1 In 3 Brits Hardly Ever Complete Household Chore
London: 33 percent of Britain's population hardly ever clean their windows and nearly a quarter rarely clean the oven, a poll has revealed.
The study found that 24 percent of those polled spend two and a hours a day on household chores and 75 percent care about having a clean house.
But despite a household cleaning market valued at 1 billion pounds by Mintel, 28 percent admitted that their house was frequently messy.
Almost three in ten (27 percent) of Britain's households admit their windows hardly ever get cleaned although a third still use an old fashioned window cleaner - some 8.8 millions homes.
And while a third (33 percent) of the residents of Britain love to have a sparkling clean oven and hob, almost a quarter (23 percent) admitted to hardly ever cleaning it.
One in 20 have taken the services of a professional to do the job.
Four out of ten stay away from wearing shoes indoors to keep carpets clean, while three in ten use carpet shampoo at least once a year.
12 percent have shelled out money to have carpets and upholstery cleaned professionally.
16 percent people would consider a specialist cleaner or polish for their gadgets while 14 percent admit that they often face a problem with blocked sinks, plugs, toilets or drains in their home.
"For the most part, Brits are enthusiastic cleaners, but some jobs remain too much for even the most devoted cleaner," the Daily Mail quoted Richard Caines, Senior Household Care Analyst at Mintel, as saying.
"Cleaning the windows and oven top the least loved tasks, and the windows of more than a quarter of adults hardly ever get cleaned, suggesting the market for window cleaners is not realising its full potential.
"Carpet cleaners have been a star performer in the household cleaning products market, sales of carpet and upholstery cleaners did well between 2010 and 2011 boosted by product innovation seen from some major brands and an effort to look after carpets as opposed to buying new floor coverings," Caines said.
The research showed that the household polishes and specialist cleaning products market was worth 171 million pounds in 2011, growing at 16 percent between 2006 and 2011 and three percent between 2010 and 2011.
Furniture polish had spear headed the growth, increasing by 45 percent from 2006 to 2011, or 22 to 32 million pounds.
The sale of floor polish has sunk 33 percent over the same period though, from 12 million to 8 million pounds.
"Strong increases in the value of sales of furniture polishes and carpet cleaners suggest that consumers are willing to spend more money on products that help to protect and maintain the look of household items that are expensive for them to replace," Caines said.
"In contrast to the strong performance seen in furniture polishes, sales of floor polish have declined and those people with real wood floors that need polishing represent a small minority of households," he added.
