Many of the World's Richest People Still Wash Their Own Dishes – Why?

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - A survey of 65 of the world’s richest people found that they still perform household chores despite their ‘crazy rich’ status. According to the survey conducted by Forbes, many of the wealthy individuals engage in activities such as washing dishes, cooking, and grocery shopping.

With the wealth they possess, these global billionaires could certainly afford to pay for domestic staff to handle household tasks. However, this does not make them ‘allergic’ to doing household chores and other domestic tasks themselves.

More than a third of the billionaires said they routinely shop for groceries and take out the trash, while 40% cook and take their dogs for walks.

The only task that was less popular was washing clothes, which the survey found that only 8% of billionaires tended to do. There are many reasons why at least some members of super-rich families still do these simple tasks.

The founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, and one of the founders of Microsoft, Bill Gates, have spoken about their habit of washing dishes every night.

“Other people offer to help, but I like the way I wash dishes,” Gates said in a Reddit Q&A session in 2014.

For some people, such as real estate investor Charles Cohen, doing household chores is a way to relax outside of work.

The real estate mogul described activities such as grocery shopping as a good way to spend the weekend. Cohen said he grew up in the suburbs of Westchester, New York, with a housekeeper. He and his wife try to do more household chores, in part to set an example for their children.

This does not mean that he and his family live frugally. They have 16 hectares of land in Connecticut and a vineyard in France.

Another billionaire, who asked to remain anonymous, said he does everything from taking out the trash to washing his own clothes. He even washes and occasionally irons clothes because he is uncomfortable receiving personal services from others.