As many companies adopt a permanent transition to remote working, employees are spending more time at home. Home cleaning and decluttering have become more important than ever. Keyboard, mouse and phone contain high levels of bacteria that pose a risk to health. We created a handy infographic showing the importance of keeping your home workplace clean.

The average keyboard and phone have 3.5 million and 1.6 million bacteria per square inch, respectively. By comparison, the toilet harbours about 3.2 million bacteria per square inch. Pathogens like MRSA could survive for up to 180 days on hard surfaces, while other common but less deadly pathogens, such as flu can survive for 24 hours. 

Introduction

It is timely that April is Stress Awareness Month. After a year in a global pandemic, the strain of repeated lockdowns and uncertainties have increased stress and impacted mental wellbeing. However, stress can be controlled in our daily lives. In this article, we look at the connection between a clean house and mental health and how cleaning can help stress levels.

Clutter increases stress

Because of lockdowns and working from home, we are spending most of our time stuck at home. Over the past year, 74% of UK adults have experienced problems with mental or emotional pressure. Researchers have found that clutter and mess are strongly associated with increasing stress and anxiety. According to a study clutter starts with loosing pens and papers, filling your desk with unnecessary clutter and leads to low quality work environment and increased anxiety levels.

Over 82% of Brits’ mood is impacted by clutter in some way....

It’s that time of year where your house deserves a serious makeover. We’re not just talking about a general sweep or some light dusting – we’re talking about that yearly spring deep-clean that will transform your house from messy and mediocre to sparkling-clean five-star-hotel standard.

It’s going to take some hard work, which is why we are joined today by The Handy Squad, handyman services in London, who are going to share some of their top spring-cleaning tips.

Create a plan

Before you dive straight in, grab a pen and paper and start writing out a ‘to-do list’. Cleaning your entire house can be overwhelming, especially if there’s a lot to get done! Instead of having one large task with a single overall goal, break the job down into lots of little tasks. Start by writing out all the chores you know you need to complete and then organise them by room. For inspiration, check out Taste of Home’s spring cleaning checklist - but...

Since the beginning of the pandemic, working from home has become part of the ‘new normal’. With the government urging workers not to return to their offices, more people are doing their jobs from the comfort of their own home. Whilst remote working is not a new concept, professionals are having to adapt to this new style of work. It’s safe to say it has brought with it several challenges.

Work from home challenges

As we are now surrounded by home comforts in our everyday working lives, our distractions at work have multiplied. And with the kids running around, it’s no wonder we can’t focus! This feeling of demotivation and stress begins to extend past working hours once we close our laptops and realise how many chores need doing. Subconsciously, visual mess in our homes adds to our stress more than we realise. An untidy background means our brain must work twice as hard to concentrate on the task at hand. With more distractions and less...

Housekeeper of the Year 2020

Congratulations to Veselka! We are delighted to announce that Veselka has won this year’s Housekeeper of the Year award and a £150 prize. 

Each year we ask customers to nominate their house cleaners for the award. We received a great response acknowledging the valuable work done by house cleaners during the most difficult of years. Veselka received the most votes and some wonderful comments from her customers, such as:

“Exceptional service, care and trust”

“So hardworking and diligent and an impeccable time-keeper.”

“She is very good, kind and a sweetheart with our son.”

“Veselka is an amazing cleaner. She is so incredibly careful with all our personal belongings

and she really does go the extra mile.”

“She is always kind and helpful and gives tips…She is always pleasant and a joy to have around the house.”

We spoke to Veselka after she won the award.

How...

Thinking about all the cleaning you need to get done all year round can be a bit daunting. We've put together an annual cleaning checklist with tips to make the tasks more manageable and easier to tackle.  

Introduction

There are a few cleaning tasks that should be done at least once-a-year. When these tasks are done, the quality of your life will be so much better, and your home healthier. These annual tasks are like medicine for a healthy and happy home. But what does a yearly house cleaning schedule look like?

To make the tasks manageable, they can be spread across the year according to the seasons. The yearly cleaning schedule will help you to keep your home looking spotless from Spring through to Winter!

Spring Cleaning

Spring is a great time to do some clearing-out after the Winter months indoors. Over the course of a year, the kitchen and garage accumulate clutter and Spring is a good time to clear them out. Your gutters accumulate debris over...

In this article we review cleaning industry trends in the UK house cleaning sector. We examine growth trends in the UK domestic cleaning services industry.

Introduction

The UK domestic cleaning industry market has grown at an impressive pace in recent years with a 21% increase in turnover between 2013 and 2020. Structural and secular trends have driven strong growth. However, the cleaning sector, along with the rest of the UK economy is facing a number of challenges from the impact of COVID-19, Brexit and a likely economic recession. 

In the first part of this article, we examine the factors driving recent growth in the sector. In the second part, we examine the impact of COVID-19 on demand for home cleaning services. Finally, we explore the outlook for the sector and consider the potential impact of COVID-19, Brexit and an economic recession on domestic cleaning in the UK.

1) Growth in the UK house cleaning market 

Introduction

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the...

Introduction

The cleaning industry in the UK is enormous and makes an important contribution to the UK economy. This article takes an in-depth look into the sector.

In the first part of this article we provide an overview of the size and structure of the overall cleaning industry in the UK. In the second section, we outline the growth in the sector and analyse growth drivers. Finally, we do a deep dive on the cleaning activities sub-sector which includes domestic cleaning.

Most of the data in this article is from 2019. The Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the UK economy as a whole, including the cleaning sector. In a separate article, we explore structural trends in the sector and the likely impact of Covid-19. 

(A) Overview of the UK cleaning industry

Size and importance of the cleaning industry in the UK

According to recent data from the BCC (British Cleaning Council), the cleaning industry contributes £55.5 billion to the UK economy every year. For...

Before the lockdown

We first heard about coronavirus in early January. We began to take serious notice on 23^rd January when the Chinese government locked down Wuhan province. As the first cases were identified in the UK, we began to seriously think about the implications of a lockdown on the UK domestic cleaning sector. We have hundreds of independent cleaners using our platform. Would home cleaners be able to go to work? Would cleaners be able to support themselves?

House cleaners permitted to work during lockdown

We were expecting some form of lockdown before Boris Johnson made his announcement on 23^rd March 2020. After the announcement, we read and reread the rules and government guidance.

There was no specific guidance on working in people’s homes. The government rules said that you could leave home if you...

Each year, the British Cleaning Council produces a report on the UK cleaning industry. The cleaning sector is often overlooked so it is great that this report champions the vital services provided to UK workplaces, hospitals, schools, public spaces and homes.

The most striking aspect of the report is the sheer size of the sector. The cleaning sector contributes £55.5 billion to the UK economy and employs 1.6 million people. The British Cleaning Council divides the industry into four sub-sectors: Cleaning activities, Facilities management, Waste and resource management and Landscape service activities.

We have created a summary infographic to highlight the most important data. We have focused on the Cleaning activities sub-sector and summarised the key trends in commercial and domestic cleaning.