New research has revealed that retired Brits are often faced with 500 hours of household chores every year – the equivalent to 21 days a year or an unpaid part-time job.
Instead of relaxing, many over-55s are instead being weighed down with a seemingly endless list of jobs to do around the home.
Research by McCarthy & Stone, the UK’s leading developer and manager of later life communities, reveals that retirees are spending an average of 24 hours a week on household chores.
Cooking and meal prep takes, on average, 10 hours, seven hours is dedicated to cleaning, laundry eats into four hours while gardening and general home maintenance can take up to seven hours.
Reinvested, it’s the equivalent time taken to learn to pick-up a new language (600 hours) or develop the skills to play drums in a band (500 hours).
More adventurous Brits could even become a ski instructor (125 hours) or get a PADI Open Water Diver certificate (24 hours).
The most dreaded of the chores are the most commonplace – topping the list is cleaning (36%) closely followed by ironing (31%).
If they were taken off the daily agenda, a fifth of over-55s (22%) would spend more time with family or explore new places and travel (20%).
Hobbies like hiking (29%), catching up on TV (28%) and crafting (13%) would also be picked-up more readily.
Having time to learn something new is also on wish lists. One in 10 are keen to learn a new language, 23% want to spend more time in the garden, and 18% would take up meditation, yoga or Feng Shui. A more chilled 22% would take the time to simply ‘be’.
McCarthy & Stone provides on-site maintenance teams that can handle homeowners’ everyday household tasks.
The teams are increasing the scale of in-apartment services, tackling almost 10,000 hours of chores each month or 120,000 hours a year.
This includes in-apartment cleaning, communal garden management, preparing meals and laundry.
Chrissy Fice, Marketing Director at McCarthy & Stone, said: “McCarthy & Stone is focused on creating communities and ‘homes’ for people to enjoy.
“As part of this, we’ve increased the scale of our in-apartment services that can help with household chores and everyday tasks.
“This allows people to spend more time doing what they love – whether that’s socialising, staying active or discovering new passions.
“By taking care of the daily demands of running a home, we’re giving homeowners more freedom to enjoy a more fulfilling and independent later life.”
UK’s top ten time-stealing chores
1. Cooking and meal preparation – six hours per week
2. Cleaning (hoovering, bathrooms, dusting) – four hours per week
3. Gardening and outdoor upkeep – four hours per week
4. Home maintenance and repairs – four hours per week
5. Window cleaning and general upkeep – four hours per week
6. Pet care – four hours per week
7. Laundry and washing – three hours per week
8. Food shopping and errands – three hours per week
9. Household admin and organisation – three hours per week
10. Bins and recycling – one hour per week
For more information, visit https://www.mccarthyandstone.co.uk/
