Yahoo Finance Relaxation costs working parents £13,000 a year
Exhausted working parents spend almost £13,000 a year in a bid to free up time to relax, research shows.
A survey of 2,000 working parents by Churchill Insurance found desperate Brits spend an average of £249 a week – or £12,948 a year – forking out for cleaners, ironing services, food deliveries and taxis.
But despite parents forking out for the extra home support, a third say there still simply isn’t enough time in the day to chill out.
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Four in five working parents find it difficult to find time to relax, with work demands, house maintenance and general life admin being cited as the main reasons for struggling to chill out.
Just one in five working parents said they always find time to put their feet up. Meanwhile, a third (30%) get less than two hours to themselves in a week.
The parents’ average working week is 11-and-a-half hours longer because of household chores and looking after kids, the survey found.
READ MORE: 10 low-stress, flexible jobs that are perfect for working parents
With such little spare time, it comes as no surprise that more than half (53%) of working parents agree that knowing they can rely on their insurance provider would give them one less thing to worry about.
A total of 68% of people say they worry about not spending time with loved ones as they are too busy,
Working parents said if they had more time they would spend it with their family and children (41%), reading or watching a film (26%), popping down the gym (24%) or with friends (21%).
READ MORE: Childcare Cost Means Working Parents Struggle
Earlier this year, a study by Co-operative Food suggested working parents get an average of just 90 minutes to themselves each day, with most of the day spent working or caring for their children.
