Buying, Renting or Moving Australians Lose 208 Days in Their Lifetime
The research found moving house was stressful and expensive in terms of time and money.
STAMP duty, legal fees and mortgage repayments are all the obvious costs of buying and moving house, but new research has revealed a hidden cost which could equate to millions a year.
Australians spent an average of 208 days over their lifetime buying, settling or moving into a rental or bought property. They also spent up to 133 days on hold on the phone while trying to organise things such as moving home and other services such as buying a new mobile phone or calling the bank.
When looked at from a purely “business” perspective the cost equated to hundreds of dollars a year based on hourly earning rates.
The value of your time wasted while buying, selling and moving can add up to hundreds of dollars a year. Source:istock
Insights from REA has revealed that Christmas and summer was one of the most popular times of the year to move house, but about three quarters of respondents felt like it was one of life’s most stressful situations.
The research, from Origin Energy, was based on an average of 13 moves per lifetime.
Time management expert, Kate Christie, director from Time Stylers said if you worked out what you were paid an hour and how much time you spent researching, cleaning and moving, it made sense to try and cut the costs and time involved
Kate’s tips for reducing moving costs:
Outsource:
Your time is money – work out your personal hourly rate. “With this sum in mind, identify the jobs you are happy to pay someone else to do for you either because it will be cheaper or they will do a better job than you.”
Why not pay a professional to clean, they’ll be quicker and save you time. Source:istock
Insource:
If more than one person is involved in the move, or you have helpful family members divide up the jobs to help lessen everyone’s load.
Batch it:
Don’t just jump from task to task. Ms Christie said this could reduce the productivity by up to 40 per cent. Bunch your tasks together, for example sit down and connect or disconnect all your utilities in one go.
Streamline your tasks:
Use your time wisely. Don’t be driving around to do everything and don’t be stuck on the phone. Get online as much as you can. “For example, don’t go to every open for inspection in your area of interest. Rather, when you search online look at all the photos, the floor plan, the street scape and then make a short list of the top you want to visit.
Let go:
Everything doesn’t need to be 100 per cent perfect from day one. The house doesn’t need to be cleaned to display home standard and the furniture doesn’t need to be perfectly positioned.
Written by: Michelle Hele, News Corp Australia
