- Three in ten Cardiffians claim Sunday is no longer a day of rest
- Saturday and Sundays are the busiest days of the week in Cardiff
- British Gas to offer free electricity on Saturday or Sunday to smart meter customers
New findings from British Gas have revealed that households in Cardiff are waving goodbye to lazy Sundays, with a fifth claiming they’re busier than in years gone by. Weekend days are now the busiest days in the week, as the nation strives to make the most of precious downtime.
British Gas has explored how the nation spends its Sundays to mark this weekend’s launch of FreeTime, a new plan which gives smart meter customers free electricity between 9am and 5pm on Saturdays or Sundays. With FreeTime people can save money by carrying out top weekend activities such as mowing the lawn, washing and ironing or catching up on TV for free during their free day.
The research highlights how Cardiff is increasingly using Sundays to tick off its ‘to do list’, with people more likely to spend the last day of the week gardening or on household chores than catching up with sport or going out with friends.
However, we still make sure to kick back and relax once the chores are over: a stroll in the great outdoors is the favourite way to unwind. The most common Sunday activities include:
|
Top Sunday Activities |
|
| Ticking off the ‘to do list’: | |
| 1) Gardening | 25% |
| 2) Household chores | 25% |
| 3) Washing and ironing | 14% |
| 4) Mowing the lawn | 11% |
| 5) Supermarket shopping | 7% |
| 1) Going for a walk | 30% |
| 2) Catching up with sports on TV | 20% |
| 3) Listening to the radio | 20% |
| 4) Going out with friends | 13% |
| 5) Going to the pub | 3% |
Across the country, people from Norwich are the most green-fingered, with 43 per cent spending the day gardening, while house-proud Londoners and Mancunians are the most likely to be tackling chores around the home (32 per cent). Liverpudlians are the most avid sports fanatics: on Sundays a third watch sport on TV.
British Gas’ new findings also show families in Cardiff are determined not to let work worries eat into their weekends, with 43 per cent claiming they don’t get ‘work dread’ on a Sunday. They say they keep this at bay by tackling chores about the house and personal admin (13 per cent) or by watching their favourite TV boxset (17 per cent).
David Gray, Smart Energy Expert at British Gas commented: “When you think about a traditional British Sunday, you probably picture afternoons spent relaxing on the sofa, but today’s research shows that the ever faster pace of life means people are determined to pack more in to their weekends. With free electricity on Saturdays or Sundays, people can make the most of their weekends at no extra cost.”
British Gas has been trialling the FreeTime plans with thousands of its customers since 2014 and is now offering it to all customers, helping them save money while doing what they love at home on the weekend. The more people do on their free day, the more they will save. Customers will be able to choose on which day at the weekend they would like to have free electricity, and there are no premium charges to use energy at other times.
Customers will need to have smart meters installed to receive the FreeTime plans, which will be available this Sunday. To find out more please visit here.
