“I was born with a mop and a vacuum in my hand,” says third-generation Appleton janitor Brandon Pleshek. “My grandfather started our family’s cleaning business over 40 years ago, so I was pretty much born into the business.”
Using that deep-seated cleaning expertise, he also creates simple how-to videos as Clean That Up (@cleanthatup). By turning a dull chore into something fun and approachable, he has made a shiny social media empire with a combined 4.8 million followers.
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Pleshek wasn’t always planning on a career in cleaning, but he fell in love with the satisfaction of cleaning spaces and helping the community.
“I just want to help others clean up their spaces and make it easier because cleaning is not sexy or fun,” Pleshek says. “I find it fun and exciting, but I am in a very rare group of people that do.”
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, his family’s carpet cleaning business halted, and Pleshek made his first CleanThatUp post.
“It pretty much blew up overnight. I posted a video and woke up the next morning with like 30,000 views,” he says.
Viewers immediately responded to his content with cleaning questions. Pleshek realized he had the answers. “This is the next level of sharing our cleaning knowledge, sharing it not only locally but with the world.”
His videos now give tips for any cleaning situation. For the past two years, CleanThatUp has featured a 30-day spring cleaning spree challenge based on Pleshek’s childhood spring cleaning ritual – breaking up the tasks over a few weeks.
In the spirit of spring cleaning, Pleshek shares some of his best tips and tricks:
- Don’t overwhelm yourself – spread it out! Hammer out two bite-sized tasks per day.
- Start with the spaces that get the most use: kitchen, living room and bathroom.
- Air needs cleaning, too! Open windows to let in fresh spring air after the long winter.
- It’s a great time to change your furnace filter if you have one!
- Work from the top down. Start with dusting light fixtures and finish at the floor, vacuuming all that kicked-up dust.
- Use a three-towel system: One microfiber towel to apply the cleaner, one damp with water to rinse, and one dry to buff and shine.
- Clean out that lint! Thousands of fires start yearly from clogged dryer vents.
- Something often missed: Your refrigerator condenser coil. It collects dust and will stop the fridge from cooling as efficiently. Cleaning will protect your produce and your wallet!
