They're almost single, yes, but they are not almost single parents. There is a big difference.

The money the other parent brings home they would still need to earn it if they were single parents.

Some extreme commuter spouses also have jobs. Some single parents get child support. But I did use the word "almost".

If they're not in a dual-income situation, with the kids being taken care of by BAC and elementary school and the au pair. Living for the weekend...

That only solves one chore. There's general cleaning of the house, cooking, doing the dishes, laundry. Taking the dog to the vet, taking the car in for an oil change. Picking up the dry cleaning. I probably spend 2 hours every day after work doing various chores.

You can solve this 1 of 2 ways. One is you outsource much of this; hire a maid, eat out every day, maybe someone to do your chores (what was that startup called?), hire a nanny, but once you do this are you really saving money by living outside of the city?

The second is just push all chores onto the weekend. But damn. During the weekend you only use your house for sleeping and on the weekend you only have time to catch up on chores. Pretty much 0 relaxation / fun time.