Consumers have become obsessed with cleaning while spending more time at home, according to Samsung’s latest Australians@HOME research.
The study explores the common trends in homes around the country and the behaviours and attitudes which continue to evolve.
“Our daily routines have changed over the last 12 months and our homes will never be the same,” Samsung Australia vice president of consumer electronics, Jeremy Senior said.
“For most, home is a safe haven; it’s where we stay connected, our classroom, our office and our entertainment hub. Our latest research reveals Australians have become more obsessed with cleaning and decluttering. We have updated our appliances to be more efficient and with our change in daily routines we have adopted ‘chore snacking’ – doing smaller more frequent cleans rather than saving-up lots of tasks for the weekend.
“As a house-proud nation, seven in 10 have said that having a cleaner home provides a barrier of comfort and safety as we declutter and dial up cleaning their spaces, surfaces and air in the home.”
Over the last year, one quarter of Australians have changed their cleaning routine as they adapt to more time living and working at home. Almost one-third of Australians now consider themselves ‘obsessed’ with cleaning (29%), increasing to 44% for young families and 43% among Millennials.
The research also found that 34% of Australians are doing a ‘deep clean’ at least weekly and over half (64%) are cleaning around the home daily. Having a clean home also makes three in four Australians feel less stressed, while seven in 10 say a clean home makes them feel safe.
Stress has been reduced from tireless chores thanks to ‘chore-snacking’ with 60% admitting they are doing smaller, more frequent cleans of the home each day. To support their new ‘chore-snacking’ routine, 38% of Australians have purchased a new appliance to make cleaning easier.
Working from home has also allowed over half of Australians to catch up on chores and feel more in control; with 22% washing dishes, 18% vacuuming and 24% admitting to doing more laundry during work hours or lunchbreaks.
With ‘chore snacking’ alleviating time pressure at the weekend, a quarter of Australians are turning to the kitchen as a form of relaxation, while mealtimes have become increasingly important as a time to reconnect with loved ones (43%, higher for young families at 60%).
Further, 61% of Australians also admitted they would rather have a good home cooked meal than go out for dinner, and two in five said they are cooking more meals from scratch in the past 12 months – higher amongst young families (50%).
More than one-third (34%) of Australians say they watch TV to share time together with others, and 69% prefer to watch movies with others – cementing our desire to connect with family and friends in the home.
The research also revealed the average household has three TVs, and while the primary purpose of the living room TV is to spend time with others, almost half (46%) will retreat to the bedroom to watch TV away from others.