Marie Kondo tips, cleaning services save the earth

Beyond the Brush

Scrubbing your toilet sink doesn’t necessarily have to be avoided like going to the dentist. Many cleaning services in Singapore will make your faucet’s reflection clearer than a mirror. Some of us go to the extent in engaging housekeeping companies because somebody might’ve told you about KonMari Method of Tidying or you read Marie Kondo tips somewhere and absorb like a shallow sponge without questioning what is it really all about. Founder of the art of tidying Marie Kondo wrote on her website, “Tidying and cleaning are often used interchangeably, but they are completely different: Tidying is the act of confronting yourself – cleaning is the act of confronting dirt.” She was right about one thing, cleaning is indeed the act of confronting dirt; which most of us fell victim to wanting to keep our home perfectly clean and end up doing too much.

According to PEOPLE Magazine, Kondo revealed that she has “kind of given up” on keeping her home perfectly clean. Netizens, it seems, have had enough of this kind of thing; overspending for renovating BTO, that you need to fork out $80k on minimalist Wabi-Sabi interior design. Comments from the post ranged from annoyed (“Bath tub is a waste of space and money! Trust me”) to mocking (“80k call minimalist?”) to diagnosing her “siao”. That’s pretty ironic, considering movie superhero Mr. Toilet, international man of (missed-the-ring) oops, played by Jack Sim, lobbies tirelessly IRL by encouraging poverty stricken communities to build more clean toilets. An activist and founder of (the other WTO) World Toilet Organization, World Toilet Day, Restroom Association of Singapore, and most recently released his book – The Gumption of Mr. Toilet – (gumption is a word taken from which former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew popularized it in Singapore, meaning “Oomph”.)

Rise of Cleanfluencers

On the internet and especially on TikTok, the “clean girl” inviting her audience to go speed cleaning with her using quick cuts and rapid transitions edited videos engaging her viewers. Responses came flooding to her act of cleanliness, (“Thank u for reminding me my bedroom needs a good clean”) and (“lovveee this! Room cleaning feels like therapy”.) More and more people including boys are posting videos doing domestic chores, hashtagging #cleantok and #aesthetic respectively. This genre of movement is pushing boundaries and challenging what they call “performative cleaning”. While there are many ways people flaunt and brag online, this often highlights the distinguishing gap between the middle-class and the lower-income groups. Do people clean for the sake of making other people look dirty?

 “Save Earth and electricity with 5 ticks energy saving” said influencer Wendy Cheng – better known as Xiaxue – in a video, she puts on winter wear and sets her air-con temperature down (5 ticks is equivalent to 5 stars in Singapore’s classification system for the energy efficiency of electrical appliances.) The ad was found to have had breached the Singapore Code of Advertising Practice. Although to some, it is deemed distasteful in portraying “green washing” products – creating a perception of thoroughness, even if it’s not necessary or environmentally friendly.

Country with a Conscience

The Singaporean obsession with cleaning has always been fascinating. From hotels gotten green mark certification to birth of Toiletmon and Captain Green. What began as a national pride of ranking No.1 in the list of Top 10 Countries with the Cleanest Tap Water, it has then exploded into some redditors ridiculing agencies for conducting classes for a toilet cleaning course.

In the end, the pursuit of cleanliness is a complex issue. While a clean and hygienic environment is crucial for your health and well-being, the obsession with perfection can be problematic. It can lead to unrealistic expectations, excessive product spending, and a sense of anxiety and inadequacy. Perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate and take things with a pinch of salt, focusing on what we want in our cleaning over the pursuit of an unattainable ideal. Hybee couldn’t agree more to what Marie Kondo echoed, cleaning is the act of confronting dirt, and our cleaning philosophy is good mood and muscles because nothing says therapy like scrubbing your way to gold in hygiene Olympics.