Taking the stress out of managing household chores

Shopping around for better utility prices, cleaning, and managing household finances are the top three most stressful household tasks according to research carried out for Zurich Insurance.

The survey carried out for Zurich asked over 1,000 people in Ireland about their most demanding ‘life admin’ chores and found that the most dreaded items on the to do list are: 

1. Ringing up utility companies to renegotiate a better price (like broadband, TV services)
2. Cleaning
3. Managing household finances
4. Sorting out insurance renewal
5. Household DIY and maintenance
6. Paying bills
7. Booking doctor and dentist appointments
8. Taking the car to the garage
9. Returning internet orders

The survey also asked people what task takes the longest to complete, revealing over a third of people spend most of their time cleaning. Meanwhile, 15 percent say household DIY and maintenance eats into their time the most while over 10 percent say shopping around for better utility prices takes the longest.

Fiona Dignan, Head of Personal Lines Underwriting at Zurich Insurance said: “It’s no secret there’s a struggle to manage our work life balance, which can make it difficult to find the time for all the "life admin" tasks we’re required to do, such as household chores.

“It’s always interesting to see how people feel about their life admin chores – and which ones they dread the most. Paying bills or organising appointments, while important, can be thankless tasks, so they make a perfect platform for procrastination.

"At Zurich, we want to help make people’s lives easier and take the stress out of managing household purchases such as insurance and sorting out renewals. You can use our website, zurich.ie, at a time that suits you to get an online quote, buy online or renew your car and home insurance at any time, while our new online customer portal – available to customers who buy a home or car insurance policy directly with Zurich – will help make life that bit easier.

“The MyZurich Insurance portal is rolling out to existing customers upon renewal this year where they will be able to easily manage their policies online at their own convenience, access all their insurance documents in one place, make changes to their policies and track the progress of their queries and claims. Hopefully sorting insurance will now be one more ‘to-do’ customers can easily tick off their list.”

“And remember, for all your insurance needs you can visit zurich.ie or talk to your broker. Your broker can offer you expert advice, help take away the burden of searching the market and handle claims for you.”

The survey also revealed that over one third of people feel they are just about staying on top of their to-do lists while a quarter say they are completely overwhelmed by theirs. Just over 10 percent say they do not see their to-do list as a burden and manage to complete all their tasks each week.

Meanwhile, the survey found that new working from home arrangements are making it easier for people to stay on top of their household chores. Forty percent say working from home, whether full-time or on a hybrid basis, has freed up their time to complete their to-do list, while just eight percent of people say it has made it harder for them to tick off their list. Thirty percent of respondents say they needed to take a day’s holiday from work just to catch-up on their admin with a further 40 percent saying they need ‘more free time in general’.

According to the survey, on average, around a quarter of people are dedicating four full days each year to just thinking about all the tasks they need to complete.