Even in the age of email spam, one in four people say that old-fashioned cold callers are still the second biggest time-wasters.

Brits say their absolute biggest waste of time is the daily commute, as cited by 29% of people, with 51% having a daily commute of an hour or more. But even if you have a long commute, there are other ways of saving time in your daily life.

According to a survey from online insurer swiftcover.com, these are the UK's biggest wastes of time:

* 29% of people said commuting to and from work

* 26% of people said telephone sales callers

* 25% said doing chores or the housework

* 23% said long queues in shops were the biggest waste of time

* 16% said doing paperwork, i.e. banking, filling out forms etc

* 14% cited slow drivers as the biggest waste of time

However, people are taking steps to remove some of the hassle from their lives, particularly when it comes to using the internet - seven out of ten are now doing their banking and setting up their insurance online, whilst four out of ten are doing their shopping via the internet.

Unfortunately, 11% of people also admit they are eating a lot more microwave convenience meals to save time.

Tina Shortle, marketing director for swiftcover.com, said: "We live in a fast-paced world where we want things to happen immediately and demand instant gratification, which is why the growth of online retailing has been so quick - the internet is fast, simple and convenient, letting us decide what we want to buy and when we want to buy it.

"But because our lives are so busy, this means our downtime is even more precious and we don't like it when we're invaded at home or on our mobile phones by sales cold-calls from old-fashioned call-centres, trying to sell us things we don't want and have not asked for."

The most popular time saving measures were:

* 70% of people have switched to online banking and insurance to save time

* 42% of people do their shopping online

* 29% have hired a cleaner to save time on chores

* 19% have got somebody to do their ironing

* 11% admit they eat a lot more microwave meals

* 11% have hired a gardener

* 9% of people have established a rota to share the chores

* 6% have paid their kids to help out with the chores

What do you think - what are the biggest time wasters? Let us know in the comments.