According to the Express, the one household chore that Brits hate the most is cleaning the oven. Think about what your oven goes through in a typical six month period: all that splashed fat from weekend grilled bacon, sauce from a Sunday roast, burned-on sugar from all those cupcakes it’s so fashionable to bake. If you’ve left it longer, it’s only going to be worse- and with overpowderingly strong chemicals, endless black stuff to scrub away, and the possibility of irritations and burns, it’s not surprising that no-one can stand the task, particularly in smaller kitchens that are harder to air out.
Cleaning windows is another much-hated job. Requiring climbing, ladders, and those little scrapy implements, cleaning windows is a time-consuming process that few can bring themselves to complete in those precious post-work or weekend leisure hours. Quite simply, for most of us who work full time, paying a professional for smear-free results seems like money well spent.
Household cleaning website DomesticCleaningTips.co.uk cites bathroom cleaning as a one of the most loathed cleaning jobs. No-one likes a mouldy shower or a whiffy toilet, but pulling hairs from drains, scrubbing at mildew and rubbing at the ring on the bath is something few of us relish. As for using the toilet brush and cleansing it afterwards, with that little pool of water which collects in the holder… well, let’s just say this is one eau de toilette that you don’t want to be wearing.
Deep-cleaning of any kind is onerous and annoying. While the likes of Buzzfeed are quick to share lots of tips for cleaning up at home, but when it comes to funny marks on the carpet, pet hairs, and making sure your stainless steel sink is spotless (apparently, the average kitchen sink is dirtier and contains more bacteria than the average bathroom)- it all just seems like hard work. With more of us working hours, and the demands of modern living putting pressure on us all, cleaning just isn’t at the top of most of our priority lists- admit it, you’d rather be watching Netflix in your downtime.