Clogged sinks, bins piled high, and unwashed plates. Don’t worry: if your kitchen is the source of endless arguments, boffins have proved you’re not alone.
Housework is the issue most likely to cause of arguments among housemates, a new survey has revealed.
One in three people say it’s caused tension in their kitchen.
Research carried out by the energy company E.ON asked over 2,000 people to list their their top ten causes of household disputes.
Lights or heating left on ranks second with 22% putting it in their top ten, emptying the bins is the third worst offence at 21%, and dirty crockery came fourth at 19%.
“Nobody wants to take the bins out,” one disgruntled fresher complained to York Vision.
“The rubbish rises higher and higher each day. It’s almost a competition to see who breaks first and gets fed up, and sorts it out.”
Letting food go off also regularly causes quarrels, the survey shows. “The milk situation needs to be sorted,” one Halifax student said.
“We have pints and pints of different brand milk cartons rotting at different rates,” she said: “This is chaos.”
Only one in seven people have regular arguments over their house temperature, and who’s allowed to hog the TV.
Next time a row breaks out over the soup that’s exploded in the microwave or the energy being wasted, feel reassured: it’s more than likely going on next door as well.
The full list
- Cleaning the house (34%)
- Leaving the lights or heating switched on (22%)
- Taking the rubbish out (21%)
- Leaving the washing up for others to do (19%)
- Wasting energy (18%)
- Letting food go off (18%)
- Not replacing household essentials when they run out (18%)
- The household temperature (15%)
- Hogging the TV (15%)
- Leaving things on standby or plugged in (12%)