Well it would appear that most of us are certainly trying to be – or at least are in training for it! 

A recent survey released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that too many of us are doing unpaid domestic work.  You might ask “when did we ever get paid for it”, but why are we spending so much time doing it?

The survey asked 70,000 local women between 35 and 64 years how much unpaid domestic work they undertook each week.  Of these women an astounding 70% did at least 15 hours and a staggering 20% did over 30 hours, that’s almost the equivalent of a full time job!

This is a curious result; haven’t the kids left home, aren’t we reducing the amount of hours we spend at work?  Are we choosing to spend our “free” time doing domestic duties rather than enjoying life?

Come on ladies, what’s happening here?

It’s time we had a long hard look at what our priorities are?  I’m tipping that separating whites from coloured is not high on the list!  What happened to all those leisure activities we say “one day I’m going to ……”, why isn’t that day today?

 Of course the reality is that domestic duties still need to be done, but do we need to them or could we be a bit more savvy in our approach to domestic duties?

Here are 8 tips that could help you reduce your domestic hours:

1. If you have a huge list of domestic projects you want to complete, write the down, better still schedule a time in your calendar to do them (but be realistic about time), once they are scheduled in your calendar you can forget about them until the due date arrives.

2. Only try to undertake one task at a time, and allocate the time for it and make it a regular thing?  For example each Monday -paying bills (even set up auto payments so you have even less paper to manage), Tuesday – make personal appointments, Saturday – washing and so on.

3. Choose 10 meals you enjoy and rotate them for a few weeks.  Make a standard grocery list to prepare those meals and just take the same list each time you visit the supermarket.  Better still, do your grocery shopping online and save your grocery list so that each time you need supplies you can submit the same order. 

4. Keep a supply of greeting cards on hand – just grab a few whenever you are buying something from a store that sells them – it is easier to find ones you like when you aren’t looking for a specific card.  You can even buy greeting cards on line. Once a month over a glass of wine on a Sunday afternoon, write out all cards for the next month, address, and stamp them and put them in your bag ready to post. 

5. Reduce the amount of times you handle things, for example fill the dishwasher as soon as you’ve finished your meal, action your mail as soon as you open it, empty your Inbox at the end of each day, fold clothes as soon as they come off the line – in other words only handle things once.

6. Always carry a note book jot down all those websites, stores or activities you want to check out.  Staple in newspaper clippings or anything we need to know for later. No more random pieces of papers in the bottom of your bag or all over your desk.

7. Designate departure points in your home, even a departure bag – everything that needs to leave the home automatically gets put it the bag or designated departure point, nothing gets forgotten.

8. Outsourcing, why not send your laundry and ironing out – it’s actually a lot cheaper than you think?, Hire a cleaner, perhaps have a couple of meals delivered each week, ie Lite & Easy, or  go all out and have your very own Personal Concierge/Lifestyle Manager/Professional Organiser.