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Here’s One Way to Get Your Family to Help With Chores

Written by

Megan Johnson
Megan Johnson
Megan Johnson is a reporter in Boston. She got her start at the Boston Herald, where commenters would leave sweet messages like “Megan Johnson is just awful.” Now, she's a contributor to publications like People Magazine, Trulia and Architectural Digest.
published May 3, 2019
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Want the clock to move a little faster as you scrub the tub? Just turn on some tunes. 

We’ve always known that music is proven to provide positive benefits and affects when it comes to mood and emotions, productivity and focus, and learning and memory. But for something as mundane as scrubbing floors or washing dishes to become an enjoyable task—well, that’s a significant leap.

According to a new survey conducted by Jelmar, 80 percent of Americans say they combine listening to music while they clean. However, the thumping beats aren’t just helping the minutes of scrubbing go by faster. 94 percent of these designated musical cleaners report positive feelings associated with listening to music while cleaning. 66% even say music makes their cleaning tasks more enjoyable. If that’s the case, we definitely need to pump up the volume.

According to the survey, parents are 85% more likely to be musical cleaners, vs. 77% of non-parents. They’re also 92% more likely under the age of 40, vs. 65% of those who are 40-plus. Half (52%) of musical cleaners say they either have special music designated for cleaning, or that music is important to their cleaning routine. The effects also seen to have a contagious vibe, too: Musical cleaner parents are significantly more likely than non-parents to report that music entices their children and/or others in their household to help with cleaning (33% and 10%, respectively).

And when it comes to which cleaning task musical cleaners say is best done while jamming out to music, nearly all musical cleaners said they had one chore that was most enjoyably done with music: 67% said cleaning tasks in the kitchen, while 66% said cleaning floors.

Jelmar even went as far as creating Spotify playlists especially for cleaning. Check out “Lock in that Shine: Cleaning with Latin Music,” “Pristine Home: Cleaning with Pop Music,” and a variety of other playlists ranging from throwback songs, country music, and one filled with cleaning-themed tunes. 

Jelmar commissioned the survey using a sample of 1051 American adults. 844 respondents identified themselves as people who liked to listen to music while they clean their homes.

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Cleaning