How often do people around the world clean everyday items?
From a gentle swipe of a microfiber cloth to a full-on assault with a bristly scrubber, we all set out to win daily cleaning battles. But which items do people feel need a daily scrub down, and which ones can go longer without a clean?
A recent YouGov survey asked consumers across 17 international markets h ow often they clean a range of everyday items, accessories, equipment and corners in their homes.
Data shows that people’s habits fall in two buckets: those who clean an item at a preferred regularity, and those who don’t clean items ever at all.
The Clean brigade - items that people clean often
Survey data reveals that respondents across markets are most likely to clean their kitchen sinks daily (51%), followed by bathroom/toilet sink (27%) and toilet (27%).
More than half of all respondents clean their toilets weekly (51%), followed by bathroom/toilet sinks (48%) and shower units (40%).
How much attention do people pay to cleaning consumer electronics items they own? Most tend to them weekly:
- Mobiles (30%)
- Television (28%)
- Laptop computers (21%)
- Televisions (28%)
Other electronics that people tend to clean weekly include earphones (18%) and headphones (14%).
Open kitchen shelves are most likely to be tended to weekly (25%) and furniture gets cleaning attention from more than a third of respondents (34%) weekly.
What about items people don’t clean up often? Among items that are most likely cleaned every few months, our data spotlights freezers (29%), refrigerators (26%), kitchen cupboards (25%) and wardrobes (25%).
The No Clean Zone - items that people don’t clean at all
Nearly one in ten respondents across the 17 markets surveyed say they never clean their headphones (8%), accessories like cases and remotes (8%), and earphones (7%).
Brits are the most likely across markets to never clean their wardrobes (16%) and accessories (12%), while both Brits (12%) and Americans (12%) lead in never cleaning their headphones.
Brits (10%) and Hong Kongers (10%) are tied in never cleaning their mobile phones, and the latter leads (12%) across markets in never cleaning their earphones.
Singaporeans lead in depriving a number of items of any cleaning - televisions (12%), freezers (12%), shower units (11%), refrigerators (9%) and open kitchen shelves (9%) as well as toilets (6%) and bathrooms/toilet sinks (6%).
Americans are the most likely across markets to never clean their laptop computers (9%), kitchen cupboards (10%) and dishwasher (10%).
In India, respondents are most likely to avoid cleaning their earphones (7%), followed by shower units (6%).
In the UAE, gaming devices (5%) are most neglected.
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Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from
nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 17 markets with sample sizes varying between 503 and 2004 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in March 2024. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.
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