Side hustle hero: How a single mum turned overdraft anxiety into a cleaning empire

When single mum of one Kelly hit 40, she decided something needed to change. Despite working seven days a week, she was living in her overdraft and finding herself having to put things back on the shelf during her weekly supermarket shop.

Today, she runs Cleaning with Meaning, a sustainable cleaning company in Kent with 14 staff, over 100 clients and plans to grow even further.

This is the story of how she got there.

There’s money in dirt

Kelly spent more than a decade working as a carer. As a people person and someone keen to make a difference, she loved her job and was good at it. But it didn’t pay enough to keep her comfortably afloat.

Ever resourceful and unafraid of hard work, she started cleaning shared houses on her one day off a week to top up her income. At first, it was just a bit of extra cash, but she soon found she looked forward to her weekly cleaning day. And the tenants were happy too. Kelly said:

“They were men who don’t normally notice stuff like that, but they were noticing because there was a bit of a woman’s touch. I was going in and making it look like a proper home.”

So somewhere between hoovering hallways and polishing bannisters, a seed formed:

“There’s money in dirt, and there are a lot of houses out there.”

A leap of faith

Even working seven days a week, Kelly was struggling to cover the cost of essentials. So one evening, she grabbed a pen and paper and wrote down every skill she had and everything she felt passionate about. Cleaning kept rising to the surface.

So she sat her seven-year-old son down to see what he thought about her starting her own cleaning company.

“I said we obviously have to be sustainable because I really care about the planet.

“Me and my son started our own litter-picking group in lockdown and ended up clearing up all the woods down the road, and we got the stream running again - it wasn't running because there was so much litter in there.”

Her son was enthusiastic about the idea and immediately set to work designing a logo: a planet in the shape of a heart. And with that, Cleaning with Meaning was born.

Kelly’s best friend recommended she read You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero.

“She said, ‘It changes your mind and everything.’ So I read this book, and it was focused on letting go of fear and just going for it, knowing that you will always be alright if you continue to take steps forward and put things into action.”

That book inspired Kelly to hand in her notice at work.

“I was a single mum, living in my overdraft. And I took that leap of faith in myself.”

Cleaning up

The first two clients found Kelly through her brand-new website. She still has one of them today.

Word spread. Fast. The inbox filled. The diary filled. Fridays became full-time. Then full-time became not-enough-time.

That’s when she made her next bold move: hiring.

Championing women and second chances

Kelly started taking on mums at the school gate and young women who needed income or a fresh start after difficult experiences.

She encouraged them, trained them to her exacting standards and accompanied them on cleans, only stepping back when she was happy she could trust them to represent her brand in a positive light.

Her team is almost entirely women. Most work part-time to fit around family life. Pay rises are routine. Christmas bonuses are non-negotiable.

And when she sees potential in someone, she invests. One young mum without a car contacted her for work. She was heavily pregnant. Most employers would’ve said no. Kelly bought her a baby rocker, gave her Airbnb cleans where equipment was already on-site, and set her up to succeed.

Another cleaner wanted to start her own business. Kelly didn’t see it as competition. She helped her. Because supporting women is her passion, not a marketing line.

Today, Kelly is also working on establishing a recruitment relationship with a charity supporting women leaving prison. She knows what it feels like to rebuild a life from scratch, and wants to give others that shot.

“I've come from some horrible situations in my past with domestic violence and just being around toxic, horrible men, and I feel like what kept me sane was going to work and earning my own money.”

More than housework

To Kelly, her service is more than just cleaning.

Her team turns up and notices things. Lonely clients. Struggling parents. People overwhelmed by competing responsibilities.

“A lot of the girls will reach out to me and say, ‘Kelly, I feel like Mrs B or whoever is really struggling. What can we do?’

“And because of my caring background and my connections, I can advise them on what to do and go, ‘Right, I know this great service, I know this great person,’ and put things in motion. 

“So we're not just going in and wiping a cloth round and going. We're actually going in and helping people transform their lives. So it's really powerful. 

“Not only am I supporting women who want to put food on the table for their children and pay their bills, we're also supporting people at home who are really, really struggling.”

The girls are encouraged to go the extra mile. They make kids’ beds and pose teddies reading books or hanging from lampshades. They take away hard-to-recycle plastics and send them to a company in Hull that turns them into outdoor play equipment.

Kelly is passionate about the transformative effect that her service has on people’s lives.

“We're giving you time back to spend with your son. We're giving you time to do your work. You know, nobody wants to be at work all day and then coming home to a house that hasn't been cleaned.

“It's soul-destroying because you just think I can't keep on top of this. It's stressing me out. It affects your mental health. It affects your mood with your family. It just has such a knock-on effect.

“So I try to get across the value customers are going to get from us coming in.

“Once we get our foot in the door, they don't want us to go.”

'You’re doing alright'

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing. Kelly still cleans when staff are off. She’s done 15-hour days. She’s cried from exhaustion. She’s had moments of “I don’t think I can do this”.

But, crucially, she keeps going.

She invests everything she can back into the business: spending money on PR support, branding, training, equipment, an office and a business development manager.

The day she got the keys to her office was the first time she sat down and thought:

“You’re doing all right, girl.”

Life-changing

Since starting Cleaning with Meaning, Kelly has stopped drinking to stay clear and focused

She’s transformed her mindset around money and self-belief, and built a company that supports her family and a workplace where women can find independence and confidence.

She’s also proved to herself that she was never “too stupid” to succeed.

“I didn't do well at school. I absolutely didn't. I hated school. I always felt like I wasn't good enough. I always felt like I was stupid, but I always knew that there was something different about me in the sense that I always knew that I could do more in my life.”

She’s working smarter now, not harder. And she’s dreaming bigger than ever.

What’s next?

Kelly wants to step back from day-to-day cleaning, grow her team and expand her eco-friendly mission. She wants everyone to know you don’t need harsh chemicals to get a sparkling home.

And she wants to keep supporting women who need stability, encouragement and income.

Because she’s been there. She remembers the overdraft. The worry. The pause at the supermarket checkout.

“You have to change if you want to go anywhere in life and you want to be financially stable. You've got to think, ‘What's my passion? What am I good at? And can I make money out of it?’ and just go for it, whether that be on the side and then gradually build your way up to full-time or just go all in.”