Auri Katariina Kananen is famous for cleaning some of the messiest homes on the internet — and her obsession with cleanliness has made her an icon both online and in her home country of Finland.
You may have seen some of Auri Katariina Kananen’s videos while scrolling through social media. The Finnish influencer is known far and wide for cleaning up some of the messiest houses out there — without charging her clients a single penny.
Kananen’s videos have garnered millions of views across multiple social platforms, showing the creator clearing out nasty homes with stunning results. The before and afters make the houses she cleans look brand-new, but it’s the stories behind the grime that leave viewers feeling truly satisfied.
Kananen told us what kickstarted her cleaning journey and why she cleans homes for free in an exclusive interview with Dexerto, showing off just how much of a famous figure she’s become both at home and abroad due to her efforts.
Click here to watch the full interview.
How a cleaning “obsession” led to international fame
Kananen says her path to viral fame first started after she recorded herself cleaning the home of one of her Tinder dates as a birthday gift. The video racked up 5 million views almost instantly, with Kananen gaining 100,000 followers after uploading it. Since then Kananen’s social media following has skyrocketed as a result, with folks across the internet wanting her to clean their homes, too.
She’s now “addicted” to cleaning, saying she wants to “find dirtier and dirtier places” to clean. She’s even been conscripted to clean homes all around the globe, saying she’s cleaned in the U.K., Switzerland, Sweden, and claims she has plans to clean in France and even Miami, Florida.
How cleaning helps a mental health crisis
But what made Kanenen so obsessed with cleaning? To start, she told us that her life wasn’t always the ‘squeaky clean’ success story viewers see today. In fact, the influencer said she was severely depressed as a teen, but after getting better with the help of a therapist, she realized she wanted to help others who were struggling with their mental health just like she had.
“When I was young, I was depressed,” she told us. “My life just sucked. Like, I thought that I would never live this long, like never ever. Or, I hoped I wouldn’t live.”
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After volunteering for a suicide hotline, Kananen began cleaning houses for depressed people who were struggling with their condition so much that they couldn’t keep up with their own housework — something that’s a major theme in many of her videos.“I can understand that you can be a completely different person,” she explained. “You can do things that you normally wouldn’t do. Like you can live amongst filth, but if you were normal or healthy, you wouldn’t do that.”
Aurikatariina explains why she cleans homes for free
That’s not all; Kananen does her work completely for free. Knowing that it would cost thousands to clear out some of these homes, Kanenen claims that her videos rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars, allowing her to clean without charging her clients and further adding to their stress (while still making jaw-dropping amounts of cash).
“Some people would want to pay me, but I don’t accept any money,” she said. “They need their money more than me.”
Aurikatariina wins awards for viral cleaning videos
Kananen’s videos are some of the most satisfying content out there, and it’s clear that people love watching her transform dirty homes into clean abodes. At the time of writing, Kanenen boasts over 19 million combined followers thanks to her hard work; more than three times the entire population of her home country, Finland.
Kananen has also won multiple awards in Finland as a result of her viral cleaning videos, including Iltalehti Magazine’s Breakthrough of the Year.
“It’s nice and it means that I have done something. I have shown the whole world how fun and easy cleaning is, so I feel like this is the reward of that,” she said.
Kananen loves her job and helping people in need, saying that cleaning up dirt and grime is the “best feeling.” With plans to clean up even more homes abroad in the future, it’s clear that her “obsession” with cleaning is benefitting many people and even inspiring folks to clean their own homes, too.