No household chore is glamorous! But while some are relatively enjoyable, others (such as cleaning the toilet or removing mould—no thank you!) are pretty disgusting.
And we got curious: What are the most hated household chores in the United Kingdom? Are there common themes? Or does everyone have their own preferences when it comes to cleaning?
To answer these questions, we took to the internet and found a recent Reddit discussion.
In the Reddit thread, adults from the UK shared their disdain for various domestic duties, shedding light on the frustrations of maintaining a home.
Join us as we explore the most detested household chores in the UK—the ones we just can’t stand—and give you cleaning hacks to make them a little bit easier.
1. Never-Ending Chores
Of all the comments on the Reddit post, the one with the most upvotes sums up our main issue and frustration with cleaning: it never ends. The user anonoaw stated, “All of them would be fine if they didn’t always somehow need doing again 0.8274 seconds after I finish them.”
From laundry to kitchen cleaning, the cycle of chores seems never-ending, leaving homeowners in a perpetual state of cleanliness-induced déjà vu.
“Do the laundry? There’s immediately something in the basket again. Clean the kitchen? Cool, now I need to cook and make dinner again. Hoover? My daughter drops a biscuit and gets crumbs everywhere.”
Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do to stop our homes getting dirty again after cleaning. However, sticking to a cleaning schedule can make things easier, while investing in new cleaning innovations and self-cleaning appliances can lower your workload.
2. Kitchen Cleaning
It appears that the kitchen is another battleground for many adults. One user humorously lamented, “Nobody told me that being an adult would be mostly cleaning the kitchen!” The ongoing battle with dirty dishes, cooking messes, and tidying up is shared by many.
And it isn’t just the ongoing kitchen cleaning that is hated. On another Reddit feed, one user commented that their most hated chore was “cleaning the oven. Not a frequent one, but it’s a pain in the ass.”
A survey by Tombola suggests that many other UK adults agree with this user, with over one-third of participants voting for cleaning the oven as the worst household chore.
If you really can’t stand the thought of cleaning your oven, professional oven-cleaning services are available in the UK.
However, our tried-and-tested oven-cleaning method that uses a bicarbonate of soda cleaning paste makes light work of oven cleaning. We also have several other oven cleaning hacks that make this detested chore a little easier.
3. Putting on New Sheets
Putting new sheets on the bed and replacing the duvet cover emerged as another despised task, according to the Reddit feed.
Interestingly, most users don’t mention stripping the bed and laundering the dirty sheets—the seemingly simple act of putting on fresh sheets is the cause of frustration.
The duvet cover is a particular bug-bear. “I always do the bottom sheet and pillowcases and conveniently forget to do the duvet,” writes one user.
Another user commented, “I’ve even watched vids of people putting their duvet covers on in seconds with ‘special pre-folding’ and ‘magical corner holding’, and I still end up literally crawling inside to push the corners in properly!”
If you also hate this particular task, one user shared a brilliant hack you can use. “The game changer is to have a top sheet between you and the duvet—you don’t need to wash the duvet cover nearly as often, just two sheets and the pillowcases, and no wrangling the duvet cover every week (or however often you wash the bedclothes),” they commented.
4. Putting Away Clothes
A hatred for putting away clean laundry doesn’t only apply to bedsheets—many Reddit users wrote that they hate putting clothes away after they’ve been washed.
The laundry chore takes on new dimensions when dealing with kids, as one user explained: “Such a ballache when you have a kid, and you get a million items in a load.”
For many people, the clothes that never find their way back into drawers and wardrobes accumulate on a bedroom chair.
This “clothes chair” might seem like a fantastic temporary solution, but it can end up being an eyesore.
We fortunately have some fantastic alternatives to your laundry chair, from hanging hooks to hampers, baskets, storage boxes, and functional furniture.
Another user explains how simply organising your drawers can make putting laundry away a quicker and easier task. “My drawers are item-specific, so I can clump stuff the same together,” they said. “When I fold clothes, I stack them in these groupings and then just lump the whole pile in its drawer.”
5. Gardening
Contrary to the perception of gardening as a pleasurable activity, the user pomegranate2012 paints a different picture. “People do gardening FOR PLEASURE. I’m bored to tears within minutes,” they wrote.
The comment has received over 230 upvotes, so it is clear that other homeowners also struggle with this chore.
The ongoing aspect of gardening seems to be the main issue among homeowners. “Worse stuff grows year after year,” says one user. “It’s exhausting.”
Another complaint is that it takes up the few sunny days the UK gets each year. “Oh, you want to go out because it’s a sunny day?” they commented. “Don’t be absurd. This is your only chance to mow the grass.”
The only way to eliminate the need for gardening is to move into a house without outside space. You can also think of redesigning your garden so that it is easier to care for.
This doesn’t necessarily mean removing all greenery. B&Q suggests using low-maintenance flowers, timed watering systems, raised flower beds, and gravel gardens to make an easy-to-care-for garden that still looks beautiful.
6. Bathroom Cleaning
Finally, a predictable result: cleaning the bathroom emerges as a common source of dread. The user millyloui went as far as stating that “hate does not even begin to describe how I feel about the job.”
The combination of scrubbing, disinfecting, and general bathroom maintenance earns this chore a top spot on the list of despised tasks.
Unsurprisingly, cleaning the toilet seems to be the main source of hatred. “It’s disgusting!” exclaims one user.
It was the third most hated chore in the Tombola survey, voted for by 10% of participants. According to a survey reported in the Express, cleaning the residue around the toilet is what people dislike most about this household chore.
Another common frustration is removing limescale, while others simply don’t like the smell of bathroom cleaning products.
A great solution to the latter is to use homemade cleaning products from bicarbonate of soda or vinegar, which we teach you to use in our bathroom cleaning guide.
Hannah has a passion for cleaning. She worked her way around Australia by cleaning hostels in exchange for free accommodation and used her cleaning skills to bag a job as a chalet host for a luxury ski company in France.
