Families spend 73 hours a week on domestic chores

Families spend an astonishing 73 hours a week on domestic chores which equates to the equivalent of £25,000 a year worth of work.

The results from a survey carried out by Cornhill Direct reveal that 65 per cent of the time we’re awake is spent on jobs around the house.

The survey of 1000 families found that once you’ve had children your workload doubles; in households containing only couples, the average value of the domestic work done was a lot less at £11,300.
 
Commenting on the survey, personal finance expert and TV presenter Jasmine Birtles, from moneymagpie.com, said: “We all know what hard work it can be keeping on top of the DIY, making sure the house is clean, the kids are fed and the washing is done but now we can really see how much all this free work is really worth.”

She explained: “Every time someone does the washing up, helps out a family member with a bit of babysitting, or picks up someone's dirty socks from the bathroom floor – they're contributing to their family's household economy. If we didn't do it we'd have to pay someone else to and by placing a monetary value on the work it’s possible to demonstrate more clearly how much we all do for our families for free.”

According to the survey, the most hated job is ironing with four in ten saying they dislike it the most.

But surprisingly, as a nation we prefer vacuuming to gardening.  And proving that the battle of the sexes is alive and well, 74% of the women reckon they do the most around the house but only 48% of their men agreed. 

The biggest surprise is that only 12% of families claimed to have ever paid for babysitting – either parents are staying in most of the time, or the family support network is alive and well.

Do you want to work out who the most valuable member of your family is? Use the household economy calculator to find out.