Time Use Survey - How to complete your diary

The Time Use Survey collects important information about how people living in Australia balance their time between work, leisure, caring responsibilities, and other activities. The information is used by governments, researchers, and community groups to make decisions about child and adult care, health and well-being, and services for you, your family, and your community. For general information about the Time Use survey, see our Time Use Survey Frequently Asked Questions page.

The Time Use Diary is used to record how you spend your time over a two-day period. The email we send you advises which days have been allocated to you and gives you instructions on how to get your diary started.

You can access your diary on a PC, laptop, tablet or on your smartphone. You need to be connected to the internet to access and complete your diary.

You will be asked to complete your Time Use Diary over two consecutive days between 21 October and 28 October 2024.

You will receive an email from the ABS advising you of your diary dates, and when your diary needs to be submitted. Your diary dates will also be visible in your diary.

Everyone in your household who is aged 15 years and over will need to complete a diary.

Each diary day will start at midnight (12.00 am) and go for 24 hours, finishing at midnight (12.00 am).

We recommend you enter activities into your diary throughout your diary days to help you remember what you have done.

If you cannot enter your activities as you go through your day, we recommend writing down the activities you do on paper or in your phone to help you accurately recall these details later. Be sure to include the start and end times of these activities in your notes.

Each diary day will finish at midnight (12.00 am). This will need to be the end time of your final activity for the day. For example, if you are sleeping from 11.00 pm through to the next morning, your end time for this activity will be 12.00 am. 

You will need to scroll to the top of each time category to ensure you can select 12.00 am. When you’ve selected this time, you will see a message checking that this is correct, shown below.

You will complete your Time Use Diary by recording what you do during the day as a series of activities, beginning at midnight on day 1. You will enter your activities in the order you completed them throughout your day, with your first activity starting at midnight (12.00 am). 

Please record everything you do in your day, no matter how uninteresting or routine you think something is.

Please enter as much detail as you can, for example:

• even if the activity only takes 5 minutes, still record it
• enter the time you spent cooking and preparing food as a separate activity to the time you spent eating
• enter the time you spent travelling to and from places
• if you took a break from work, enter what you did in your break
• don’t forget to enter the times you spent sleeping.

In the diary we have included 9 broad categories of activities, each of which contain a list of common activities you might do during the day. These are:

Sleeping, eating, personal care for self

• sleeping
• showering, dressing, getting ready, toilet
• cooking and preparing food/drink
• eating and drinking
• taking medication
• medical appointments for self.

Household tasks

• cooking and preparing food/drink
• housework
• shopping and purchasing goods
• gardening, watering and grounds care
• pet care (feeding, walking, playing)
• home and vehicle maintenance
• administration (banking, bills, mail, planning)
• filling in Time Use Diary.

Looking after children (14 years and under)

• personal care (getting them ready, bedtime)
• cooking and preparing food/drink
• talking and emotional support
• health and medical care
• playing, reading or homework
• supervising or watching child
• accompanying child to activities
• transport for children.

Looking after teenagers (15 to 17 years)

• personal care and getting them ready
• cooking and preparing food/drink
• emotional support and guidance
• talking and socialising
• health and medical care
• teaching and homework
• accompanying teenager to activities
• transport for teenager.

Caring and support (18 years and over)

• personal care and getting them ready
• cooking and preparing food/drink
• medical appointments
• forms and administration
• household tasks (shopping, cleaning)
• emotional support, calling, visiting
• transport for care
• other caring activities.

Travel and transport

• for children (14 years and under)
• for teenagers (15 to 17 years)
• to or from own work
• to or from shopping
• to or from social and recreation activities
• for other purpose.

Work, education or volunteering

• paid work and employment
• education and study
• volunteering.

Recreation and socialising

• watching TV or streaming
• talking and socialising (in person)
• phone calls, video calls and texting
• checking emails, social media, browsing
• playing video or mobile games
• reading
• listening to music, radio or podcast
• relaxing.

Hobbies, exercise and interests

• exercise and sport
• going for a walk
• hobbies and arts
• prayer and religion
• attending sports events
• attending cinema, theatre, concert
• attending library, museum, gallery.

If you cannot find your activity in the activity list you can type your own activity in the ‘Activity (please specify)’ box, located at the bottom of the list, shown below.

You cannot record more than one activity at a time. Multi-tasking may be common throughout your day, however, the diary cannot capture everything you do at the same time. You will need to decide what is your main activity. For example, if you are looking after children while cooking dinner, you will need to determine which of these is your main activity and record it.

There is no right or wrong answer for how many activities you should complete. Every day is unique, and no two days will have the same activities. An example of a list of activities in a completed day can be seen below.

You do not need to record your specific work activities, but you will need to enter separate activities for what you did during your work breaks. 

To enter times you are working, select ‘Paid work and employment’ in the activity list. You can find this under the ‘Work, education or volunteering’ section, shown below.

To enter what you did on your breaks, select the appropriate activity, for example, ‘Eating and drinking’. See the example below for how this may be entered.

If you make a mistake, you can change details for an activity that you have already entered. You will need to remove the incorrect activity and re-add it with the correct details.

To remove an activity, press the ‘Remove’ button next to the activity you want to change in the list of activities. An example is shown below.

When you press ‘Remove’ a warning message will pop up to make sure you selected the right activity. If correct, click ‘Yes’.

When you press ‘Next’ you will be asked to add an activity with the start time of the activity you just removed.

You can only enter an activity for an earlier time by removing the activity you have previously entered for that period. See ‘How do I change an activity I already entered?' in the section above.

We realise that every day is different and your allocated diary days may not capture everything that you do in your life. If you are not doing what you would usually do on your allocated diary days, for example, if you were travelling or were sick, please record what you did during these days as this information is just as important.

Data collected in the Time Use Survey is grouped into several broad categories. You are not required to disclose specific details of personal or private activities. The survey is not a way for the government to learn about you as an individual. The data will be used to understand how Australians use their time. 

The ABS is required by the Census and Statistics Act 1905 to maintain the secrecy of all information provided to it. This means that no information will be released in a way that would enable an individual or household to be identified. Your information is kept safe and secure in line with the ABS Privacy Policy.

The Time Use Survey is not a way for the government to learn about you as an individual. Time use data is used to identify the proportion of Australians that participate in a given activity, and tells us how long, on average, we do that activity for. Data collected in the Time Use Survey is grouped into several broad categories. You are not required to disclose specific details of personal or private activities.

The data will be used to understand how Australians use their time. Your responses will always be confidential. For more information on how the ABS protects your data, visit ABS Privacy Policy for Statistical Information.

It is best if each person allocated a diary records their own activities to ensure an accurate account. If you are unable to complete the diary yourself due to illness, injury or communication barriers, someone else can complete it on your behalf.

If you are completing the diary on behalf of someone else in your household, you will need to obtain their consent first.

If you are not sure whether you should complete the diary, please call our team on 1800 246 878 during business hours.

No, you cannot change your diary days. 

Even if you think a different day is more interesting it is important to enter the activities you did on your allocated days. Diary days are allocated to each household in advance to ensure that we gather an even distribution of information which represents every day of the week. When choosing the diary days, we have taken into consideration times of the year and events that may influence people’s activities, such as public and school holidays.

For help, or more information on completing the diary, call us on 1800 246 878 during business hours. For help over the weekend of Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 October 2024, call us between 10 am and 3 pm AEDST. For help outside these hours, please leave a message with your contact details and we will call you back to assist you. You can also use our Household Survey help request form to outline the details of your situation and your contact details, and we will be in touch.

We are committed to providing information and services to the widest possible audience. We are working to comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 to Level AA. We are aware that some users may experience some issues and we are working to improve them. If you find issues with a survey instrument or diary please contact us.