My friend from The Constant Complainer
sent me an interesting article about the worth of a homemaker a few weeks ago.
The article listed each household duty and estimated how much someone would charge for that service:
Personal Chef - $1,005 per five-day workweek x 52 weeks = $52,260 per year.
House Cleaner - $118 per week X 52 weeks = $6,136 per year
Child Care - $600 a week plus perks/benefits x 52 weeks = $31,200 per year
Driver - $1,000 per year + [(estimated miles driven 8,000 miles / 50 mph) x 60 minutes/hour x 33 cents per minute] = $4,168 total per year
Lawn Maintenance - $30 per week x 52 weeks = $1,560 total per year.
All these services added up to a grand total of $96,261 per year.
It's Feedback Friday...
Do you agree with the estimate of how much a homemaker is worth?
What else would you add to the list?
What else would you add to the list?
A homemaker is worth more than that, because if you were to hire one person to do ALL of those jobs, you'd have to pay a boatload of overtime!
ReplyDeleteBeing a homemaker is like being an artist...you are never REALLY paid for the time you have invested. I remember the BIG discussions about this we all had back in the day. This little list has been around awhile only the amount changes....inflation!
ReplyDeleteLOL
Lorraine
I would also add personal tutor and cruise director, you know the person who comes up with and takes the children to do their activities!
ReplyDeleteWell, I couldn't charge quite that much for the chef part....then I'd have to cook some fabulous meals. And I'm not sure about the cleaning bill, but I would add hazard pay for the bathrooms.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few items they left out however.....
1. Private home school teacher/tutor
2. Life coach
3. Therapist
4. Drill Sargent
5. Preschool activities director
6. Chauffeur
7. Wardrobe and hair stylist
8. Personal shopper
9. Living, breathing alarm clock
(I could go on but I'm becoming more than a little bitter.....)
Hooker services (sorry it had to be said beacause they think you have to dress and act like it)
ReplyDelete$200 per hour x 3 times a week x 52 weeks per year = 31,200
we need over time because we never get to go home and relax from work. plus we dont get our 30min lunch and 2 15 minute breaks.
ReplyDeleteI may have to duck the flying tomatoes, but to be honest, no. I've seen these numbers flying around, and there's a degree of bunk in them.
ReplyDeleteFor anyone mad at me right now, I'm a SAHM myself. I do believe that it's a worthwhile endeavor and that it would be wonderful to be paid, however the numbers that often are bandied about in these types of discussions are ridiculous.
Personal chef - um, no. I cook most meals, and bake more than most since we're gluten-free, but I am far from a personal chef. I do not make meals upon request. I make meals from a pretty basic repertoire, adding new items every so often. My skills and lack of inclination to go off plan just because someone wants something different puts me at about the level of a line cook at a family restaurant - about $10/hr. About 28hrs a week cooking = $14560. Maybe the rest of you are making 3 course breakfasts every day of the week, but I know the only days I spend more than a few minutes on breakfast are weekends.
House cleaner is spot on. Friends who have cleaners spend about that much. I'll go with your number$6136
Child care. $600/wk! Maybe that's what a childcare worker makes, but she's watching a class full of kids. For those of us who need to put a kid in child care(outside of very large cities where all costs are inflated) child care is $100-$150 a week. It's not fair to add in the cost of a childcare worker when they're looking after a dozen kids(unless you have to sets of sextuplets, and then go ahead and add in that much.) Child care for my 7 yr old(the 15yr old doesn't count) at $125/week = $6500
Driver - the amount seems fair $4168
Lawn Care - n/a Did you miss that I have a 15yr old?
So by my count it's $28756.
As for nutritionist, stylist, personal shopper, therapist etc. - give me a break. When I see those professions rolled into the SAHM number to inflate it to upwards of a quarter million, I just roll my eyes. The numbers used are often finessed in the same way that childcare worker is - they take the professional's yearly income for taking care of multiple clients vs what someone might pay for the service. And hooker services? Good lord, people - I don't even know what to say about that.
Hey, I love my job. I think it's awesome that we can afford for me to stay home and raise my kids, but do I think I deserve to be paid 6 figures for it - no. Do I think that I should be paid more than my husband who works 45 hrs a week and still manages to talk to our kids(therapist!) and occasionally drives to Target to pick up the new Skylander(driver! personal shopper!) - no.
Judging from what my house looks right now, I´d certainly wouldn´t earn that much for the cleaning...
ReplyDeletebut hey, do I make that up with teaching/childcare! :)