Cleaning guru spends five hours scrubbing grandma’s dirty bathroom

By Tim Sigsworth via SWNS

A cleaning superfan who scrubbed a grandmother’s dirty bathroom clean was left heartbroken – after she died before she could see it.

Auri Katariina, 30, travels the world cleaning filthy homes for free, often helping out struggling people.

She spent five hours cleaning the 87-year-old’s bathroom – which was crammed with six-foot-high piles of used adult nappies and empty toilet rolls.

The granny, from Finland, had not showered for more than three years and Auri said she was “excited” by the “amazing” challenge.

She even found a heart-shaped stone that the grandmother had asked her to try to find in the mess.

But a day after completing the job, on May 18, the granny’s daughter told Auri she had passed away.

She didn’t live to see the stone or the sparkling clean bathroom.

Auri posted a video of the clean on her TikTok where it has amassed more than 55 million views.

Auri, from Tampere, Finland, said: “When I finished I texted photos to the granny’s daughter and she replied saying: ‘You are unbelievable. This can’t be true. I have no words to thank you enough.'

“I replied and she said again ‘this is so incredible’ and then the next day she texted me that her mum had passed away.

“It was sad for the poor granny.

“She had left a note asking if I could look for a heart-shaped stone she had lost.

“I found it and was like ‘now the granny will be super happy’ but then she didn’t even get to see it.

“It made me so sad.

“It felt strange of course but I knew that I had helped her daughter anyway.”

She quit her job as a service manager at a cleaning company in the summer of 2021 to pursue her passion of cleaning other people's homes for free.

Her expenses are covered by sponsorship, she never charges a penny and she only chooses the dirtiest, grimiest homes belonging to people most in need.

She said: “This lady’s daughter in her 40s asked for my help on Facebook.

“She had visited her mother at the house and the last time was three years ago.

“When she went there she noticed that her mother had not showered or washed her hair in at least three years.

“She cut her hair off and didn’t dare to go to the bathroom.

“She sent me a couple of pictures of the home and it looked pretty nice but I didn’t know what the bathroom looked like.

“When I went there I opened the door and I was like ‘this is amazing.’

“I was definitely excited. It was so crazy.

“I’m always trying to find new types of stains, dirt and trash and this one was so different to others I’ve done before.

“It was maybe the dirtiest bathroom I have ever seen. It was definitely the oddest.

“There were piles of used pads and there was orange dust everywhere.

“I don’t know what it was and there was also trash and really dirty toothbrushes.

“I started by collecting all the pads. I don’t remember how many I used but it was many.

“Then I washed all the surfaces, the sink, the toilet, the shower, shower walls and washing machine.

“I bought her new toothbrushes, toothpaste and a rug and I also washed the floor.

“I mainly used dish soap, kitchen spray and oven cleaner.

“It took me around five hours when usually a dirty bathroom takes me three hours.”