UK Cleaning Confessions Survey

It’s spring cleaning season, but it seems that not all of us are down for the task at hand. In fact, some of us won’t be doing any cleaning at all! We surveyed 350 UK residents and asked them about their deepest, darkest cleaning confessions. Here’s what we found out…

Most of us are very honest about our cleaning habits, with only 23% of us lying about how often we clean the home. It seems we’re a very honest bunch! Most us are also relatively indifferent about the cleaning process. 61% of us have neutral feelings towards cleaning. 18% of us absolutely hate it, and 15% of us love it! Many of us also admit that whilst we don’t particularly enjoy the task, we know it has to be done… and it’s a nice feeling when it’s all finished.

It’s 50/50 on the amount we clean our homes, with half of us thinking we clean enough, and the other half admitting we could be doing more. The master bedroom gets the least attention when it comes to cleaning, with 36% of us admitting it gets cleaned the least often. Considering we spend around 8 hours in this room every night, it’s surprising that we’re not more keen to clean it.

54% of us change our bedsheets on a weekly basis, while 34% of us opt for a fortnightly change. Fair enough – the experts say bedsheets only need changing once every two weeks. Any less than this and problems will occur, as the average human being produces 26 gallons of sweat in bed each year, creating the perfect environment for fungal cultures to flourish. For the 11% of us that change our sheets on a monthly basis (or even less), we really need to start considering our bedtime hygiene! And for the 1% of people that admit to changing them daily, that’s a real waste of time and fabric softener in our opinion…

Our kitchens get cleaned the most often (this is good news, as a kitchen sink contains 100,000 times more germs than a bathroom), closely followed by the living room. Our spare bedrooms get very little attention, along with our studies/home offices. But just because these rooms aren’t used as frequently, or don’t necessarily look dirty, doesn’t mean they’re not harbouring germs. In fact, the average office desk is home to 20,000 germs per square inch. That’s more germs than a toilet!

34% of us are just too busy to clean more often, and we seriously struggle to find time to whip out the duster. 21% of us are disheartened by unwilling family members that refuse to help out, while 14% of us find the task so boring, it puts us off. 8% of us are lucky enough to live in such large houses, that cleaning seems like an impossible task.

Dust is our biggest cleaning problem, with 70% of us battling it on a daily basis. Other cleaning problems, including condensation, stains and smells, don’t seem to bother us as much. Unsurprisingly, pet hair is a big issue amongst us. Around half of us clean our soft furnishings with a vacuum cleaner, while 17% of us chuck them in the washing machine. Steam cleaning is only favoured amongst 7% of us, which is surprising, considering it’s one of the most effective methods for removing stains and banishing germs. 5% of us will always use a professional service when it comes to our soft furnishings… and a grimy 14% of us never clean them at all.

When it comes to our blinds and curtains in particular, most of us only clean them as required. A vigilant 4% will clean our window dressings once a month, while an acceptable 17% undertake it every few months. The task of cleaning our blinds and curtains is very much overlooked, but we should really take it more seriously. Mould and mildew is very common around the window area, and blinds in the kitchen and bathroom are most likely to suffer from moisture damage.

Have you ever hired a cleaner? Apparently 35% of us have. The ones that undertake the chores themselves tend to do it one or twice a week. A dedicated 25% of us clean every day, while a very honest 4% admit to rarely cleaning. And for the 1% that NEVER clean… shame on you!

Many of us consider it the dirtiest part of the home, but in fact, our toilet seats are cleaner than the kitchen sink. Specialists recommend cleaning every day, with a thorough clean including bleach once a week. Around 80% of us clean our toilets once a week, and only a grimy 2% of us do it on a monthly basis.

Through to the kitchen, and it seems that 50% of us hardly ever clean the oven. High heat does kill most germs and bacteria, of course, but the grease build up in your oven will impact on performance, and make it harder to clean further down the line. Knobs and buttons on your oven will also harbour many germs. The biggest source of harmful germs in your home is the kitchen sponge, which means there’s a huge risk of cross contamination. Be sure to swap your sponge on a regular basis or give it a thorough soak in bleach.

A cheeky 26% of us only clean the bits you can see… It looks like there’ll be lots of dirt and grime hiding behind furniture and under rugs! 4% admit that we don’t do any cleaning at all, leaving the task to our other halves. Other cleaning confessions include avoiding the windows, not cleaning the floor, and forgetting to empty the bins and recycling regularly. Some of us have even admitted to spraying furniture polish so it smells like we’ve dusted!

Good hygiene at home is one of the most effective ways to protect your family’s health. A clean home means fewer allergies, fewer infections, and therefore fewer diseases. There’s a proven correlation between cleaning activity and physical health. Cleaning and tidying has also been proven to lower stress and anxiety levels.

How clean is your home? Do you have any other cleaning confessions, or perhaps some tips and tricks for maintaining a clean and tidy household? Be sure to let us know by tweeting us @InteriorGoods.

*Interior Goods Direct surveyed 348 respondents in the UK.

Sources:

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/homehygiene/Pages/how-clean-is-your-home.aspx

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/saudia-davis/regular-cleaning-is-good-_b_4283365.html

http://www.ivos.co.uk/germ.htm

http://www.canopyfancleaning.co.uk/12-amazing-germ-facts/12/

http://uk.businessinsider.com/dirtiest-object-home-bacteria-kitchen-sponge-2015-12?r=US&IR=T