A recent survey by Arm & Hammer found that Americans spend on average 23.6 hours each month of housework. That’s almost a 24 hour day every month, more than one hour every weekday. What if you had an extra hour every weekday? What could you do with that time?

Get fit

The World Health Organization says we need 150 – 300 minutes each week of cardio and a couple of strength training sessions a week. If you don’t do your own house cleaning, you can easily fit in a daily walk, bike ride, yoga class, or trip to the gym.

Gaining that time to exercise can help you live longer, with a better quality of life and far less chance of living with chronic disease. You’ll provide a good example for your kids, especially if you involve them in exercise by taking family walks, bike rides, or family dance parties. If you take your dog with you on your walks, you’ll give your pooch a longer, healthier life, too.

Earn more

Nearly half of all Americans have a side hustle, and most spend about 25 hours a month on that side gig. Coincidentally, that’s just about the amount of time you can free up by hiring a professional cleaning service. The average income from these side hustles, according to a survey by Self.Inc, is just under $900 a month, with some people making much more.

If there’s something you love to do more than you love to clean house, chances are good that you can earn more than enough to cover the cost of hiring a professional cleaning service.

Spend more time with the people you love

A 1999 report from the Council of Economic Advisors found that parents had less time to spend with kids — 14% — in recent years. This was before the pandemic, and many families have been able to spend more time together lately. But as we go back to work and school, that family time is beginning to shrink again.

Would you rather have more play time than spend that time scrubbing? Even if you don’t have kids, you can probably think of people you’d like to hang out with more than you do…if only you had the time.

Take up a hobby

Studies show that people who spend time engaging in satisfying non-work activities have less stress, less anxiety, and less tendency toward depression. Unless cleaning is your hobby, you would probably find that your mental health improves when you spend more time in creative pursuits.

Some of the research on this subject focused on artistic hobbies like painting or woodwork, but hobbies like baking, gardening, playing games, and stargazing have the same positive effects. It’s a matter of taking time on a regular basis to do something that brings you joy.

Volunteer

Helping others has also been shown to improve our health and well being, yet the average American spend just two hours a week volunteering. Obviously, formal volunteer work is not the only way that we help others, but you might be surprised to find out how satisfying it can be to volunteer at a soup kitchen, for your favorite local political candidate, or in school or hospital programs.

At A Beautiful Day cleaning we believe in giving back to the community. Bringing our cleaning technicians in to take care of your basic house cleaning could free up time you could spend making a difference in your community.