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Wednesday, May 03, 2006

A Gem Above All Gems

I've posted a couple of times about the Almond Gem (I, II) that our family acquired this last weekend. I just now returned from the peaceful adventure of picking up another appliance that is now affectionately called the black gem, it is a dishwasher. I have yet to install it but I plan to remember what I learned from the mistakes I made in the Almond Gem saga.

Now I am very happy to proclaim that my family has updated appliances (at least to our good enough standard level.) But ya'know, I am incredibly pleased to boast about a family gem that is more esteemed than any one acquired in the past, present or future. My wife, the golden gem and prized woman that she is orchestrated our latest acquisitions. She did all the leg work to make things happen and provided me with the influence I needed to meet her needs. Yes, at one point I almost died, but looking back, I'd...do it again(?), right? Well, you know what I mean. I love my wife Carla!

Carla is a stay-at-home mother of three sons and one daughter. She has not had training from her own mother on how to do the mother thing. She is learning as she goes. She is doing a good job. Stay-at-home mothers, like Carla, deserve much more credit than what is given to them. Financially speaking the services they provide to a family are worth much much more than most realize as well. According to Salary.com:

"Stay-at-home mothers wear many hats. They're the family CEO, the day care provider, housekeeper, laundry machine operator, psychologist, and van driver. Based on a 91.6-hour work week, Salary.com has estimated that a fair wage for the typical stay-at-home mom would be $134,121 for executing all of her daily tasks."

The Stay-at-Home Mom's Salary

Mom Job Title
Mom's Work Week (hours)
Mom's Salary
(dollars)



Housekeeper
22.1
$10,980
Day Care Center Teacher
15.7
$10,817
Cook
13.6
$10,862
Computer Operator
9.1
$7,151
Laundry Machine Operator
6.7
$3,133
Janitor
6.3
$3,713
Facilities manager
5.8
$11,508
Van Driver
4.2
$3,334
CEO
4.2
$35,971
Psychologist
3.9
$7,176
Total Hours
91.6
$104,646



Mom Base Pay
40
$45,697
Mom Overtime Hours
51.6
$88,424



Total Mom Salary
91.6
$134,121
Average Hours of Sleep
6.7


Furthermore,

"Even if these mothers were getting paid what they'd be worth on the market, Bottos added that they still wouldn't be adequately compensated. "When you take into account that it represents a 92-hour work-week, and doesn't even begin to factor in that they are on call 24 hours a day, it's not so large. Plus, stay-at-home moms get no benefits in terms of pension or 401(k)."

A BIG, BIG HT to stay at home mothers, especially my Golden Gem!


7 comments:

Carla said...

I love you Patrick!!

kristi noser said...

Hey, Pat, dishwashers run on 120, so I say breaker shmaker, why bother?

kristi noser said...

Oh, wait I have more! Pat, you do have one quality woman there, and Karli, next time we go to lunch, you're buying! I've seen how much you rake in.

Anonymous said...

Hey can I come and work for Stream Family Inc.? I can be your assistant Carla, I got cpr/first aid skills, arts and craft skills, keep the kids from making mom go crazy skills, I have a great reference too, her name is sara, you might know her...plus it's gotta be more than I make now. Sweet!

Carla said...

You are hired! You start today at 7am by nursing Timothy. I will be back next fall. My mail will be forwarded to some deserted island. Maybe Gilligan's.

Keithslady said...

Did this "up with housewives" blog have anything to do with Mother's Day being just around the corner? If yes, shame on you. If no, then I'm sending my husband to the site! (No, he really does appreciate me, just ask Joey)

Unknown said...

Keithslady. I did not try to link the post to mothers day. But I did think about the points I'd be deposting in the old love bank :-) But...that was not my primary motivation. Ya'know, I just always need to count the cost or ROI (return on investment) of everything I do. :-0 THanks for the comment.