Sunday’s are no longer a day of rest, with the typical Brit carrying out a list of up to 15 jobs. Researchers found that one in ten claim Sundays now, in fact, the busiest day of the week with cleaning, ironing and washing topping the list of laborious tasks.
The study found two thirds of adults regard Sundays as a day to ‘catch-up’ on everything that gets left the rest of the week.
In fact, more people spend Sundays catching up on domestic chores than they do spending quality time with friends and family.
Beth McDonald at Chef & Brewer, who conducted the poll, said:
“We feared Sundays had lost their mantle as the day of rest for Brits, but we found it startling that the majority of adults were planning to spend Easter Sunday working on household chores rather than relaxing with friends and family.
“As much as we have domestic jobs to do, it’s important to spend time with the family and try to make the most of our days off.
Sitting down together for Sunday lunch is a traditionally British thing to do, so it would be a shame to see this fall by the wayside in favour of housework.”
For one in ten, the Sunday jobs include changing towels, watering plants and paying online bills.
Nearly a quarter spend their day of rest sorting out the recycling, loading and unloading the dishwasher, vacuuming and hanging out washing, while washing the car, packing school bags, walking the dog and food shopping were all listed as jobs to do on a Sunday.
An organised one in ten even write a to-do list for their week ahead.
A third of the 2000 adults polled said shops opening on Sundays has made life easier for them, and 54% said they feel bogged down by the amount of jobs they are faced with on a weekend – four in ten said they get annoyed as they never have chance to wind down.
A third said tidying and domestic chores take up the most time on a Sunday, but a quarter blamed the mammoth task of preparing the Sunday lunch.
In fact, more than one in five said that cooking a traditional roast dinner was very stressful.
The poll found a quarter of British adults always sit down to a proper Sunday lunch, and 30% tuck in most weeks- but one in ten said only tend to indulge in a Sunday roast during the winter months.
Beth McDonald, spokeswoman for Chef & Brewer, continued:
“This research shows that if it wasn’t for weekends and in particular Sundays, we would all fall behind with domestic chores and admin duties.
“That combined with cooking a traditional roast for the whole family can take up most of the day.
“It’s important to use weekends to wind down and relax, so if you can keep on top of all the menial jobs throughout the week that may free up some of your precious time.
“Also eating Sunday lunch out will help take some of the pressure off rather than slaving away in the kitchen and Easter Sunday should definitely be a day when Brits take time out to spend time with family.”
TOP 50 SUNDAY CHORES
- Wash-up
- Generally tidy-up
- Put washing in the machine
- Eat a roast dinner
- Dry-up
- Hang out washing either indoors or outdoors
- Vacuum
- Load the dishwasher
- Iron
- Visit a supermarket
- Sort out recycling
- Unload the dishwasher
- Tidy the garden
- Clean the bathroom
- Small DIY jobs i.e. change light-bulbs, put up pictures etc
- Change the bedding
- Take the bins out
- Dust and polish
- Ring any relatives for a catch-up
- Walk the dog
- Drive to visit relatives
- Wash the car
- Weeding the garden
- Exercise
- Mow the lawn
- Pay bills online
- Change the towels
- Write to do list for the week ahead
- Pack school bags for Monday morning
- Water house plants
- Bake cakes
- Liaise with your partner over plans for the week ahead
- Prepare packed lunches
- Help children with homework
- Go to church of other place of worship
- Catch up on work
- Fill the car up with petrol
- Pack PE Kits
- Visit the tip
- Log on to work emails
- Last minute dash to convenience store for forget ton items
- Cook and freeze meals for the week
- Car maintenance
- Clean out pet bedding (hamsters, rabbits etc)
- Fill out school paperwork
- Watch kids play sport
- Order online food shop
- Polish school shoes
- Ferry kids to parties
- Get hair done
