By Marie Haaland // SWNS
New York office - 646-873-7565 / usnews@swns.com
NEWS COPY w/ VIDEO & INFOGRAPHIC
From pretending to be sick, doing a bad job on purpose or inventing a work task, new research shows the majority of chore-doing Americans have given their partner one of these excuses to get out of doing housework.
Of those who do housework, two-thirds (67 percent) admitted that they and/or their partner have done a poor job in the hope of getting out of doing it again.
Results found men were more likely than women to be guilty of making an effort to get out of their share of the chores (28 percent vs. 21 percent) – and men were also shown to be more willing to take extreme measures to avoid chores.
Over a third (37 percent) of chore-doing respondents would be willing to give up alcohol forever if it meant they would never have to do housework again and a fifth would completely give up sex, with men more likely to do either.
The survey of 2,000 Americans who live with a partner, split evenly between men and women, found that chores can put a major strain on the relationship.
Of the 70 percent who say either they or their partner (or both) do chores around the house, the vast majority have suffered disagreements about the housework.
Conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Yelp, the survey found that 80 percent of chore-doing respondents have disagreements about the housework – and a fifth of those say they disagree often.
The most common disagreements were found to be when to do housework (53 percent), how to do it (50 percent) and who should do it (48 percent).
That’s in addition to arguments over whether or not to hire someone (39 percent) and how good of a job the hired person is doing (32 percent).
Results showed 61 percent of chore-doing respondents even admitted to having to re-clean the home again after a partner did.
It’s not only the work itself that puts a strain on relationships, but the time commitment involved in keeping a house clean.
Between scrubbing the bathroom, weeding the yard and doing laundry, Americans are working overtime: The average chore-doing respondent can spend up to 690 hours a year on housework.
This comes out to a little over 13 hours per week. With respondents estimating their time to be worth an average of $64 per hour, those who do their own chores are spending over $44,000 worth of their own time on housework, per year.
"Household responsibilities can be a huge time suck, so it’s not surprising that couples often argue about the strain that can put on a relationship,” said Yelp Trend Expert Tara Lewis. “At Yelp, we recently saw a spike in Americans outsourcing cleaning. People are busy and over-scheduled and looking for ways to add hours to their day.”
When splitting the housework, results found that some stereotypes hold true: Women were much more likely than men to say they did the majority of the housework (41 percent vs. 17 percent).
And they were less likely to trust their partner to thoroughly clean the house (67 percent vs. 76 percent).
Results revealed that a third of respondents have outsourced housework – and over a quarter (28 percent) haven’t but would like to. Of those who have, 62 percent think that outsourcing chores has helped their relationship with their significant other.
And men were more likely to think outsourcing chores helped their relationship (66 percent vs. 58 percent).
Outsourcing chores has given respondents and their partner more time in the day (47 percent), allowed them to do more fun things (46 percent) and eased some of their stress (42 percent).
When asked about what keeps them from outsourcing housework, three in 10 said they feel guilty over spending money, while 40 percent said the difficulty of finding the right person for the task kept them from doing so.
“Our research found that the biggest barrier to outsourcing household chores surprisingly was not the cost, but the difficulty of finding the right person for the job,” said Lewis. “Yelp's Request a Quote feature lets you compare costs for up to 10 businesses, to find the best match for your lifestyle and needs; by outsourcing tasks around the house, you not only give yourself time back to do something fun with your partner, but you have the added benefit of coming home to a space that you love.”
THE MOST HATED CHORES ARE . . .
1. Washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen
2. Doing laundry
3. Cleaning the bathroom (sink, toilet, shower, etc.)
4. Sweeping/vacuuming
5. Cooking meals and shopping for groceries
BENEFITS OF OUTSOURCING HOUSEWORK . . .
1. Gives my partner and I more time in the day
2. Allows us to do more fun things
3. Eases some of our stress
4. Helps us to stop arguing about housework
WHAT WOULD PEOPLE BE WILLING TO DO, TO NEVER DO HOUSEWORK AGAIN?
1. Give up alcohol
2. Add an hour of time to their commute each day
3. Spend a week in jail
4. Give up their smartphone
5. Shave their head
