Daily Household Chores are GOOD for You!

All the tasks of taking care of a home and family often seem never-ending. You have to do them over and over, no matter how tired you feel or busy you are with other responsibilities.

Yet there are benefits to doing daily household chores. Most of us would prefer tidy surroundings, and in fact they are good for our mental health. Clutter can be stressful. Research has indicated that doing household chores can help lower your risk of dementia.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has been collecting data through the American Time Use Survey about how much time people spend doing childcare, socializing, at paid work, or volunteering. Most people (86% of women, 71% of men) do some chores daily. Women spend on average 2 hours 42 minutes doing chores daily, while men spend on average 2 hours 12 minutes. People are more likely to do housework on weekends than on weekdays. The exception is food prep and cleanup, which is less common on weekends.

Here is a list of the top twelve chores and the average number of minutes spent on them weekly.

1 interior maintenance, repair, or decoration  136 minutes
2 childcare                                                       125 minutes
3 lawn and garden care                                    121 minutes
4 exterior maintenance, repair, or decoration  119 minutes
5 interior cleaning                                              89 minutes
6 laundry                                                            67 minutes
7 food preparation and cleanup                         62 minutes
8 phone calls, mail, or email                              61 minutes
9 helping children with homework                     57 minutes
10 grocery shopping                                          48 minutes
11 household management                               47 minutes
12 caring for animals and pets                          46 minutes

How do you compare?