Cleaning and Mental Health (Survey)

The typical American spends over 240 hours each year on interior cleaning, laundry, and household management, according to the U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics and the latest American Time Use Survey data. But how does all this cleaning and tidying make us feel?

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To find out, we surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults and asked them a series of questions about their home cleaning habits, the chores they enjoy the most, and which chores leave them feeling more relaxed…or even more stressed than before.

Key Findings:

• Over three quarters (76.20%) of people say cleaning their home makes them feel less stressed, however, more than one in nine (11.50%) say that they feel more stressed after completing chores around the home.

• Over four fifths (82.50%) of adults in the US feel guilt or shame when their home isn’t clean, and half (50.1%) of people have avoided inviting family or friends to their home because it isn't clean.

• More than a quarter (28.90%) of Americans say seeing the cleaner homes of influencers and others on social media negatively impacts their mental health.

• The kitchen is the most therapeutic room to clean according to our survey, with over three quarters (77.70%) of US adults saying they feel less stressed once they’ve cleaned their kitchen.

Do you feel less stressed with a clean home?

The results of our survey found that over three quarters (76.20%) of people say cleaning their home makes them feel less stressed, with more than half (51.60%) of our respondents saying they feel “much less stressed” after cleaning their home.

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However, for a sizable proportion of the population, cleaning their home makes them feel more stressed than before. Data showed that for more than one in nine (11.50%) U.S. adults, cleaning their home makes them feel more stressed, with almost one in 20 (4.60%) respondents saying they feel “much more stressed” after cleaning their home.

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Between genders, women are the most likely to feel less stress as a result of cleaning their home (78.50%) compared to men (72.75%). However, nearly one in six (14.75%) of men that responded to our survey said they feel more stressed after cleaning their home, compared to less than one in ten women (9.33%).

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People over age 54 are the most likely to feel less stressed as a result of cleaning their homes, with 82.69% of respondents over 54 saying they feel less stressed after cleaning their home.

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People under 25 are the most likely to feel more stressed after cleaning their home, with more than one in five (22.68%) respondents aged under 25 saying they feel more stressed after cleaning their home. 

Which rooms are the least stressful to clean?

According to our respondents, the kitchen is the most therapeutic room to clean, with over three quarters (77.70%) of U.S. adults surveyed saying they feel less stressed once they’ve cleaned their kitchen. 

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Bathrooms are the second most therapeutic rooms to clean (73.40%), followed by the living room (73.00%).

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Cleaning the garage, however, is the most stressful room for Americans to clean. Over one in six (16.20%) of our respondents report they actually feel more stressed after cleaning their garage.

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Cleaning out a laundry room is the second most stressful room to clean, with 14.10% of adults saying they feel more stressed after cleaning their laundry room. Cleaning a basement (13.10%) is the third most stressful chore to complete according to our respondents.

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The rooms that leave men feeling less stressed upon completion are the kitchen (71.25%), bedroom (70.75%), and living room (69.50%). In comparison, the rooms that leave women the least stressed after cleaning them are the kitchen (82.00%), bathroom (78.00%), and living room (75.33%).

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Results of our survey also revealed the rooms that leave men and women feeling more stressed after cleaning them. 

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Data showed cleaning the garage (21.25%), basement (19.25%), and bathroom (18.50%) are the most likely to leave men feeling more stressed after they’ve finished. For women, cleaning the garage (12.83%), laundry room (11.84%), and loft (10.00%) leaves them feeling more stressed than they were beforehand.

Feeling guilty when your home isn’t clean?

Of the 1,000 adults surveyed, over four fifths (82.50%) said they feel some form of guilt or shame when their home isn’t clean. Results showed more than half (50.1%) of our respondents have avoided inviting family or friends to their home because it isn't clean, suggesting they were worried about what their friends and family might think of them and their household.

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While some people might avoid inviting others over due to the cleanliness of their homes, others see this as an opportunity and reason to clean their home.

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Our data found almost a third (31%) of U.S. adults say they only clean their home when they are expecting visitors, with more than one in ten (10.10%) saying they “only ever” clean their home when visitors are expected.

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Men are the most likely to leave cleaning their homes to when visitors are expected. Over a third (33.25%) of men admit they typically only clean when visitors are expected, with more than one in nine (11.25%) saying cleaning before visitors arrive is the “only ever” time they clean their home.

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In addition to judging our homes personally, for many Americans, we also judge ourselves and our cleanliness based on the cleaning habits of others. Our survey found nearly half (49.90%) of U.S. adults admit to feeling guilty and/or jealous when they visit someone's home and it is cleaner than their own.

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This feeling of guilt and/or jealousy is most prevalent in women, with 51.00% of female respondents saying they have felt this way, compared to 48.25% of male respondents to our survey.

Does social media have an impact on how you clean your home?

Based on the results of our survey, more than a quarter (28.90%) of U.S. adults feel seeing the cleaner homes of influencers and others on social media has negatively impacted their mental health.

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On average, two in five (40%)respondents under the age of 35 feel seeing the cleaner homes of other people and influencers on social media negatively impacts their mental health. Results further show that 41.24% of under 25s and 38.76% of those aged 25 to 34 feeling this way.

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Men (29.25%) are slightly more likely than women (28.67%) to feel seeing the cleaner homes of influencers and others on social media negatively impacted their mental health.

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As a result of the house cleaning habits they see from others on social media, over a third (34.30%) of U.S. adults say they have changed their own cleaning habits, techniques or products.

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Nearly two in five men (39%) say they have changed the ways they clean their homes after seeing how other people clean theirs on social media. In comparison, less than a third (31.17%) of women agreed with this statement.

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An average of 43.32% of under 45s say they have changed their cleaning habits, techniques or products after seeing how influencers and others on social media clean their homes. Results showing that those aged 35 to 44 are the most likely (45.73%) to have changed the ways they clean after seeing something on social media.

Chores that we love and hate, or love to hate

According to the results of our survey, there are certain chores we actively look to put off doing, with dusting the least favored chore we have to do around the home. 

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Of the 1,000 people surveyed nearly four fifths (79.70%) admitted they will put off dusting their homes for as long as they can. The second and third most put off chores being cleaning windows (78.50%) and clearing out the fridge / freezer (72.40%).

For men, the most put off home cleaning tasks are dusting (80.75%), cleaning windows (78.50%), and clearing out the fridge / freezer (73.50%). For women, the results are quite similar, dusting (79.00%) is the most commonly put off cleaning task, followed by cleaning windows (78.50%), and deep cleaning appliances (73.17%).

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At the other end of the scale, the least put off cleaning tasks are taking out trash (58.00%), wiping down countertops (54.20%) and laundering clothes (46.40%).

Tasks that we find oddly satisfying

Clearly, there are plenty of tasks we like to avoid doing and put off for as long as possible, however, according to our survey there are many chores that we find “oddly satisfying” to complete.

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The most popular “oddly satisfying” chore around the home is doing the laundry, with 35.10% of American adults saying they find doing their laundry the most “oddly” satisfying task to complete in the home.

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The second and third most satisfying chores are organizing the fridge (32.90%) and vacuuming carpets (31.50%), with washing dishes (30.40%) and reorganizing cupboards (27.40%) rounding off the five most "oddly" satisfying chores.

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Methodology:

To examine the impact that cleaning the home can have on our mental health and the chores that have the biggest impact on how we feel, we surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults using the PollFish survey platform. Responses were collected between July 11th, 2023, and July 12th, 2023, with respondents made up of: Men (40%) and Women (60%), with an age break down of 18 - 24 (9.70%), 25 - 34 (20.90%), 35 - 44 (29.30%), 45 - 54 (19.30%),  > 54 (20.80%).