Cleaning Business Life
Cleaning Business Life
is your go-to weekly podcast, co-hosted by Shannon Miller, founder of Klean Freaks University, and Jamie Runco, CEO of Above All Cleaning Company in Northern California.
This podcast is designed to support cleaning business owners at every stage of their journey—from launching a startup to scaling to seven figures. Whether you're just starting out or already running an established business, you'll find actionable strategies, proven systems, and expert advice to help you streamline operations, boost profitability, and grow with confidence.
In each episode, we cover critical topics like:
- Building effective systems and structures that drive sustainable growth.
- Product reviews and recommendations to equip your team with the best tools.
- Exclusive interviews with industry leaders sharing tips and success stories.
- Q&A sessions addressing your most pressing business challenges.
- The latest industry trends to keep you ahead of the curve.
Join us weekly to elevate your cleaning business and gain the edge you need to thrive in a competitive market!
Want to get a hold of us, please email us at cleaningbusinesslife@gmail.com
Cleaning Business Life
CBL Episode # 102 Is Cleaning a Form of therapy??
Imagine transforming a chore into a sanctuary of peace. That's exactly what we explore as we uncover the therapeutic potential of cleaning. Through a collection of personal stories, including our unique experiences with a nomadic lifestyle and early homemaking skills, we reveal how these shaped our perception of cleanliness and its impact on mental well-being. Discover how simple rituals like making your bed can create a calming environment, and learn about the psychological benefits of maintaining a tidy space, reducing stress, and embracing practices like feng shui to enhance energy flow in your home.
We unmask the intriguing world of Swedish death cleaning and feng shui cleaning, diving into their emotional depth and significance. This episode highlights the importance of selective client partnerships and addresses the challenges posed by hoarding situations. Through shared anecdotes, we reflect on the dual therapeutic benefits of cleaning, for both clients and professionals. Discover why tasks such as organizing and sweeping are akin to meditation, how aromatherapy can enhance the cleaning experience, and the necessity of charging appropriately to foster a positive working environment.
Transform cleaning into a form of self-care, where mindfulness and aromatherapy turn mundane tasks into meditative experiences. Balancing work and family while keeping a tidy home can be challenging, but hiring professional cleaners may be the key to maintaining peace of mind. As we discuss strategies for achieving this balance, we touch on tax considerations for home-operated businesses, underscoring the importance of consulting with tax professionals. Finally, we champion the idea of treating regular cleaning as an essential act of self-care, promising improved well-being and tranquility for those who embrace it.
It can be crowed when trying to figure out who you are going to learn from
Up your cleaning game, join over 6000 Cleaning Business Owners most of whom are located here in the United States.
Questions? Feel free to reach out!
Shannon Miller: cleaningbusinesslife@gmail.com
Join my FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1583362158497744
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIjMz_-9YyiFvNVIgb61iYg
To order All-Natural Cleaning Products: www.purevergreen.com
See Shannon's latest courses: www.KleanFreaksUnversity.com
Good morning Jamie. How are you?
Speaker 2:I'm doing great. How are you?
Speaker 1:Good we're going to be talking about is cleaning a form of therapy. What?
Speaker 2:do you think about that? I love it. I think that's, you know, one of the major reasons probably why I've gotten into this. I know that my mom, whenever I was, she was the best homemaker ever, and I think your mom was a hippie, right, she's super hippie, like a rainbow child. We go we're talking the bus, living in the bus the whole nine yards traveling America. You know school. What was school then? Right?
Speaker 1:school of life. Yeah, the blessing was huge before the RV lifestyle came in and yeah, exactly reflowing, um, but she did a.
Speaker 2:You know, I think she instilled in me those how to be a good homemaker, basically because that's what we're doing, that's, those are little strings that got me to where I'm at today in the cleaning business. It was she instilled those, I don't know. So whenever I you know it's whenever you're you're scrubbing your uh, baseboards, whatever the case may be, you, I can let it go, or, oh, that's a good thought, it just it's a good self-talk. I don't know. It just it's a good self-talk. I don't know, it's a good form of therapy for me.
Speaker 1:It's? I don't know, there's so many different personalities in our industry, like, for example do you make your bed every day? I know I'm going to put you in the hot seat. Yes, absolutely, I make my bed every day. The other beds in the house don't get made every day. I'm like what's up with you Because I house don't get made it made every day. I'm like what's up with you why? Because I have to.
Speaker 1:I have this whole ritual in my room. I have to move the dog beds, get my bed made and then, when it gets time to go to go night night is what everybody tells me. I have a turndown service. I turn down my sheets and I, you know, get everything all ready like a hotel would. There's no chocolates in my bed, but there's this ritual that I participate in. I am not an individual, though. That has, you know, 27 pillows on my bed. I have two and two and that is the max. Because, if you think about it, what movie is that from? Where there's the whole bed pillows and like you're wasting 27 minutes every day and every night by putting all of these pillows, oh, and then they have to put it down on the floor.
Speaker 1:And then she ends up tearing them to shreds because she's liberating herself from oh confines of her life.
Speaker 2:What movie was I'm trying? Uh, I know what you're talking about everyone's seen the film.
Speaker 2:We're like yeah, too many pillows. You know, um, yeah, I'm the same way. Uh, my, even the couch, the couch pillows have to be on my couch. Um, I do the whole fluff. I just uh, it makes something. Yeah, it makes a little peace in my heart. You know, uh, I don't know just seeing it. And you know and this goes off to our clients you know how good that feels whenever you go in and, oh, your bed is made. You know, I understand whenever they are just in shock, that you know it's so nice to come home to a reset, a refresh, a nice clean home. It is, it's a therapy for all and this is probably the cheapest therapy that you'll invest in.
Speaker 1:No, doubt as a client. No doubt about it. There's some psychology involved on why cleaning reduces stress and anxiety. There's your energy field. We won't even go into the feng shui aspect. I've done roughly 12 feng shui cleanings in the last year. You're certified, aren't you? I'm not officially certified, but I did train underneath a master, so that kind of counts. I guess if you wanted me to whip out a piece of paper, I could go back and get it, but I don't know, but tell the audience what feng shui, what kind of clean is that?
Speaker 1:So that's usually a team of three, and then we come in and we assess what the problem areas are. Usually nine times out of 10, a homeowner has a clutter issue because as Americans we have too much stuff, and then we decide where the prosperity area is in the house, where the relationship areas are in the house, and how to co-ease all that stuff. Sometimes we're removing furniture hence the reason for three people and then that can be arranged. I don't have to be there the whole time. That person can come over and move the armoire in the right spot without hurting anything. But there's a lot involved in it and it's always you can tell. And how you did a good job is.
Speaker 1:You walk out the front door and then you walk in and I, for me, I feel like a sense of relief, like this feels good and I think that happens a lot with cleaning they go and then they come back after they had lunch or whatever, and it just was like there's another movie, he goes, or something like that.
Speaker 2:I'm really into this one. I love it.
Speaker 1:There is a sense of tranquility and I do think it actually is in direct correlation to your mental health. So when you're, when your place is clean and tight even though, like my house, is totally chaos it does get cleaned and when it's reset, it's good for a couple hours, but yeah that's it.
Speaker 2:But it feels so good, but you still know that everything is clean like, like everything's been touched and sanitized.
Speaker 1:There's no like vacuum all the hairs, all the dog hairs and, you know, temporarily.
Speaker 2:yeah, it's so true.
Speaker 1:Cleaning can also be like a mindfulness practice, Like if my space like, for example, the whole bed, the making of the bed, like I like when I walk in my room later in the day, or whatever, I know that my bed's made and I don't have to do anything but come in here later on and do the turndown service.
Speaker 2:I don't have anyone to do it for me. I know your own tur downs the same, me neither, but I, I am. I did not know that we were exactly alike on that. I do like, um, I, we have a large sectional. So I like the pillows, just so, and if they're not like that, just so. And if they're not like that, I feel off. Right, there's something off and it's just uh. It. I don't know how to explain it, but it's just uh. Maybe a little tinge of anxiety, maybe I don't know. Uh, it's just something off is going to be off on the day is the way I feel. So, yeah, I actually have a cleaning tech that and, kayla, if you're listening, Woo-hoo, we love you.
Speaker 1:Yes, even though we're talking about you.
Speaker 2:She absolutely loves cleaning. I, and she posts. She posts on her um Facebook page. Um, the person is asking why are you always cleaning all the time? And she it gives a list of all the reasons why, of all this therapeutic she and she verbally says it out loud I love cleaning, right, loves cleaning. It helps her. So I I feel like that's a lot of people, especially if you're going to come into this industry, right, um, whether it be as a tech or a cleaning business owner. Um, yeah, it does something, and if you don't do it, I would try and start doing it and see how you feel about your day, right?
Speaker 1:This, starting off with your bag. But there are people who are hardcore, will never make the bed, and that's. I'm not saying that you're wrong. I just noticed that the days, and occasionally, every once in a while, you know they're like you didn't make the bed. I'm like, I know I feel terrible but it's because I didn't. There's this whole ritual that I go through of getting everything or picking up the bath towels, getting everything put back where it's supposed to go, so that when I walk in later I feel good and you can feel the difference from when you walk into one room the next, like I clean. We had a snow day yesterday, so my littles, their room. I was I don't know how. I was telling my mom this, how and maybe you have this with Bodie I don't know how much trash, I don't know how it ends up in their room. They're like two little pack rats of like whatever. Whatever they have found, they drag it up the stairs and put it in their room. I'm like, oh my God.
Speaker 2:Constantly emptying out the pockets after I've thrown it through the washer.
Speaker 1:Right, and you're just like what was that?
Speaker 2:Pencil, erasers, pencils, yeah, just yeah, two bags of trash.
Speaker 1:We change sheets and then I hoeing and hawing about putting the laundry away. I'm like here I'll help you do it really fast. They're like you fold everything so fast.
Speaker 2:I know I was just. I know we're. Bodhi has to start implementing. He's at that age of 10 and he's like mom, I'm a boy. What's that mean? No, we do chores, honey. We got to do our chores and cleanings are part of you know try it Well.
Speaker 1:I've noticed, too, that once their room is clean, they'll actually spend more time in there, and yeah, because they subconsciously are in a clean space, so it's not chaotic, everything's put back in there. I see them rolling around on the carpet doing all the magnet tiles and they but they're like playing together. It's harmonious.
Speaker 2:It's like, wow, there, this could be a thing here, right, yeah, no, I agree, I agree, yes, and uh, I'm trying to open up some of my show notes here, that's okay yeah, uh, but I do.
Speaker 1:I think it does impact your well-being, um, whether it's your emotional well-being for that day or your long-term mental health. Um, I think that cleaning is a form of therapy, at least for many of us who get into this industry, and it becomes like this weird thing, because when you finally get mop-free, you're not cleaning per se, you're still cleaning your house or you're having your home cleaned by a cleaning tech, but then you're focusing on other things. But there is something very therapeutic about just cranking out, turning up the music and just doing your thing and putting everything back, like when we start to feng shui clean for the end, because it was the Chinese New Year started yesterday for like nine days. So we actually take everything out of the bookcases, we dust everything off and then put them back and we rotate them so that everything is touched, and that way it gives us an opportunity to go oh well, maybe I'm not going to read this book anymore, maybe someone else will enjoy it. Those types of things help as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, To kind of purge, start purging. Purging for me is hard. Yeah, everything has a place, but, um, I would definitely benefit from a feng shui in um my, my office. Um, you also have experience, though, in um a Swedish, Swedish lane. Yeah, those are fine.
Speaker 1:I haven't done many of them, but they're fun.
Speaker 2:That's an interesting concept.
Speaker 1:I don't know who came up with that name but I would imagine yeah, it's actually it's a style of cleaning that um correlated right from the country of sweden. So they basically, um, they, they have this really dynamic universe when it comes to their seniors, so they try to prepare them, um, for the their golden years, and part of that is purging the stuff that we no longer need where, like when we see the extreme version of it, and I blame Amazon, and Amazon is good and bad. I'm not trying to criticize anybody, but what I've seen especially cause I have a huge senior base here is they buy and they buy and they buy and they buy and they buy, and they never open. And they buy and they buy and they buy. It's a vicious cycle and, um, then it comes time to like oh, my gosh, my gosh, I'm getting close to this. This life cycle is over, right, right.
Speaker 1:So, or mom or dad have passed away and we have this happen a lot you probably have seen it too and the son or daughter comes up and goes I want to sell this house, I need to get rid of all the stuff, or I'm coming here to live here. Can you help me get rid of all the stuff? So usually that involves a dumpster. It usually involves a team of three and the homeowner cannot not be present. They have to be involved in the process because there's a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1:You're moving right and you don't want to, you know, but it usually starts in small sections. We usually start with a closet or maybe the kitchen or three those types of things first, and then it kind of spreads itself out. But usually the first couple of days, depending on what, how they want to structure their package will depend on how many people I have on site and what we're doing. But yeah, they're fine, I actually get to know them pretty well. I'm actually still doing it. I mean, I farm out. It's still a very personal type of cleaning and purging. Yes, I can imagine farm out. It's still a very personal type of cleaning and purging?
Speaker 2:yes, I could imagine right. So that's such an interesting thing and for clients that don't know that that's out there, how would you even? How does that? How does that get not? Not advertised?
Speaker 1:How do people know? Yeah, basically offering. So it's actually, um, every once in a while I'll throw it out on Facebook, but it's actually. I have little teeny business cards just for Swedish death cleaning. I just leave them randomly wherever because I believe in in-person networking. It's not something that I advertise for on Facebook and I'm very particular on who I'm working with, because I don't want the person who is going Because we've all seen the hoarding shows, right, that something tragic happened to this individual to cause them to get stuck, and all of these horrific things have just piled up.
Speaker 1:And if they make it to the end because we all know it's Hollywood, so it's a show they end up feeling better. But then there's that psychological thing to this. This is just I'm partying with my things and I'm happy to be there, type of thing, not. I had this traumatic event happen and now I've have all this accumulation and the city has come in and told me to get rid of it. That's not, that's not sweet, no, no. And there are books you can get books on, no, no. And there are books. You can get books on um, on amazon, on it. Um, I don't know if anyone actually talks about how to do it. Um, that might be something that I throw out there before the end of the year. We'll see.
Speaker 2:That's a good idea yeah, that's a great idea, that's uh, I'm gonna write that down.
Speaker 1:Yes, let's uh and um the feng shui cleaning, so so those are the two specialized things and those are not cheap jobs. We're talking $1,500, $2,000, $2,500. That's just for the services. That's not dumping, making goodwill runs or whoever they want it donated to, or washing things before they get donated. That doesn't. That's extra Right. And then we get the cleaning at the end usually as well. Yeah, of extra.
Speaker 2:Right, and then we get the cleaning at the end usually as well. Yeah, of course, yeah, yeah, that's a lot of. That's a very emotional thing to take on.
Speaker 1:And you have to mentally be prepared. It's not for a newbie. If you're a newbie, I'm not saying you're not qualified. You emotionally have to be able to prepare yourself for all. There's like 52 steps right To get yourself in that point. It's like when I've spoken to a couple people bless their little hearts, they're new and someone some real estate agent reaches out to them and says I have this hoarding case, would you be interested in it? And then they get all excited and then partway through it, get a phone call.
Speaker 2:Oh my.
Speaker 1:God, shannon. Okay, first of all, are you getting enough money for this job?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's nothing worse than being mad. Now that will uh, being mad because you undercharged a job.
Speaker 1:right know, that's angry cleaning yeah, we don't want to do angry cleaning. No, because you're just bitter helping anybody?
Speaker 2:yeah, nobody, and um, no, but uh, I I think maybe that's probably what. Of course, this is going to be a mental thing and it is therapeutic for both sides. For me as the business owner, because it's like, wow, my cleaning techs put that smile on your face and they just, you know, and to hear my cleaning techs talk about how much they love cleaning, I will say that I've had some people that I've hired. And why did you quit? Or why did you put your two weeks in? I'm going to be honest with you, I really just don't like cleaning. I think that's what it is and it's like, well, okay, you know it's okay, but um, it does you know, like you said, turn the music up, nice and good.
Speaker 1:Uh, this is for your own home, not in a client's house. Don't turn their music up really loud in their house, shannon said. Don't turn their music up really loud in their house, shannon said.
Speaker 2:One ear plug, one ear plug in, or what is it the?
Speaker 1:headphones, drop those burpees in. And then they also say that research shows that a cluttered environment can increase cortisol levels, the stress hormone, making you feel overwhelmed. And, on the flip side, studies suggest that repetitive tasks such as sweeping, wiping down services, organizing, can have a calming effect similar to meditation. What do you think of that?
Speaker 2:I love it because I think it's true Whenever yeah, whenever I it because I think it's true whenever, yeah, whenever I. Just a little bit ago, before we came out, I came onto the show. What's weird is I went to my kitchen uh counter and I did a rub to make sure there was no crusties or yeah, we got a lot of those too.
Speaker 2:I just like you know, like I'll press my counter, like okay, I'm going out here on the show. These are things that are just being brought to my attention as we're sitting here speaking about it, because obviously that's a ritual that I do Again the pillows, the bed making Sometimes because I like incense, again my parents were super hippies, so I grew up on, you know, frankincense, and I love chocolate.
Speaker 1:I don't actually have any down here, I don't think here.
Speaker 2:I don't think, love it, love that. So, um, we light incense and um, we do a lot of aromatherapy and um, yeah, candles, some good smelling candles. I always love walking into a house that is like I don't know. Some people get medics though, too.
Speaker 1:I like some scents, but I can't know Some people get medics though, too, I like some scents, but I can't handle just because of my exposure. I can't handle. If you're a really if you're an air freshener girl, I will, actually when you're not home, if this is me. Way back when, I would pull those puppies out of the wall. I didn't care if it was winter time, I'd open up the doors and the windows so I could air out your house, so that I could clean. That's what I used to do Probably not the most ideal thing in the wintertime, but I was like I can't handle when.
Speaker 2:I was cleaning. I'm like I can't handle this.
Speaker 1:I can't handle it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it goes straight up your nose and over into. Yeah, I know exactly, I know that smell. Yeah, it's awful.
Speaker 1:It's awful and you might've heard me mention that those air fresheners have been known to cause cancer. They won't come out and say it, but I know for people who had brain cancer because they had plugins on every outlet and I'm like you know those are toxic. Your liver has to process that smell. Your poor dogs, your Guinea pigs, your fish, any animals in here are going to die.
Speaker 2:Our babies Right? I'm trying to think. I don't think we have very many clients that are no, they don't even do you know, maybe once in a while I'll see one of those Febreze.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I have one of those things yeah.
Speaker 2:Natural stuff.
Speaker 1:I don't mind, like cinnamon or fresh air.
Speaker 2:Pine trees. I don't mind any of that stuff.
Speaker 1:But when it comes to artificial sense, I'm not.
Speaker 2:I'm not a big fan, I'm just not right right, I and I, um, we do uh once in a while, not every day, but we do uh incense and we do the stick incense. Um, I have some, i't know, with the door open so that, because that stays in the house for a while and I don't know, I like to let air in to the house.
Speaker 1:I had the windows open, and that's actually one of the fun way. By the way, when you let fresh air in, it moves the energy, the chi inside the home and you can.
Speaker 2:I don't know, you can feel it in your heart, in your soul, Really, really, it brings a lot of joy. I don't know, it just ah fresh air, or when somebody's cutting grass, especially the first cutting of the season.
Speaker 1:It's all. Oh, we have to roll around in it and then regret it.
Speaker 2:I don't ever get to talk to anybody about this kind of stuff. Do you like the first cut of the season?
Speaker 1:of grass? Yeah, I do. We don't actually have a lot of properties that have grass here, but every once in a while we'll go over to the golf course and you can smell it, but they're. Yeah, my kids have found out the hard way that you can roll around in it. I used to as a kid. After they cut it, we'd roll around all the shavings and get all itchy I'm like oh yeah, what am I doing myself?
Speaker 2:but so I'm getting bit up, right, yep I sure do so.
Speaker 1:Cleaning, having a clean environment, affects your mind. Clearing clutter. I do this at the beginning of the year, I do it in the middle of the year and then I do it right before Santa Claus comes, because we were discussing Santa Claus not coming, but then there was a big discussion about how Santa Claus is still coming. So we did half and half. Santa Claus provided part and then the other part came from us so that we could transition eventually.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're right at that. Yeah, bodhi's not allowed to say anything, right, it's funny yeah.
Speaker 1:Clearing clutter is like clearing your mental space. A messy environment often leads to mental fog and anxiety. Cleaning helps you feel like you're more in control, or for some of us who are type A, who have like control over everything, that's not me at all.
Speaker 1:Is a form of stress relief. Cleaning involves movement, which helps release endorphins, feel good in hormones. Routine equals stability. Having a cleaning routine brings order and predictability, which can be comforting in times of stress. And then, of course, we all, all of us who are in the cleaning industry, love this one Immediate satisfaction of a mood boost. How many of us have been at a one-time cleaning and we go oh my God, look at this space.
Speaker 2:You know, boom yeah, oh, my god, look at this space. You know, uh, yeah, mic drop and uh, having a client also changing that space for a client. And they come in and they have their hands over their mouth and then tears are just coming down and they want to hug everybody and I couldn't. They can never imagine that their home or their space could look like that and it's just you know, definitely definitely cheaper than regular therapy.
Speaker 1:And then there are some practical ways to make cleaning more therapeutic. We already mentioned turning on music or podcasts. I know there are quite a few of you who like to listen to those true crime podcasts. So I totally I love you, but it's not for me. Whatever I just I have such a vivid imagination. I don't need any help from anyone else.
Speaker 2:Oh I watch it too, 48 hours. I'm the true crime junkie, yeah.
Speaker 1:Right, so you can make cleaning fun by listening to your favorite playlist or inspiring podcasts like ours. Um, you can set a timer. Uh, I, when I was out cleaning, I did this a lot. I tried to beat the clock and clean the house in a shorter amount of time. That's actually how I was able to achieve a thousand square feet in an hour, cause I get you get bored, right.
Speaker 1:When you work as a team, one person would do wet work and the other person would do dry work. And then, when I worked as a team, I'm like okay, what do you want? And they're like you're gonna let me pick. I'm like I need variety, just pick something. I don't care what it is, just pick something. I want something different. So there's that.
Speaker 1:Aromatherapy, like Jamie has mentioned, helps a lot with moderation for weirdos like myself. Practicing mindfulness, focusing on sensations, movement, smell around you to make cleaning feel meditative. So being mindful of your environment and realizing that subconsciously, those paper piles do accumulate. Like I have a shredder downstairs, I have a shredder upstairs, I want to shred and give it to everybody and then make it a self-care ritual. So if you're not able to get your own space cleaned, you should be able to. A cleaning tech could easily come to your home and you just pay the wholesale cost of whatever that is, or you just pay them flat out whatever full retail for cleaning is. Instead of seeing it as a chore, you clean it a as an act of self love and care, so cleaning is a form of self-care yeah, it is.
Speaker 2:And again, uh, you know, and this goes out for the client, or you're even if you're explaining to a client, uh, on your home, in-home assessment or over the phone assessment, you can definitely use that line right there. This is probably the cheapest therapy you will get, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And self-love and self-care yes, and self-love, yes. So yeah, you don't have to have a chaotic environment. It should be peaceful, and I know many of us are moms or single moms or moms with two jobs and a business and there's a lot of things going on, so it's really hard to slice and dice it in there. But, um, even if you can't clean your own space, you should have someone clean it. And and everyone's like, oh, you're a cleaner, I bet your house is spotless. I'm like never, never, spotless for an hour or two, but now it's spotless.
Speaker 2:No, no, uh, you know, and I always hear the same thing. Uh, well, you know, mechanics drive the crappy cars, or you know. But, uh, but a business owner, a cleaning business owner, their house is going to be chaotic too. So, yeah, you know, bring somebody in. I have hired somebody to come in and clean my house only once a month, only once a month. But I do, you know, cause it's just I. I was telling my husband, I, we make everybody else's houses look so beautiful and pretty, and then I walk home and I want, I want that, because I know that feeling, you know.
Speaker 1:Okay, we had someone come once a week for a really long time and then a couple things happened and it just if there's so much prep involved to get ready for the cleaner. So then back to bi-weekly and I'm like it still wasn't working out with this individual and my schedule was just really hectic. So now we just have one person come once a month and that at least gets the hard scrubbing done. Does it stay maintained? We do our best. Like I mentioned, there's four of us, four dogs and 30 birds. There's a lot of us in our house. So there's constant me, even after the cleaner comes. You know we, we mop almost every day because we have a lot of birds that, um, that are inside our home. So these are just things that if you cannot do, that it's, and you hear the topic too on Facebook.
Speaker 1:Well, what would you rather? Have a personal chef or a cleaner? And I'm like I'd have a cleaner anytime, all day long, right. But most people were like, well, I'll pick a personal chef. I'm like, well, why not pay for food prep and then have the cleaner come, or have the cleaner come and then make budgeting for that? It's the only way to really get it is to make it a line item in your budget. So um and and we pay. I don't wholesale the cleaning in my house. They we pay full retail um individual who comes um. When I had W2s I did wholesale because you came twice there, twice a week is what it took to manage all of the chaos in my home. But we just it's too hard to prep for four hours every week to get you know, to get get to the point where the cleaner can clean. I'm like this is not worth it, it's too stressful.
Speaker 2:So I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, I mean just, sometimes we got to let those things go like that, you know, and yeah, but yes, is cleaning a form of therapy? I was asked. Absolutely, absolutely. I think so, and it's the cheapest therapist.
Speaker 1:Right, and you can also if you're a cleaning business owner and you're having your home clean, because most of you run your business out of your home and it's a gray area. So make sure that you check with your tax preparer. But if you, in some cases you can write off the whole cleaning, in other cases you can write off a portion of the cleaning because they're cleaning your office nine times out of 10. So make sure that you talk to your tax person because I am not a tax person to find out what is legit for your tax situation. I don't want to misgive information. I'm really big on being transparent and as upfront and honest as I possibly can. I know Jamie and I have been spying in on other people's products. I'm going to be talking about that soon.
Speaker 2:I don't want to talk about it here, but we were shocked, but it's also our job, you know. You know that's constantly researching. I never stop researching, so, and I'm also always on the lookout for a new. Sometimes I get stars in my eyes and I have to again smack my hand and say no, jamie no, the shiny object.
Speaker 1:I do the same thing.
Speaker 2:I'm like I run it by Shannon and Shannon will say you know, okay, I just needed to hear that Right.
Speaker 1:Right. So yeah, that's. I think that cleaning is a form of therapy, whether it's weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. Treat yourself to some self-care by having your home cleaned. Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:That's well. This concludes our episode. We'll talk to you guys soon. Take care.
