(singing)
Good morning guys, and welcome back to my channel and to another Hack Your Home. Today
we're going to a flat, and we are going to be helping to clean and organize an elderly
man's home. It's actually his daughter who nominated him. We're really excited to help,
a bit nervous of what it's going to look like. Because she sent some photos to me, and it did
look like definitely needed deep clean and stuff. But then she said, "Oh, these are very old photos.
And just so you know, he doesn't own a vacuum." So I've got my hair slicked back, thinking it's
going to be quite dusty. But really excited to help him out. So I'll tell you about his story,
and we are going to clean as much as we can over the course of two days. So we should be able to
get it to a much cleaner state. So let's go. Okay, so when we arrived at his flat, this is
how it was looking. It was just quite cluttered. His daughter did warn me that he's a bit of a
hoarder. So she was actually there on the day to help us go through things he might want to keep,
things he wants to throw. So that was really useful, because it's obviously
difficult for us to kind of do that with him. But the first area we really wanted to clean was
the kitchen. It was quite messy, and just needed a really good deep clean. Everything needed
wiping down like the cupboard doors did. We also ended up taking everything out of the cupboards,
reorganizing stuff, wiping it all out. And then she went through all these papers
with him. We cleared up that side. There was also quite a bit of medication to check
use-by dates on and things like that. So actually on first glance like this,
it doesn't look too bad. And we were really excited to get going with this area. And
then this is how his bathroom was looking. So again, just needed a really good deep clean,
can organize those products and go through some of the things in the corner.
There was lime scale on pretty much everything, which we wanted to try and get off of,
like the toilet and the sink and stuff. And it was even on the floor. So in part two of this clean,
I'm actually going to focus on the bathroom. So definitely check out the next video,
which will be up in a couple of days, if you want to see this become all clean and sparkling.
Also, give this video a big thumbs up if you're enjoying this new series. Because that's a really
good indicator to me that you're enjoying it and I'll know to make more. And I'd also love
you to subscribe for more videos like this, and I'll be sure to make a whole playlist of all the
Hack Your Homes that we've done so far. So if you want to see more, you can check them out there.
But the man that we're cleaning for today, he's 83 years old and he lives in this flat.
It's actually sheltered accommodation. And when Matt and I walked in, it was a really
lovely building. And in the main living area, some of the people that lived there were doing
yoga, and it actually looked really nice. But he's lived here for I think over 10 years,
and everything was fine. But he got Covid quite badly, and he was actually in hospital for a
while with Covid. And then once he was out and he was back home, he'd kind of told his daughter,
"Everything's fine. I'm okay." And then when she went to visit,
she just found the flat in this terrible state, and he hasn't really been the same since having
Covid quite badly. So he's struggling to clean at the moment. So she's bringing him meals, and she's
checking up on him. But it's quite difficult for her to sort of take the time to do a clean like
this because she's a mother. She's got two kids of her own, and she works, and it's just a lot.
And actually I was thinking she was doing such an amazing job popping in all the time,
really looking after him, even nominating him for this. It was just such a nice thing for her
to do. And she was here on the day cleaning the living room, and she really transformed it. She
managed to get rid of so much clutter. And so while she was doing that, we started out in the
kitchen and Matt decided to tackle the fridge. And it was a really big job. Because not only
did it need deep cleaning, the top three shelves in the fridge were completely frozen over. There
was frozen, out-of-date medication just stuck in there. So there wasn't much room for food. And
the food that was in there was kind of old food that was in Tupperware that no one could eat.
So we needed to get rid of all that, give it a really good clean, get rid of any medication
that was out of date, and just thaw it out. So we unplugged the fridge, and we opened the door,
and we left it for a good few hours so that we could kind of start getting all of the ice out.
So while we're waiting for that, Matt's just going to clean the bottom of the fridge. And
while Matt is doing that, I decided to start taking everything out of the
kitchen cupboards. It was pretty disorganized. In this cupboard, you can see there's bowls,
plates, pots, pans, cutlery, all in one place. So I thought I'll just take everything out,
give it a really good wipe down and then try and make sense of everything. Have a place for pots,
have a place for plates, et cetera, et cetera. But one thing we discovered when I was doing this
is that he's had some friends. There were little, tiny, I mean they said it was like cockroaches,
but they were so tiny. I don't know if they really were. And basically, there was a problem
at his flat or maybe in the building, I'm not sure. And they treated it so all of them were
pretty much dead, but obviously hadn't been wiped out. Hadn't had been removed. So we did that.
And I'm not going to lie, cockroaches are probably my biggest fear. When I was little,
we lived in a flat where we had them. And it was such a problem, we actually ended up moving. And
I always remember when we were moving, my mom packed everything into boxes and put
it on the removal truck overnight because it was winter, so they would basically freeze.
So that when she was then unpacking, they'd all be frozen, and it was kind of a way of getting
rid of them. Anyway, I think the whole experience sort of scarred me as a child. So I was really
nervous when someone mentioned, "Oh yeah, I think there might be some cockroaches." I was like,
what? But these were really tiny. So I don't know if they definitely were.
But anyway, once I got over that, we carry on. So I'm now doing the cup and glasses cupboard.
And there was also, some of the glasses and things that were in the cupboard were just really dusty.
He doesn't cook much, they haven't been used loads. But managed to kind of clean them all,
and then just carry on taking everything out of the cupboards. And Matt is now helping,
because he's kind of waiting for that fridge to thaw. So we're just going to carry on organizing.
There's some more friends for you guys. Sorry. (singing)
I'm actually leaving quite a few bits of food out on the surface for him,
so that it's nice and easy for him to reach if he's hungry. The space needs to work for him,
so we left things like soup, beans, fruit, tea, just out so that he can
easily just come into the kitchen and get it. He's 83, he's slowing down a bit. So this way
it's easy for him to kind of access that. I'm also just wiping down the microwave,
the surfaces, the cupboards themselves on the outside as well. And we need to get
him a cutlery tray, because we couldn't find one anywhere. But we washed all the cutlery,
and then I decided to kind of put it in some Tupperware in a drawer like this. It was kind
of in lots of different places, so now there's a bit of a cutlery drawer, which is good. And then
I'm also just going to wipe down the surfaces. I'm also going to leave this cereal out on the
surfaces so that it's easy for him to reach. And the kettle as well,
I'm just going to give that good wipe down and then carry on emptying out the drawers and the
cupboards. But he was a really sweet man, and we got chatting to him and his daughter. And he
said that he moved to England at the age of 15 from India. He came all on his own, which is so
brave. I cannot imagine my eldest just upping and leaving on his own in two or three years.
But he got a job as a postal worker, and kind of the rest is history. But now I'm actually
going to put on some laundry for him. He didn't really want us cleaning in his room, but we asked
him if he wanted us to do any laundry and if we could wash his bedding, and he said yes.
So he gave us all that. And I'm just putting it on. They've got a utility room in the building,
which is really good. So it's going to be all nice and fresh. I actually had really good machines,
so I've left that on and then I'm going to come back in an hour and dry it.
So yeah, I'm just going to carry on emptying out all of the cupboards. We did get rid of quite a
few things that were out of date. Because of his age and how he's feeling, he hasn't been cooking
very much. I think his daughter pretty much brings him all of his meals. Which is really
difficult for her, because she's got two kids herself. I think it's quite a stressful time
when you've got children, but you've also got elderly parents. It is such a strain.
You know that stage where it looks worse before it looks better? We're at that stage. So we're
kind of getting everything out, but we are definitely making progress. Yes, I'm just
going to carry on wiping everything down. And then I think we're going to tackle the fridge again.
(singing) Okay, so things are
looking so much better already. All the surfaces have been wiped down, all the cupboards as well.
Things are a bit more organized. We actually got rid of so much stuff that was either out of date,
or especially medicine that he definitely shouldn't take because it was so out of date.
I think one of the boxes was from 2006. So we've had a really good clear out. Now,
on the tap there was quite a bit of lime scale around it. So I was really trying
to scrub that off, and I think I'm going to put a bit of a treatment on it as well.
And while that's sitting on it, I'm going to tackle the floors.
So first off, I'm going to sweep it. You would've seen at the beginning,
there was a chair in this corner. And initially I thought, oh, maybe he's got the chair in the
kitchen in case he kind of gets to the kitchen and then gets tired, wants to sit down.
But he actually never sits in it, it was kind of just overflow. So we've moved it to the living
room. It was quite a comfy chair as well. So I think he's sitting on that now. It's kind of the
main chair in the middle of there. So yeah, we've moved it out of the kitchen, and it kind of fits
in the living room. Which is great because he's got more room to move around in the kitchen.
I'm also going to just vacuum this space. As I said, she's kind of gone through a lot of
stuff with him. Anything he was willing to go through, she has. And now I'm going to vacuum,
and I'm going to use my spray mop as well. This is the Flash Spray Mop. It's great. It has a little
button you press, and then all of the liquid just flies out and it's super easy to use.
And I thought it would be really good for in here because it has disposable heads on
it. So once we're done mopping this space, I can kind of just chuck the mop head out.
Because I thought it might be quite dirty. Yes, I'm just going to run around and mop.
It looked so much nicer, it felt cleaner and it smelled cleaner as well. So that's
great. And then I'm also going to tackle the kitchen floors as well. But as you can see,
the living room is looking so much cleaner, and there's just less dust as well.
One thing I should have mentioned as well is it was really warm in this flat. Obviously being a
bit older, he wanted the heating up higher, but it felt like it was about 30 degrees.
So we were getting really hot at this point. But Matt was desperate to sort this fridge out.
He was on a mission with this one. So he got a hammer, and a chisel, and he was just chipping
away at all of that ice. And then we were putting it into the sink. The top layer was really tricky,
but eventually he managed to get it out. He brought a chisel from home, he brought
a toolbox, and look at this huge chunk of ice. We managed to move the shelf,
and the whole lot came out. We've changed the settings on the fridge, so we really hope this
won't happen again. But we're also going to put all of his medication and stuff at the bottom,
because it seems to be the top that's freezing. So we're really pleased that we freed up loads of
space, gave it a good clean. And now if people bring food over, there is space to actually
put the food in the fridge, which is great. Then I also wanted to vacuum and mop the hallway
area. We did clean the bathroom on the next day. As I said, that will come in another video. But
when I was actually vacuuming this space, it reminded me so much of our first ever flat
together. Matt and I had a one-bedroom flat, and it was the exact same layout as this one here.
It was very similar, the floor was the same, the doors and everything. It really reminded
me of it. And then the only other thing that were going to do is the kitchen floors. So I'm using my
Flash Speed Mop for this, you get wipes with this mop. So I actually went around a few times with
different wipes to just make sure that it was really nice and clean for him.
And you'll see in a minute how much came off of just going around the kitchen floors once,
even though we've swept and vacuumed. This is how it was looking. So we did that again.
But I feel like by the end of it, we actually got it really, really clean.
And this is kind of how we're going to leave it after day one. But I feel really good at the
progress. You can easily walk into the kitchen now, get a cup of tea, get some food that he
wants to eat. It's nice and clean, and everything will be easy to find; cutlery, plates, et cetera.
So I really hope you enjoyed this video. I'm really enjoying making this kind of
content. It feels really good to kind of give something back, help someone,
give some kindness as well. I would totally recommend doing some random acts of kindness for
sure. And maybe also checking up on any elderly parents you have, elderly friends. Just check in,
make sure they're okay, give them a visit. Because he definitely needed a little bit of help.
Anyway, thank you so much for watching and I will see you in part two very soon. Bye guys.