Molly Maid Survey Reveals Majority of Homeowners Won't Spring Clean

Cleaning Company Exposes America's Dirty Little Secrets, Shares Spring Cleaning Tips

News provided by

Mar 26, 2014, 12:50 ET

ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 26, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- It's officially spring, and while conventional wisdom suggests most Americans will spring clean their homes, that's just not true. Molly Maid, who has cleaned the nation's homes for 30 years, surveyed more than 2,000 homeowners and found that fewer than half of the respondents participate in an annual spring cleaning.

The survey about house cleaning habits revealed America's disdain for the chore. Rather than clean their home, 93 percent of respondents would prefer to do anything else. In fact, 44 percent of respondents would rather speak in front of a large group – generally, the No. 1 fear of the majority of people – and 30 percent would opt for a six-hour car ride with their in-laws.

The survey also discovered:

80 percent of respondents indicated women do the majority of home cleaning
Cleaning the bathroom is despised by 63 percent of those surveyed
Organizing clothing is considered the most important cleaning task by 44 percent of participants
37 percent of respondents change their bed sheets only once per month

"Despite America's overall displeasure with cleaning, spring cleaning doesn't have to be so terrible," said Molly Maid President Meg Roberts.

Below are five tips from Molly Maid to help make spring cleaning easier this year:

Clear Clutter. Concentrate on clearing and organizing clutter. This will eliminate a source of stress when looking for misplaced items.
Use the Ultimate Cleaning Tool. Microfiber cloths eliminate up to 99 percent of bacteria – which is about three times as effective as traditional cleaning cloths.
Try this for Easy Toilet Cleaning. For tough toilet stains, drop two Polident dissolving tablets into the bowl to remove hard water and rust stains, then flush.
Disinfect the Garbage. Remove the bag and sprinkle baking powder along the bottom before adding two inches of warm water to the container. Swish the mixture around. Finish by wiping down the sides and rinsing with clean water. Let it air dry upside down.
Make it a Family Affair. Cleaning should not be one person's responsibility. Here's a link to our free, kid's chore chart templates: http://www.mollymaid.com/kids-chore-chart.aspx.

For more ideas, visit our house cleaning checklist online.

About Molly Maid
Molly Maid, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., is one of three service companies under Service Brands International. The residential cleaning franchise cleaned more than 1.6 million homes last year alone. Molly Maid was founded in 1979 and began franchising in 1984. Currently, more than 450 Molly Maid units are operating in the United States alone, with an additional 200 operating throughout Puerto Rico, Canada, Japan, England and Portugal. Molly Maid has consistently ranked high in Entrepreneur magazine's Franchise 500 rankings and has been the recipient of numerous awards for entrepreneurialism, software innovation and humanitarian causes.