UK Cleaning Trends

More than a third of people pay for a window cleaner on a regular basis, while a similar number clean their own windows, and a quarter of householders admit their windows hardly get cleaned.

4 million Britons go on a domestic blitz: Even Kim Woodburn and Aggie MacKenzie, the stars of television's How Clean is your House? would be impressed by how much Britain's most domestically challenged households are cleaning up their acts. A new survey by market analysts at Mintel has revealed that four million house-proud Britons spend five hours or more each day cleaning their homes and doing other household chores. Just one in six people spend less than an hour each day on domestic duties, according to the survey of 1,500 households.

The survey reveals that mounting domestic duties such as cleaning, washing and ironing mean that nearly one in ten - eight per cent - of people spend a large part of their day on household chores. Only four per cent spend no time at all keeping the house or garden tidy, while just one in 20 people said they used paid help, such as a cleaner, once or twice a week or even more often.

More than a third of people pay for a window cleaner on a regular basis, while a similar number clean their own windows, and a quarter of householders admit their windows hardly get cleaned. The survey also reveals that the most hated jobs around the home are cleaning the oven, washing windows and getting rid of stains on carpets and upholstery. A spokeswoman for Mintel said: "During the current, more challenging economic environment, paying for windows to be cleaned professionally is one expense that people might have been expected to have cut back on in order to save money. "Nevertheless, more than a third of people still say their windows are cleaned regularly by a window cleaner.

"Over three quarters of adults really care about the house being clean and six in ten derive satisfaction from their housework. Retired people are most concerned about the cleanliness of their homes. "Some 33 million adults claim to spend a lot or a fair amount of time cleaning and tidying their homes. "Only 1.6 million adults do not get involved in cleaning at all, and even fewer claim not to tidy up. "Women are more likely to spend two hours or more on an average weekday on household chores, and men an hour or less. "Spending a lot of time on household chores also shows a bias towards over-45s."

Isobel Robertson, the national chairwoman of the Scottish Women's Rural Institutes, admitted she was surprised at the results of the survey. She said: "I would have thought that spending five hours a day on domestic chores would have been quite normal many years ago when there were fewer women in full-time employment and their job was to look after the home. "But with both men and women leading such busy lives these days and with all the modern gadgets available I do find it surprising that so many people can devote that amount of time to housework every day.

"A lot of our members would happily admit that sometimes housework has to go on the back burner simply because they have so many more interesting things to do. "However, I can also see that people really enjoy cleaning and do it because it gives them a sense of satisfaction and fulfilment. "I think it's important that if people are devoting that amount of time to housework, they are doing it because they enjoy doing it and not because they feel pressurised into having a perfectly pristine home." She added: "There is nothing wrong just keeping on top of chores in the kitchen and bathroom every day and giving the rest of the house a blitz once a week. "Household chores are still important to people even in these modern times."