Time-poor WA families are shrugging off cost-of-living pressures to spend tens of thousands of dollars outsourcing housework.
Demand for third-party cleaning, cooking and laundry services is on the rise, with some households going without in other areas so they can offload household chores.
Research from Melbourne’s Ruthven Institute suggests the average Australian family spends more than $50,000 a year outsourcing chores, including hiring cleaners, child care, food preparation or delivery, laundry and ironing.
Long work hours and a desire to prioritise time with family are seen as the key drivers behind the trend.
Cleaner Co chief executive Stew Green said the South Perth company had its best-ever month in June, defying grim economic headwinds.
“With the notable cost-of-living increases I feared that our industry would have been one of the first things people cut from their regular expenses,” he said.
“This hasn’t been the case, evidently, with winter seeing higher growth than normal.
“I think people are being more conscious about what they do with their time.
“If you can save yourself three hours and pay to get a task completed, like the house clean, then you can focus on what you enjoy or be with your loved ones.”
The Laundry Lady chief executive Susan Toft said the business, which offers a laundry and ironing service, was planning an expansion in WA to keep up with demand.
“Demand has built steadily since we launched but we’ve seen an increase in (inquiries) the past three months and are about to expand our team there (WA) as we are reaching towards capacity,” she said.
“We currently have seven teams working in and around Perth, with three more coming on board shortly and more openings in some areas coming soon.”
The trend is not limited to WA. Jim’s Laundry Services, which was launched during COVID, has had a 300 per cent increase Australia-wide.
Founder Bill Cobanoglu chalked it up to people working a lot and prioritising family and leisure. He said households were prepared to give up luxuries and even essentials to pay for it.
I Hate Cooking founder Bek Daley has seen a “marked increase in demand” for the business’ in-home cooking service, while demand for meal-preparation services was growing every month.
She said clients opted to buy in-home-cooked meals to reduce their reliance on traditional meal delivery services.
Poppet’s Pantry co-founder Steve Hitchings says demand for the Nedlands meal service business had more than doubled in a year.
“We have definitely seen a lot more demand for our meal service recently,” he said.
“The meals really started to take off during the COVID lockdowns and have been increasing since by about 7 per cent each month.
“We produce frozen, high-quality chef-prepared meals which are popular with busy families and professionals, as well as the elderly.”