A WOMAN whose home was a disgusting mess has gained thousands of followers on TikTok after sharing clips of her giving it a make-over. Ashleigh Ward, 23, from Wiltshire, tackled the mounds of rubbish lining the floors of her home after realising she’d hit ‘rock bottom’ in January due to her anxiety and depression. Ashleigh claims […]
A WOMAN whose home was a disgusting mess has gained thousands of followers on TikTok after sharing clips of her giving it a make-over.
Ashleigh Ward, 23, from Wiltshire, tackled the mounds of rubbish lining the floors of her home after realising she’d hit ‘rock bottom’ in January due to her anxiety and depression.
Ashleigh claims that cleaning the house was often a daunting task as her mental health sometimes left her too exhausted.
With the help of her partner Ben Stone, the 23-year-old set about whipping her house into shape and documenting her progress on TikTok as part of her ‘new life journey’.
While many have applauded Ashleigh for being an inspiration, some trolls have branded her “vile” and “disgusting” for “using mental health as an excuse” for her previously messy home.
The videos, which have gained thousands of views, show the couple tackling their bathroom and kitchen – bagging up left-over food and scraping grime off the bathroom mirror.
Since sharing clips on social media, Ashleigh claims she turned down offers from cleaning companies for a free tidy-up, as she wanted to show her progress in a ‘relatable way’.
Ashleigh said: “The reason I started the TikTok is because I went through a very long time of feeling very alone, and I realised that if I could post what things look like when I’m bad, I could show how I make it better again
“I knew that I wanted to start cleaning up the house. January is always a rougher month for me, and that tends to be when the house gets the way that it does.
“I knew I’d hit rock bottom and I needed to do something about it. I looked around the house and thought ‘Where do I start?’ It’s absolutely overwhelming and it’d put me off for a while.
“Sometimes you’ll have days where there’s a little light behind the clouds and it was on one of those days that I decided to make a start on it.”
She’s completed the bathroom and has already spent nine hours on the kitchen but it isn’t finished yet. Next she plans on tackling the living room.
Ashleigh said: “When I’m in the headspace where I’m at a low point, it’s very difficult to pull myself out of that.
“You do go day-to-day trying to get out of bed and function normally. I work full-time so a lot of my energy is just taken up by going into work and going home.
“Some people don’t understand how a house can be this way. They’ll say ‘It’s not hard, just wash up each evening’ but sometimes it’s not that simple.
“It’s difficult some days, I’ll get home from work and I can hardly move.
“There’ll be some evenings where Ben and I will sit there in silence because we’re both mentally exhausted.”
Since embarking on her ‘new life journey’, Ashleigh has found an appreciative audience among those who also suffer from poor mental health.
Ashleigh said: “There’s so many people who will sit and scroll through TikTok, and they’ll see these perfect properties.
“I don’t want people to be sitting at home feeling like they have no-one to relate to.
“That’s my only goal – relatable content for people who suffer with mental health.
“I got a lot of responses from people who said they didn’t feel alone, that their houses looked like mine and their friends mocked them for it. That spurred me to keep going.
“They’re motivating me as well. I didn’t want to continue cleaning the kitchen but I knew I’d promised to upload a video about it.
“It really is a mental health community I’m trying to form, where I’m showing we all need to stick together and work through it.
“It’s been really lovely to see the response.”
Despite the overwhelming support she’s received, Ashleigh has had to contend with vile abuse from trolls who have blasted her for ‘using mental health as an excuse’.
Ashleigh said: “I have had a lot of negative messages. I’ve been called vile, disgusting and had people say they hope I never reproduce.
“I’ve been told that if I have kids, they’re going to find out where I live and tell social services. I’ve had to delete so many comments. But the nice comments have vastly swamped the bad comments.
“The world is in such a toxic state, it’s really important to be kind to people with mental health conditions.”
Ashleigh has received huge amounts of support since uploading her first video to TikTok, in which she filmed the state of each room in her house before cleaning commenced.
Ashleigh said: “Ben is so supportive of me, he does help where he can.
“We try and support each other whenever we can as we like to try and stay united as a team to beat our mental health issues.
“My parents are really supportive, and they looked into mental health when they realised I suffered, which I thought was really sweet.
“My friends are giving me daily support with loving and comforting messages.
“When my first video came out, I had friends offering to come up for the weekend to help out.
“I’ve also had cleaning companies reaching out offering to clean it for free. The response has been fantastic.
“Although it’s hard work and I’d like to take the easy option, it’s important for me to show that relatable content and show the process bit by bit.
“I want to show that it’s possible to do this on your own, even if you can’t afford a cleaner.”
