Canadian Tire Study Shows 8 in 10 Canadians Think the May
Long Weekend is Ideal for Spring Chores*
Canadians who are doing spring chores this long weekend will
spend an average of nine hours tackling them, with gardening and
landscaping, window cleaning and getting organized topping the
to-do lists
TORONTO, May 14, 2013 /CNW/ - With the late arrival of
spring, Canadians are thinking more about their spring to-do lists
than relaxing this upcoming long weekend. According to a recent
Ipsos Reid Public Affairs survey commissioned by Canadian Tire, 82%
of Canadians surveyed agree that the May long weekend is the ideal
time to tackle spring chores. This weekend Canadians are rolling up
their sleeves, with those planning on doing spring chores spending
an average of nine hours checking off their to-do lists. The top
long weekend chores for these Canadians are gardening and
landscaping (65%), window cleaning (59%) and storing and organizing
seasonal items (57%).
In true Canadian style, of those who plan to tackle spring
chores, four in ten (38%) say they're actually looking forward to
these seasonal jobs and 85% are motivated to get started. In
addition, half of those doing chores plan to spend time with their
families as they complete jobs around the home.
"The warm weather is finally here, it's great to see that
Canadians are excited to take on their home to-do lists this long
weekend - and to do it with a smile," said David DeMelo, Category Business Manager,
Canadian Tire. "The survey results show that Canadians want to get
their homes into shape so that they can spend time relaxing with
their families and friends the rest of the season. From creating
the perfect lawn to performing repairs around the home, Canadians
know that they can rely on Canadian Tire to provide the tools and
resources they need to check off every task on their long weekend
to-do list."
Other interesting survey facts about Canadians and their long
weekend chores:
- After a particularly long winter, it's no surprise that
Manitoba and Saskatchewan respondents who plan on doing
spring chores over the long weekend are the most motivated to get
started (94% vs. 85% nationally)
- Albertans are most likely to do these chores - 60% of people
living in the province plan on spending their May long weekend
tackling spring chores (compared to 52% nationally)
- Quebecers who plan on doing spring chores over the long weekend
will spend the most time - on average 10 hours compared to nine
hours nationally, with 45% of Quebec respondents looking forward to
completing the seasonal jobs
Tips and tricks from Canadian Tire when completing spring
chores:
Gardening and landscaping. Prepare your soil before you
start to garden. Good soil is the foundation for gardening
so make sure you know what kind of soil you have to work with.
Prepare your lawn for the season by removing any debris and
leftover crust that's settled on your lawn from the winter. Add
some fertilizer, such as CIL Golfgreen's 1 Step Lawn Makeover, to
help ensure you get a nice thick lawn.
Tidying and organizing your garage. Do some spring
cleaning in your tool chest and bag. Take out and examine all of
your tools to make sure they are working properly and consider
replacing the ones that aren't. Invest in double duty products to
keep clutter at bay such as Canadian Tire's Mastercraft Metal Base
Cabinet, which can be used to store your tools and serve as a work
space.
Tackle small fixes at home: Look around the home,
identify and repair any smaller issues before they become bigger
problems. Performing tasks such as repairing the driveway, removing
debris from eaves troughs and downspouts and replacing caulking on
windows will help save you time and money down the road.
Car detailing and maintenance: After undergoing a winter
of hard driving, it's important to clean off salt and road grime,
check brakes and fluids, and change oil to a warm weather formula.
Try Autoglym's Aqua Wax Kit, designed for wet auto exteriors to
help leave a brilliant shine on your car.
Get the products you need to tackle your spring
chores at Canadian Tire. Visit www.canadiantire.ca and for more
tips and tricks and check out Canadian Tire's digital catalogue,
The Canadian Way http://catalogue.canadiantire.ca/.
About Canadian Tire Corporation
Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited (TSX:CTC.a) (TSX:CTC) is a
Family of Companies that includes Canadian Tire Retail, Partsource,
Gas+, FGL Sports (Sport Chek, Hockey Experts, Sports Experts,
National Sports, Intersport and Atmosphere), Mark's and Canadian
Tire Financial Services. With more than 1,700 retail and
gasoline outlets from coast-to-coast, our primary retail business
categories - Automotive, Living, Fixing, Playing and Apparel - are
supported and strengthened by our Financial Services division. Over
85,000 people are employed across the Canadian Tire enterprise,
which was founded in 1922 and remains one of Canada's most recognized and trusted brands.
For more information, visit Corp.CanadianTire.ca.
*These are some of the findings of two Ipsos Reid surveys
conducted between April 18th to 24th,
2013, and between May 7th to 8th,
2013 on behalf of Canadian Tire. For the first survey, a
sample of 1,143 Canadians from Ipsos' Canadian online panel was
interviewed and the second survey yielded a sample of 1,092
Canadians. The precision of Ipsos online surveys is measured using
a credibility interval. In this case, the first survey is
accurate to within +/- 3.3 percentage points and the second survey
is accurate to within +/- 3.4 percentage points had all Canadians
been surveyed.
SOURCE CANADIAN TIRE CORPORATION, LIMITED