Britons spend as much as nearly five hours a week keeping their homes clean, a survey found. Kitchens are cleaned most often, while doing the oven and windows are the least popular jobs. In total, they spend just over PS1 billion a year on products to keep the dirt at bay -- almost PS40 per household. Market analyst Mintel found a clear division of labour. While the average Briton spends 4 hours, 40 minutes cleaning their home each week, men spend just 3 hours, 53 minutes compared to 5 hours, 25 minutes for women. And while seven in ten women say they do most of the cleaning, this falls to four in ten for men. Confirming many parents' feelings, only one in five adult children and over living at their parents' home helps with cleaning chores, with children under 18 doing even less. Last year, the household cleaning market was worth PS1.06 billion, which equates to annual spending of PS39.89 per household. Those looking for the cleanest homes in the country should head to Scotland, where people spend an average of five fours, 6 minutes, which is closely followed by East and West Midlands at five hours, 1 minute. In comparison, the least number of hours spent in cleaning is spent in the southeast/East Anglia at four hours, 18 minutes. The southwest and Wales stand at four hours, 46 minutes, the northwest four hours, 44 minutes, and Yorkshire and the Humber four hours, 21 minutes. According to Richard Caines, Mintel's senior household care analyst, men still lag women in the household cleaning stakes and spend on average an hour and a half less time cleaning their home, suggesting an opportunity for a campaign to encourage more cleaning by men to helpredressthis imbalance. The number of households that need cleaning is continuing to grow, but pressure on time from increasingly busy lives limits the number of hours people are willing or able to spend cleaning their homes. This means the market will see an increasing focus on easy-to-use, but effective hard surface cleaners and cleaning equipment. Such products can help encourage more cleaning to be done in less time, but as well as focusing on more convenient products, cleaning brands can also inject an element of fun into campaigns through encouraging a more shared approach that involves the whole family. This will also help to address the gender imbalance and get older children to make more of a contribution to cleaning. In which area do people spend the most time cleaning their home each week?
Scotland. Wales. Yorkshire and the Humber. East and West Midlands.