I charge £250 a day for a job people say is ‘unskilled’ – you don’t need qualifications and yes, I earn more than nurses

A BUSINESSWOMAN has opened up on how she rakes in £250 a day with a job many call “unskilled.”

Not only does Helen Young not need any qualifications for her job, but she earns more than nurses too.

Helen had always worked in IT, but while waiting for her next working contract to come through, she decided to give cleaning a go.

Now, as well as having her own cleaning business, Helen is able to work just five to six hours a day and even has time for the school run. 

Taking to social media, the Swindon-based mother revealed that she began cleaning people’s homes after lockdown to help make ends meet.

Now she works for herself, she is eager to “help solo cleaners make more money with less stress.” 

Posting online, Helen got candid about her earnings and said: “I wouldn’t keep talking about this if people didn’t keep asking – for deep cleans, I charge £250 for up to five to six hours’ work.”

But in response to a comment that read, ‘I only charge £15 an hour, I need to charge more,’ Helen set the record straight and confirmed that cleaners charging just £15 an hour will “not make minimum wage” after they deduct their business expenses. 

While Helen wants to help cleaners earn more, she’s also keen to knock the stigma that “cleaning is unskilled.”

She stressed that running a solo cleaning business is “not easy” and as well as sorting out people’s homes, reinforced that cleaners also use customer service, organisation skills, sales, marketing and time management in their day-to-day lives.

Gobsmacked by Helen’s earnings, one woman wrote under one of her videos: “As a nurse of 30 years you earn more than me! I’ve cleaned in the past and got £20 for two hours’ work.”

But to this, Helen responded and said: “Cleaners getting paid more than nurses comes up a lot – I think nurses are underpaid, I did a Band 5 job in the NHS, although not as a nurse, for a couple of years and it was a big pay cut from what I did before.

“Lots and lots and lots of jobs get paid more than nurses, but the only time nurses’ pay comes up in comparison to other jobs is with cleaners, which I find strange as the two jobs are completely unrelated.

“Nurses aren’t earning less because I earn more as a cleaner and if you think that cleaners deserve to earn low, ask yourself why.

“I just find there’s snobbery around cleaners and what they should be earning, I find it fascinating really, the fact that people think that we don’t deserve to earn a good living because we’re lower down than other people – I don’t like it and I’m here to try and change it.”

Social media users react

Helen’s TikTok clip, which was posted under the username @solocleaners, has clearly left many open-mouthed, as it has quickly racked up 130,000 views, 776 likes and 545 comments. 

One person said: “Cleaning is actually back breaking work! If you know, you know.”

Nurses aren’t earning less because I earn more as a cleaner

Helen Young

Another added: “Cleaners work very very hard.”

A third commented: “I’ve been a cleaner for 12 years at a university, cleaning student accommodation rooms…six hours a day, it’s not easy, especially so for the rooms you come across.” 

Meanwhile, someone else shared: “I gave up nursing to clean!”

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