physiques and perfect lives. However, cleaning videos show the messiness of real life, and reveal how it can be fixed by anyone with a Swiffer and a few paper towels. Seeing disorder turned into order can be incredibly therapeutic, almost like visual ASMR.
3. It Can Be Surprisingly Helpful
On a practical level, cleanfluencers provide viewers with tips, tricks, and hacks to tackle the mess in their homes. Cleanfluencers help thousands discover the best cleaning and decluttering tools, from Scrub Daddies to Pink Stuff and Ikea hack videos to refrigerator organizing tips. You’ll even learn what cleaning products you can safely use together.
No matter how many dishes are in your sink or how many clothes you have tucked away in your closet, there’s a cleanfluencer who can help you get to work.
As Clean Mama says, “Cleaning doesn’t have to be difficult!”
