National Cleaning Day – 19 March, 2014 #NationalCleaningDay

~ Agata @BarkTime

FAMILIES URGED

TO DO THEIR SHARE OF THE CLEANING

Housework report launched to celebrate National Cleaning Day – 19 March, 2014

NCD-LogoParents and children are being encouraged to share out the household chores equally, as a new report reveals it’s often just one person who ends up doing the lion’s share.

For example the average mum spends a staggering 12 hours a week cleaning up after her children, according to the research.

Naturally, these hours reduce as children grow older, but even in households where the youngest child is 17 or over, mums still spend more than seven hours a week picking up their children’s mess.

Age of youngest child                          Hours per week mum spends cleaning

0-3                                                            12

4-6                                                            10

7-10                                                           8

11-13                                                          8.5

14-16                                                         9

17+                                                             7

Researchers found that after a gruelling day, 74% of mums spend a huge chunk of their evening putting toys away, wiping down the kitchen, washing up dishes and sorting out clothes which have been left on the floor. Time-consuming chores such as emptying the bath and sink of toys before wiping the porcelain clean also added to their labour.

The report was commissioned by Vileda to launch the UK’s first ever ‘National Cleaning Day’ on 19th March, a day on which the brand is encouraging everyone around the country to pick up their mops, brooms and cloths and help out a little around the home. After all, the report found that 83% of mums said they regularly feel like they are the only member of the family to clean up after everyone.

Stains from drinks or dirty marks on walls or floors are also a regular bug-bear for the nation’s mums, according to the report. 85% of mums said they have days where they feel like all they do is clean up after the kids, with 70% admitting they regularly row with their children about it.

Yesterday Vileda spokesperson Lindsey Taylor said: “National Cleaning Day is about everyone putting a little sparkle into their home and sharing the workload. It would be understandable if it was just mums of very young children who have to spend the majority of their evenings cleaning, but the report shows it carries on even when the kids are old enough to be helping out.”

But it’s not just children mums have to clean up after as they will also spend two hours a week tidying up their partner’s mess, whether it’s washing clothes or cleaning dishes and the majority (64%) admitted this has often led to arguments.

Eight in ten mums said they wish their partner made more effort to help out with chores around the home. Only 6% of mums said their partner did more housework than them, 37% said it is split 50/50, while 57% said their partner made little or no contribution to keeping the house clean and tidy.

Top cleaning jobs mums spend their time on:

  1. Washing clothes (71%)
  2. Washing dishes (63%)
  3. Cleaning the kitchen (55%)
  4. Putting toys away (53%)
  5. Making the beds (52%)
  6. Picking up clothes from bedroom floor (48%)
  7. Tidying bedrooms (48%)
  8. Cleaning carpets or floors (48%)
  9. Cleaning dirty marks from the sink or bath (42%)
  10. Wiping dirty marks from the walls (32%)

Lindsey added: “On the 19th March we’d like everyone to pick at least one job and offer to help out. This could be vacuuming the whole house, or even just washing up after dinner – but it will give mum or whoever normally does the cleaning, a little break.”

“Vileda has devised a whole host of cleaning tips and advice aimed at making cleaning easier, not just for National Cleaning Day, but throughout the year. Visit our Facebook, Twitter or Blog for further information and keep an eye out for some great competitions throughout the day.”

The Vileda twitter account (@ViledaUK) will be hosting a 24-hour tweet-line where anyone can tweet a cleaning related question and receive help and advice.

42 thoughts on “National Cleaning Day – 19 March, 2014 #NationalCleaningDay”

  4. Hi, Agata. THanks for sharing this. I didn’t even know there’s a day for this. I don’t do my share in household chores since we have helpers to do that, but I sometimes organize stuff in my room. I hope it counts

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  7. great post and i agree why should mom’s do all the household chores why cant men and children help the mom …
    this national cleaning day is such a great idea i never heard of this before 🙂

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  10. Awww!! Such interesting post. I def am going to teach discipline my future children to do some house chores 😉 Thanks for sharing xx

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  12. If I asked the rest of the family to do it, it would never get done… but then as a SATM it’s my job, they work all day so I don’t mind.

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  17. Wow! This is like news to me! Seriously! I mean, people now really need a national cleaning day 🙁 I don’t know why I am feeling sad to hear this 🙁

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  21. These are interesting statistics. There’s no reason though why older children can’t help doing the dishes, cleaning their rooms, tidying up after themselves etc.

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  26. I hate housework with a passion, and no-one could accuse me of having a pristine home (I tidy and clean, but with three young children, including 2 toddlers, nothing stays tidy for long!). My 8 year old has recently taken it upon himself to make the beds and he likes to hoover, so he does that several times a week instead of me.

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  29. This is so true, I have 4 children from 7-14 and i seem to spend most of my time cleaning, this is especialy true on the weekend, if everyone pulled their weight a bit more it would give us all more time to spend as a family.

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    1. I find that most of the time they do it wrong and I only have to re-do it again
      Do you clean after your kids cleaned something already or just leave it, or asked them to do it again?

      Reply

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