REVEALED: Brits carry out almost 20,000 life admin tasks a year, new research shows

The average Brit carries out over an enormous 19,656 life admin tasks in their lifetime, resulting in mountains of forms and paperwork.

A study of 2,000 adults found the average person will carry out 312 jobs every year, such as shopping around for home and car insurance, sorting credit card bills and paying television licenses.

And for those polled in Wales, 18 per cent are spending three to four hours on life-admin each week.

But alarmingly 23 per cent in the region often forget life admin tasks altogether – failing to complete everything by the required date and leaving 44 per cent incurring charges or interest as a result.

Confusion about what to do is cited as the main reason these duties are forgotten by Brits, but a quarter of those in the UK simply ‘can’t be bothered’ to tend to them.

The research was commissioned by Utility Warehouse, who say they’re on a mission to save people both time and money on their household bills.

Stuart Burnett, Co-CEO of Utility Warehouse, said: “Life admin is one of those endless headaches, and something we all wish we could live without.

“It’s no surprise households are feeling exhausted, with the average person carrying out more than 300 different tasks each year just to stay on top of everything. Whether it’s paying bills, booking appointments or shopping around in a bid to save money, life-admin is taking over our lives.”

The most common tasks to be done during a typical year include responding to personal emails (52 per cent) and booking various appointments such as the dentist or doctors (51 per cent).

Others consist of paying electricity bills (45 per cent), setting up Broadband (43 per cent) and even posting letters (41 per cent).

For almost a third of those polled in Wales, their list of life admin tasks is never ending while 22 per cent struggle to complete it all.

What’s more, 29 per cent of the region admit to having a ‘bury my head in the sand’ approach when it comes to these tedious to-dos.

And those in Wales are not alone. 34 per cent of Brits say they constantly feel pressure to keep on top of everything despite 27 per cent admitting they are ‘extremely organised’.

Planning and booking holidays (27 per cent), shopping around for car insurance (25 per cent) and filing tax returns (22 per cent) are among the top things Brits deem take the longest amount of time.

For 33 per cent, knowing they have a lot of admin to get through makes them feel stressed whereas 29 per cent get overwhelmed and a further 21 per cent simply feel fed up.

Nonetheless, nearly a fifth actively enjoy doing life admin tasks but 55 per cent say they can only just about tolerate them.

More than half (57 per cent) are responsible for the majority of life admin tasks in their household while a mere 17 per cent say this is something their partner deals with.

When quizzed on their end goals, the OnePoll study found 48 per cent of Brits want to feel more organised with their day-to-day chores while 47 per cent are setting out to save money.

Nearly four in 10 (39 per cent) are after a good deal and 35 per cent just want to tick things off the to-do-list.

Stuart Burnett added: “We understand just how important it is to save as much money as possible at the moment – it’s no wonder that this pressure is making people feel overwhelmed and l fed up by the increased admin of doing so.

“We don’t believe saving money should cause such a headache, which is why we’ve built our business around saving people time as well as money. We’ll never be able to escape life admin completely, but if you’re not having to worry about price comparisons, lost passwords and trawling through mounds of paperwork each month, you can get on with the things that really matter in life.”