2019 ACI National Cleaning Survey Stats on Laundry:
- 77% of People Frequently Read Tag Instructions Before Washing Clothes
- 52% Tend to Wash Clothes in Cold Water
Laundry is America’s favorite cleaning task, according to the American Cleaning Institute’s (ACI) 2019 National Cleaning Survey.
Nearly a quarter of respondents to the survey, conducted by Wakefield Research on behalf of ACI, picked laundry as the cleaning task they enjoyed doing most. Other items at the top of the list included cleaning countertops (21%), vacuuming (21%) and doing dishes (17%).
“It’s never been easier to do a load of laundry,” said Brian Sansoni, ACI Senior Vice President of Communications. “Today’s fabric care products are innovatively designed to tackle just about any laundry-related chore you can think of.”
Fabric Care Instructions
Many Americans consult product labels for advice on how to care for their clothes, although not all the time:
- 35 percent always read fabric care instructions on tags before washing their clothes
- 42 percent sometimes read the instructions
- 23 percent rarely or never read the instructions.
When it comes to caring for your clothes, don’t guess. Read product labels to get the best possible results, wash after wash. If looking at tags makes your head spin, use ACI’s fabric care symbol guide to help you decipher the symbols.
Main Wash Cycle Temperatures
More Americans are turning to cold water as their temperature setting of choice – 52 percent use cold water half the time or more for their main wash cycle. Thirty-two percent tend to use warm water and only 14 percent tend to use hot water.
This is a good thing because 90 percent of energy that a washing machine uses goes towards heating water, so washing in cold saves energy. Cold water also protects clothes from fading, shrinking or bleeding and prevents some stains – such as makeup and blood – from becoming permanent.
Thanks to advances in detergent technology, there are stain-removing enzymes that actually work better in cold water. And by washing clothes in larger, cold water loads, you can lighten your chore load.
For all the benefits of washing clothes in cold water, visit ACI’s Cold Water Saves website.
To view more of the ACI Cleaning Survey results, click here.
Find additional cleaning statistics and tips on ACI’s website and blog.
The ACI Cleaning Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research (www.wakefieldresearch.com) among 1,000 nationally representative U.S. adults, ages 18+, with an oversample of 500 Millennials, between March 7 and March 14, 2019, using an email invitation and an online survey. For the interviews conducted in this particular study, the chances are 95 in 100 that a survey result does not vary, plus or minus, by more than 3.1 percentage points for the nationally representative sample.
The American Cleaning Institute® (ACI – www.cleaninginstitute.org) is the Home of the U.S. Cleaning Products Industry® and represents the $60 billion U.S. cleaning product supply chain. ACI members include the manufacturers and formulators of soaps, detergents, and general cleaning products used in household, commercial, industrial and institutional settings; companies that supply ingredients and finished packaging for these products; and chemical distributors. ACI serves the growth and innovation of the U.S. cleaning products industry by advancing the health and quality of life of people and protecting our planet. ACI achieves this through a continuous commitment to sound science and being a credible voice for the cleaning products industry.