25/02/2026
I’ve always loved cleaning and taken it one step further and running my own little business. Being welcome into someone’s home and getting to know them and then getting to know you. I went to do a clean this afternoon and was greeted by the family to be told he had passed away this morning.
Just one thing I never thought of is not just losing a client, because they are just not you want or they don’t want you. When you turn up for a clean or get told that the person you have been cleaning for has passed away.
It’s really hard, and I feel for the family that are going though their loss and getting there heads around the news, but I’ve never had this before and it’s really tough. I have lost family members and friends, but this is different but the loss is the same.
When you clean someone’s home, you’re not just providing a service. You’re stepping into their private world. You notice their routines, their little habits, the way they like things done. You chat, you check in, sometimes you’re the person they see most that week. Whether people realise it or not, that builds a real bond.
So when someone passes away, it isn’t “just losing a client.” You’ve lost a person you knew in a quiet, consistent, human way. That kind of relationship doesn’t always get recognised, but the grief is absolutely valid. It can even feel confusing, because you’re grieving while also holding space for the family’s loss — and there isn’t really a script for that.
It’s also different from losing friends or family because:
• there’s no clear place for your grief
• you don’t always feel like you’re “allowed” to be as upset
• the loss arrives suddenly, often
through a message or a cancelled clean
That can hit really hard