close up of soap suds in laundry machine

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 percent), vacuuming (21 percent) and doing dishes (17 percent).

“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.”

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 garment care symbol guide to help you decipher the symbols.

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.