Clean With Me: the podcast that keeps you company while you do the chores

Podcast of the week

Daughter and mother Jessica and Raani of the Clean With Me podcast

Henrietta McKervey

The hour has changed, spring has sprung. You know what that means? Yes, more light. And you know what more light means? Dust bunnies bounding from corners. Spider webs. Grubby pawmarks suddenly visible on the walls. Every mark and smudge you managed to ignore all winter is now ready for its moment in the sun (literally).

If you’re in need of some motivation, helpful tips and entertainment while you do your chores, try Clean With Me (widely available), and let the friendly American voices of Raani Starnes and her daughter Jessica Gutierrez keep you company.

Season 1 was hosted by Raani (“I have a lot on my plate, but cleaning is a part of life”), Season 2 by Jessica, and they are alternating Season 3, producing new episodes most Wednesdays. Jessica is 28, the mother of toddlers, and works outside the house, while Raani has teenagers, grown-up kids and grandchildren, and works full-time from home. Because their needs are different, so is the time they have to spend cleaning, which means the listener benefits from two different approaches. Whether you’re getting stuck into a deep clean in one room, need quick tips to sort out the car, or have an occasion your home needs to look its best for, Raani and Jessica will help.

With 228 episodes dating back to 2018, good starting points in Season 1 include Cleaning and Saving Money, Packing for Travel With Kids and Moving Tips (early episodes aren’t numbered). Quickfire episodes focus on single topics, such as Cleaning-Related Marital Problems from last September, or Single Task: Clean the Fridge. Bonus content includes parenting advice and recipes, such as Listen if You Have a Lot of Dishes to Wash, an extra-long episode in which Raani shares her favourite method for slow-cooker chicken with stuffing.

Raani and Jessica’s repetition of instructions is hypnotically gentle, making Clean With Me simultaneously mentally soothing and physically motivational. Listening to it while doing housework is like having an old friend pottering around the house behind you, chatting away about people you haven’t seen in ages. “Stay in the room with me,” Raani advises in her calm voice, and I find that I do, staying focused and on-task, nodding along when she reminds me to clean the inside of the toothbrush holder or check the tiles behind the door.

In need of some relaxation this weekend? Try Clean With Me cleaning.

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