How Chantel Mila has cleaned up on Instagram: See her top 10 eco friendly home cleaning hacks
Covid lockdowns brought little joy but for Chantel Ibbotson — aka Mama Mila — they sparked a home hacks business that could make her the world’s next Marie Kondo or Martha Stewart.
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A self-confessed “neat freak” as a child, Chantel Ibbotson was always changing her bedroom around and giving friends tips on how to pretty-up their own spaces, but even in her wildest dreams could not have imagined sharing home cleaning advice would become her job.
The Melbourne mum of two has amassed more than three million followers across her various social media channels since posting her first cleaning hack video in 2020, and rapidly turned a side hustle into a lucrative, full time career.
Author of The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up and Netflix star Marie Kondo, and long-reigning American home hacks and culinary queen Martha Stewart, both have 4.1m Instagram followers.
Chantel may have a way to go to catch the cult-status Kondo and legendary, 82-year-old Stewart, but she now boasts more followers than entertainers Dannii Minogue, Delta Goodrem, Abbie Chatfield and Toni Collette put together, and almost three times as many as popular funnyman Jimmy Rees.
Chantel Ibbotson — aka Chantel Mila and Mama Mila — is certainly cleaning up on social media.
The 33-year-old Melbourne Bayside resident is about to release her first book, The Dream Clean, containing her top house cleaning hacks in an easy to navigate, room by room format.
The book also includes recipes and directions for making eco-friendly cleaners and scents at home, using just a few, cheap and readily available ingredients, and offers advice on the fastest and most effective cleaning methods.
Chantel is also launching her own range of natural laundry powder, stain remover and spray bottles this month.
While she did not put a figure on her current business turnover, the former marketing and property management employee said the sponsored content she now put on her sites made the Mama Mila venture profitable enough to be a full-time career.
And it all started with just one video.
“In 2020, when we all went into lockdown, we had both of our kids — aged under three-years-old at the time — at home, and my husband Robbie and I were both working full time, so the house was an absolute mess and chaotic. I thought ‘if our house is like this, it’s probably like that for everyone confined to their home spaces’,” Chantel said.
“So I just started sharing really simple things that I was doing around the house. Just little DIY tips on things like how to soften your linen, how to roll your towels — just to create little pockets of peace around the home.
“Then the videos really started taking off and people started putting in requests for content.
“I started with an audience of just 14 followers, so never in my wildest dreams imagined it would turn into what it is now.”
Her social media brand name, Mama Mila, was inspired by her seven-year-old daughter’s name, Mila.
It was Mila’s asthma that set Chantel on the path of making her own chemical free and eco friendly cleaning products, using just a few cheap and readily available products.
Key among them are white vinegar, fresh lemon and bicarb soda.
“I think if you have those three products in your house, you can do so much with them … and they are really budget saving as well,” Chantel said.
“When I did started doing that, I didn’t do it with the intention of it becoming what it is now. But within about six months, I was able to make the transition to doing it full time and being a full time content creator.”
Chantel now partners with linen and decor brands she likes — featuring their products in her popular videos — in what she said was an organic evolution of her business, and created a money stream.
Chantel’s top tip for working parents to keep their house orderly and clean is to perform a daily 15 minute “spruce up at the end of the day”, with less frequent but habitual deep cleans of each room.
“What inspired the book was my audience. A lot of the content I create now my audience has requested, and I create content based on what they want. One of the key things my audience was saying is ‘okay, these tips and tricks are great but how do I be organised within my house? What’s the frequency that I perform them? And if I just want to clean my bathroom, do you have a checklist of everything that I should do?’.
“That’s how the book came about. It’s a kind of one-stop-shop. Of all my cleaning tips and tricks included, and organised room by room. So if you have 15 minutes to clean the kitchen, you can open up to that chapter or if you have a full day to clean your entire home, you can open up to that chapter. It’s a very organised and structured version of all my tips and tricks.”
With Mila now seven and at school and son Aston, five, at kindergarten, the timing was right to step it up, she said.
The idea for natural room scents came after lockdowns, Chantel said, as Victorians started entertaining again.
“I think during Covid people were really focused on just keeping areas sanitised and clean but post Covid, when we started to be able to have people over to our houses and entertain again — and really wanted to create memories with friends and family — that was the time people interested in learning how to make their home smell amazing and how to make it presentable when they had guests over,” Chantel said.
Her most popular hack? That would be the bathroom cleaning method of using a hollow dish brush with a handle and filling it with half white vinegar and half dishwashing liquid.
“You can use that little tool to clean your entire bathroom and scrub away grime and soap scum. And you can use it on the shower, sink, bathtub, all around the bathroom and it just makes cleaning that much easier. That has been a very popular hack and anytime I’ve posted that it’s just been remarkable how much people love it.”
Meanwhile she’s hopeful her book and natural cleaning products will prove as popular as her tips on social media, which she plans to continue.
Marie Kondo and Martha Stewart watch out — an Aussie is coming for your cleaning crowns.
Book extract: The living room chapter
Living rooms are just that – an area to be lived in! They’re where the household comes together for a movie night, where the most competitive games of Monopoly are played, where visitors are entertained and where we unwind after a long day. The living room is a high-traffic area of the house, so we need it to be functional and beautiful in equal measure.
Before I had kids, I was one of those parents-to-be who thought I’d never let my living room become inundated with obnoxiously loud-coloured toys. How wrong I was! Fast-forward to becoming a parent – toys overflowed from every corner of our tiny home, and in the brightest shades of primary colours which contrasted so starkly with my otherwise neutral palette.
Those toys brought my kids so much joy, so of course I was happy, but a part of me felt overwhelmed by the visual clutter at the end of the day. I started looking for simple ways to balance the two worlds: a space to live and enjoy life (and this applies to other practical items like sports equipment, gaming consoles or work-from-home essentials), and a space that can look beautiful and evoke a state of calm.
Throughout this chapter you’ll find lots of easy, best-practice tips for decluttering everyday items. We also need to talk about dust. Because the living room often connects different areas of the home and people pass through so often, it can become a gathering place for dust. What’s more, furniture here like bookshelves, TV units and shelving have lots of nooks and crannies that can be hard to reach. Read on to find my best dusting tips and tricks, and ways to keep the dust at bay for longer.
Because the living room is so commonly used by all members of the household, everyone can take ownership. The easiest way to maintain it as a relaxing and pleasant space is to do a little bit each day and ensure the whole family is getting involved. Remember to always be kind to yourself and work around what’s achievable in your day-to-day life, as everyone’s routines and cleaning schedules will look a little different. Things as simple as packing away toys at the end of each night, or spot-vacuuming the room with a stick vacuum every day, can make the biggest difference.
Clean in 15
The living room is where the morning rush starts, when it’s often filled with toys, shoes, packed schoolbags and homework. It’s also where we relax in the afternoon and evenings — imagine more toys, shoes and snacks. This is a recipe for daily clutter that can snowball out of control.
The living room is a great area to share the workload within the family – kids can pack away their own toys and books, for example. In many open floor plans these two areas are close to each other, so it’s easy to tackle both at the same time. A simple daily routine is the best way to keep this area looking clean and tidy. It’s the small things that make a big difference!
Weekly Living Room Clean Checklist
Pack away electronics, remotes, blankets, toys, books and puzzles in your living
room, entry way and toy / games room
Open curtains and windows to air the room
Spot-clean chairs, couches and upholstery
Spot-clean carpet stains
Vacuum carpet and rugs
Mop floors
Clean up entry way
DIY Carpet and Rug Spot Cleaner
This spray will become your best friend when it comes to removing stains and spills at ground level. The acidity within the white vinegar helps cut through stains and deodorises, while the salt helps dry the stain and bring it to the surface. When cleaning carpets or rugs, always blot the stain, never rub, to avoid the spill travelling deeper into the carpet fibres. If you have thicker or more plush carpets or rugs, it’s even more important to blot and not rub stains.
You’ll need:
Spray bottle
1 cup water
¼ cup white vinegar
2 tbsp salt
4–6 drops essential oil (up to personal preference, as it’s for fragrance only – I like using
peppermint for this mix)
Microfibre cloth
How to:
In a spray bottle, mix water, white vinegar, salt and essential oil.
Shake well and spray on your carpet stains.
Blot with a microfibre cloth until the stain is lifted.
Always patch-test on a small section before use. You can also hire a professional carpet
cleaner annually to remove tough stains on your carpets and to remove any dust and dirt
from deep within the fibres.
THE DREAM CLEAN by Chantel Mila: Simple, Budget-Friendly, Eco-Friendly Ways to Make Your Home Beautiful, published by Pantera Press, is available from September 5, 2023, for $34.99.