American Families Do a Ton of Laundry — Literally

By Alan Wolf, YSN

When customers say they do a ton of laundry, they’re not kidding.

According to a recent survey by Whirlpool and OnePoll, the average American family goes through 2,184 pounds of laundry every year — about the weight of an adult black rhino.

Much of that can be attributed to children, who typically change outfits three times a day, leaving an average of six permanently stained clothes or household surfaces in their wake.

Of the 2,000 U.S. parents queried by OnePoll with kids aged 3 to 18, some 71 percent said they witness a daily “fashion show” as their children frequently change clothes, contributing to seven loads of laundry or more per week for nearly half of the respondents. And parents’ level of “mess stress” is only likely to rise now that summer is upon us.

To help ease the burden, children should be encouraged to help with household chores, says psychologist Richard Rende, Ph.D. Besides lending harried parents a hand with cleanup and meal prep, assigning youngsters household responsibilities can help them gain positive social, cognitive and physical benefits that will stay with them for the long term, he notes, while greatly improving the quality of family life.

From Whirlpool’s perspective, innovations like its new top load washer with 2-in-1 removable agitator can help families tackle the laundry onslaught, while connected appliances can be another way to help ease other seemingly endless household tasks.

“The way in which we do household chores is always changing, thanks to innovations making it easier and more efficient,” said Nelly Martinez, senior manager, Whirlpool brand. “Investing in smart appliances can help families streamline processes and give children an easy way to become involved, such as scanning a frozen food label barcode to send cooking instructions straight to the smart range or monitoring loads of laundry from a smartphone for their parents.”

Customers interested in gleaning more information on getting children involved in chores can visit Chore Club by Whirlpool at https://www.whirlpool.com/everydaycare/choreclub.

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