- For three years, Laura, 20, had been struggling with addiction and doing it tough with no roof over a head.
- Then one day she decided to use her last $20 to buy some cleaning products from the supermarket.
- That small decision marked the beginning of Laura’s life- changing cleaning business that now sees her scrubbing up everything from hoarders homes to crime scenes!
Here Laura Summers, 24, tells her story in her own words.
Trundling around the supermarket, I spied a sale ticket fluttering in the household cleaning aisle.
Perfect, I thought, plucking some brightly-coloured bottles of cleaning spray and microfibre cloths and putting them in my shopping trolley.
I had just $20 left in my bank account… and I needed maximum bang for my buck. My future depended on it.
Days earlier, at the beginning of 2022, something unexpected had happened.
I’d shared a post on Facebook offering my services as a cleaner – and in 48 hours a whopping 17 clients had reached out wanting to book me!
I was 20 years old at the time, with nothing to lose.
For three years I’d been doing things tough.
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With no roof over my head and struggling with addiction, I was often couch surfing or sleeping in my car.
Finally, I’d realised I needed to start over and, with the help of my boyfriend of one year, Ryan, then 20, I got clean and started to get my life back on track.
My fledgling business, Sleek Easy Clean, was my lifeline and I wasn’t going to waste it.
‘I’m so proud of you’.
The first job was simple – a standard spruce-up, involving a carpet steam and oven clean for a middle-aged man.
It was good practice and, having gone through my own struggles, I was very happy to be helping someone who needed a hand.
It was just the start.
The bookings kept coming, and two weeks after setting up the business, I had so many jobs I asked another girl, Mia, to join me.
Soon, Ryan had stepped in to get scrubbing too!
‘I’m so proud of you,’ he told me.
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Six months later, in August, I completed a course about biohazard cleaning.
Afterwards, I advertised my new skills on Facebook and a man messaged straight away.
He lived in a hoarded home and was struggling with his mental health.
The situation tugged at my heartstrings. I knew first-hand just how life throws up unexpected challenges, and I wanted to help, using discretion and integrity, and most importantly, no judgement.
He lived in a hoarded home and was struggling with his mental health.
Thankfully, the course I’d completed helped me understand the complexities of the job and learn how to deal with everything we might come across.
Before long, we were at the house in our hazmat suits and assessing what needed to be done.
Piles of rubbish filled each room, flies and cockroaches skittered across the floor, and the stench of rotting food filled the air.
While most people’s tummies might turn at such sights and smells, I relished the chance to make a difference.
READ MORE: Confessions of a trauma cleaner: ‘I’ve cleaned crime scenes and hoarder homes’
We weren’t just tidying up – we were transforming someone’s life – and it was so rewarding.
‘You’ve saved my life!’ the client told us, after the job was done – with enough rubbish to fill two large tippers.
Since then, we’ve taken on dozens of hoarder homes, and that’s not all. We’ve come across drug dens, crime scenes and even decomposing bodies.
‘You’ve saved my life!’
One of the first murder scenes I attended was in December 2022, and it’ll stay with me forever.
There was blood everywhere, splattered on the ceiling and the cupboards, and there was a pool of it on the floor.
That day was intense and emotional, and it’s not the only difficult scene we’ve encountered.
Another time, we did a clean for a housing company and found drug needles sticking out of children’s cuddly toys, which was so distressing.
But whatever we come across, we’re always determined to carry on.
Before cleaning a house, I speak with the client, where possible, to find out about their situation.
Some people have a hard time parting with their possessions so I like to know how we can help with compassion.
‘I promise to keep you involved and in the loop as much as possible,’ I told my client, David, who wasn’t able to cope with the mountains of items and rubbish spilling onto his front lawn.
‘Thank you,’ he told me, gratefully.
To date, me and my crew of now 50 people have spruced up thousands of homes, and our little business is turning a healthy profit.
In fact, in May 2024, Ryan and I had enough money saved to get a mortgage on a four-bedroom house where we now live with our dogs Lightning and Bolt.
In one of my proudest moments, Sleek Easy Clean was featured in a
TV documentary about crime scene cleaning too.
I still can’t believe a simple Facebook callout, and my last $20, has changed my life forever.
I’m thankful for it every single day.
