A recent survey sponsored by Mighty Putty revealed the reality of Honey-Do lists in American households. While 94% of married women surveyed maintain a Honey-Do list, respondents revealed that 78% of the tasks on these lists remain unfinished for some period of time.
Over one-third (37%) of women surveyed indicated that tasks stay on their list of unfinished household projects for weeks; another 25% said tasks linger for months; and 16% said it takes years for jobs to be checked off. (See Figure A.)
71% of women surveyed were likely to have between one and nine tasks on their Honey-Do list at any given time. While women ages 25-35 were more likely to indicate there were 10 to 15 tasks on their list, more experienced wives (ages 56-67) were more likely to have fewer than 5 tasks listed. Comments from respondents indicated that reducing the number of tasks or "requesting" the completion of one task at a time helped move projects along.
Tasks most likely to linger on the list for over six months included cleaning and organizing the attic/garage (40%), painting (39%) and repairs of wall cracks, drywall and dings (23%). When a task lingers on the Honey-Do list, 44% of women indicated they would typically end up doing the job themselves. Others let tasks remain undone indefinitely (20%) or called a professional after a few days (4%), a few weeks (13%), a few months (17%) or a few years (2%). One respondent simply gave up, saying, "After years of it...he now lives in Texas and I live in Kansas!"
Mighty Putty commissioned the research firm Market Reader Pro to execute this study of over 300 married American women ages 25 -- 65 in order to document the nature of common home projects that go undone.
Source: Nature's Pillows
