Where Kiwi’s Spend Their Free Time

Why do we waste so much time when we have families? When we have better things to do?

Here are some interesting findings from Statistics NZ …

What does this tell us?

• We love mass media (lots of tv and phone time)
• We spend hours on housework
• And many people in NZ don’t have much time with kids

This may have been very different 100 years ago, but, it is pretty even now. Females (and definitely Mums) are doing a bit more at home like ironing & laundry and men are still doing more paid work.

Males and females both spend their time mainly with others. The girls spend a bit more time at home with others, while the blokes spend more time out of home (probably at work). Across the board kiwis spend 54% of their time with family.

High income earners can neglect their family. Maybe they love their jobs or maybe they work a bit too much. In addition to actual work people can feel compelled to hang out with their colleagues a bit more. Then after all of that they rush home and do the housework. They want some quality time with the partner and kids, but do their prioritise it?

Family time is equal regardless of our level of education. If we are a university professor or you dropped out in fifth form either way family is family and it’s a big part of life.

It’s not the high income earners how are most alone. If you work a lot or not at all you will have people around you. It’s the part time workers who are most alone.

Compared to Auckland University Psychology survey

The above graphics are from Statistics NZ. The school of Psychology at Auckland Uni has similar findings:

• New Zealanders worked on average 24-25 hours per week. They did on average, between 10-11 hours of housework and cooking per week, and spent roughly 13-14 hours looking after children. New Zealanders commuted an average of 5 hours per week
• In terms of leisure time, New Zealanders spent an average of 11 hours watching television, films and videos, between 1-2 hours playing computer games, and between 4-5 hours exercising.
• New Zealanders, on average also spent between 1-2 hours per week performing charitable activities.

In summary what will you change?

• Have a think about your priorities in life? Who do you want to spend your life with?
• What is stopping you?
• If you want more family time you could outsource your chores like your ironing, laundry, gardens, home cleaning, food delivery.
• Or what can you do to enjoy the jobs you do today?

Check out the stats: StatsNZ

AUTHOR

Daniel Howell is a social entrepreneur who believes in people over profit. He founded Easy Lifestyle because he is passionate about seeing Kiwis work to their strengths and make the world a better place for everyone around them