If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed trying to juggle work, family and home, you might recognise yourself in my story. I was struggling to find a reliable, affordable cleaner at a very demanding stage of my life. At the time, I was returning to work after maternity leave, juggling a senior HR role with raising my two young boys. Like many working parents, I needed just a couple of hours of dependable help each week to keep our home feeling calm and manageable. What I found instead was frustrating. Independent cleaners would often cancel last minute or not turn up at all, while larger companies tied clients into long contracts, charged admin fees, and made it difficult (and expensive) to leave — even when the service wasn’t reliable. What was meant to make life easier only added more stress. Rather than give up, I decided to do something about it. Using my HR background, I set out to create a cleaning company that kept things simple and fair — for both clients and cleaners. A service without long-term contracts, where cleaners are treated well and paid fairly, and where clients can rely on consistent, professional help without pressure or hidden conditions. That’s how Cinders Cleaners was born. Today, we support families, professionals, and seniors who want reliable, trustworthy cleaning support and a home that feels like a place of calm again. This is my modern-day Cinderella story — and I’m proud of the community we’ve built around it. If you’d like to see more of the people behind Cinders Cleaners and the day-to-day side of our business, we share a more personal glimpse of our journey on our Facebook page. Melissa Osborn Founder, Cinders Cleaners