Financial Value of SAHM Services

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no monetary equivalent for raising your own children. The pay is not in dollars.

Agree. The other posters have no idea how valuable it is. The highest calling and job a woman can have is wife and mother. Obviously many here dishonor that.

Luckily, I can be a wife and mother AND have paid employment too.

More power to you. When I quit my job, there were many women at my office who said that they would do it too, if their pay was not required. Anytime you choose to do what you do then you are lucky. Not everyone can have everything. It is true that WOHM have a source of income that they earn, it is also true that SAHMs get to spend more time with their kids. Both are true and both are not comparable.

I only wish for all women that when they do what they do (SAHM or WOHM) it is because they have really made the choice for their own happiness and not because they had no option.

To be able to SAHM, for those women, who want to spend time with their kids, and they are financially secure - it is a great thing.
To be able WOHM , for those women, who love their job and have the support system in place for their home and kids - it is a great thing too.

To not be financially secure - whether WOHM or SAHM - and not have support systems in place - they are bad in any situation.

I think PP was just responding to the idea raised at the top of the quote that you only count as a wife and mother if you stay home to take care of the house and kids. As long as I'm married I'm a wife, and since I've given birth I'm a mother. Has nothing to do with paid employment status.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's all the individual services and then there is the need to manage them (monitoring the cost and quality of service, finding new providers, coordinating between functions). Figure on adding 20% for management.

My wife is a SAHM and I make about $60k/year. If she worked we'd cobble together some array of aftercare, shared child-rearing, leaning on relatives/friends and simply scraping by from day to day in a messy house. In our context, the economic value of her being a SAHM is more like $10k. Maybe less. (Good thing she's not doing it for the money)

"Leaning on relatives/friends" is just charging them for your costs in this scenario.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People - do what works for you and your family and stop judging everyone else!

I don't judge a parent for staying home but I do judge a parent who works 60+ hours a week, takes calls on family holidays, and can't even be bothered to let the dog out. Unless that was Michelle Obama posting before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People - do what works for you and your family and stop judging everyone else!

I don't judge a parent for staying home but I do judge a parent who works 60+ hours a week, takes calls on family holidays, and can't even be bothered to let the dog out. Unless that was Michelle Obama posting before.

I am the PP.My DH has very demanding job,and that's why I am here for him.My dad was submarine captain and was absent 6 mo a year or more I .Someone has to do this job ok?Please don't judge my life choices

[Anonymous]

Well, nobody is going to pay you to do it, right? So roughly nothing. It saves you the cost of child care. That's all and end of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think $2000 per year for a cleaning lady is really low. A SAHM does more than the cleaning lady does twice a month. Also, you would somehow have to put a value on the husband not having to do anything home/kid related. If the SAHM worked the husband would have to help with chores, food prep, bath, night wakings, staying home when kid is sick, dealing with transportation, etc.

I would subtract value if the father did nothing kid related. I would put that in the extremely sad and pathetic category.

Of course most fathers do kid related things. That's called being a good father. However, if dad has a work trip, business dinner, happy hour event, etc. there is no hectic rearranging of work schedules or worrying about being fired for taking too many snow or sick days bc of kids.

I would say you're overblowing the hassle of juggling work schedules. DH and I have both worked full time as parents for 15 years. It's very rare that we're both busy, and never equally busy. We're white collar, so there's no issue of being fired for taking too many days off for whatever reason.

Well you are maybe lucky?My DH works 7-9 most days,travels at least 1 week out the month and answer his phone even at thanksgiving dinner.I was out of town with kids and we had yo hire dog sitter for that time because he has no time even for our doggie.

Nope, this is where I get to be smug. It's not just luck, it's good planning! We ditched the high hours, high pressurel, high $ jobs when I was pg with our first. We chose not to have either of us live like your H.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After a certain age, the value is more in the quality of life versus monetary.

Finally
I also don't understand this thread to compare SAHM vs Working mom economical value.Usually women who love their job don't leave it ,and most of SAHM are happy they can afford to stay home.In my case I am.I didn't love my job,I was so stressed all the time,became neurotic .I have a wonderful DH who offered me to SATH and do things I love( I opened small business which don't bring much $$$,but it's something I really enjoy and who knows where it's gonna go).
You cannot measure everything with $$$.

Easy for you to say - all the stress you got rid of when you dumped your job is now on your H!!!

You are funny.No it's not like this in my case.DH loves his job and he is much happier to see me happy.

You sure he loves his job? He might, or he might say he does. Only you know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think $2000 per year for a cleaning lady is really low. A SAHM does more than the cleaning lady does twice a month. Also, you would somehow have to put a value on the husband not having to do anything home/kid related. If the SAHM worked the husband would have to help with chores, food prep, bath, night wakings, staying home when kid is sick, dealing with transportation, etc.

I would subtract value if the father did nothing kid related. I would put that in the extremely sad and pathetic category.

Of course most fathers do kid related things. That's called being a good father. However, if dad has a work trip, business dinner, happy hour event, etc. there is no hectic rearranging of work schedules or worrying about being fired for taking too many snow or sick days bc of kids.

I would say you're overblowing the hassle of juggling work schedules. DH and I have both worked full time as parents for 15 years. It's very rare that we're both busy, and never equally busy. We're white collar, so there's no issue of being fired for taking too many days off for whatever reason.

Well you are maybe lucky?My DH works 7-9 most days,travels at least 1 week out the month and answer his phone even at thanksgiving dinner.I was out of town with kids and we had yo hire dog sitter for that time because he has no time even for our doggie.

I am astonished that anyone thinks its better to raise kids in a family where one parent stays home and one parent is basically absent, compared to a family where both parents work a reasonable schedule and both share in parenting. I can't imagine bringing up kids in an environment where one of the two people who is supposed to care about them the most consistently prioritizes work over them. To me, you've made some pretty horrible life choices.

Maybe the SAHP in this scenario can't make decent money, so the DH felt he had to take the high paying job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no monetary equivalent for raising your own children. The pay is not in dollars.

Agree. The other posters have no idea how valuable it is. The highest calling and job a woman can have is wife and mother. Obviously many here dishonor that.

I don't get it. I'm a wife and mother and I have a paying job. Didn't think these were mutually exclusive.

+1. There are clearly a few insecure SAHMs on here who feel the need to justify their decision to SAH by acting as if it is a higher calling and they are superior to working moms. Most SAHMs I know aren't obnoxious like this and understand that everyone should do what works best for their family, but a few have no internal self worth and have to put others down/make up ridiculous math equations about their financial value to make themselves feel better.

I imagine moms who WOH and SAH both add immeasurable value to their families beyond just their paycheck or providing childcare.
This thread seems like a stupid troll thread.

My initial reaction to the original post was that it was a SAHM prepping her arguments for alimony. I was surprised it veered off into the martyr debate.

[Anonymous]

How much would you have to pay a kind, loving, educated nanny to be on call 24/7, to forgo all sick/vacation days and stay with the job for 18 years? Someone who takes care of your kids with long term consequences in mind? Someone who loves your kids so much that they'd run through a fire to save them? Someone who is willing to nurse your sick kids while they themselves are sick?

What is a SAHP anyway....it is someone who loves their job so much that they are willing to work for free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no monetary equivalent for raising your own children. The pay is not in dollars.

Agree. The other posters have no idea how valuable it is. The highest calling and job a woman can have is wife and mother. Obviously many here dishonor that.

Luckily, I can be a wife and mother AND have paid employment too.

More power to you. When I quit my job, there were many women at my office who said that they would do it too, if their pay was not required. Anytime you choose to do what you do then you are lucky. Not everyone can have everything. It is true that WOHM have a source of income that they earn, it is also true that SAHMs get to spend more time with their kids. Both are true and both are not comparable.

I only wish for all women that when they do what they do (SAHM or WOHM) it is because they have really made the choice for their own happiness and not because they had no option.

To be able to SAHM, for those women, who want to spend time with their kids, and they are financially secure - it is a great thing.
To be able WOHM , for those women, who love their job and have the support system in place for their home and kids - it is a great thing too.

To not be financially secure - whether WOHM or SAHM - and not have support systems in place - they are bad in any situation.

I spend as much time with my kids as the SAHMs do. Our kids are all gone 40 hours a week, between school and the bus rides, not counting various activities. Not a big difference in the time when the kids are school aged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much would you have to pay a kind, loving, educated nanny to be on call 24/7, to forgo all sick/vacation days and stay with the job for 18 years? Someone who takes care of your kids with long term consequences in mind? Someone who loves your kids so much that they'd run through a fire to save them? Someone who is willing to nurse your sick kids while they themselves are sick?

What is a SAHP anyway....it is someone who loves their job so much that they are willing to work for free.

A WOHM does all that and then some.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much would you have to pay a kind, loving, educated nanny to be on call 24/7, to forgo all sick/vacation days and stay with the job for 18 years? Someone who takes care of your kids with long term consequences in mind? Someone who loves your kids so much that they'd run through a fire to save them? Someone who is willing to nurse your sick kids while they themselves are sick?

What is a SAHP anyway....it is someone who loves their job so much that they are willing to work for free.

dude, I'm a WOHM who used to be a SAHM. My 3 elementary aged kids are GONE FROM THE HOUSE FOR 40 HOURS PER WEEK when you factor in school plus before and after school activities (not aftercare but activities that they beg to do).
Having me sit on my ass all day at home, tidying up, having coffee dates with friends and going shopping (which is how I filled my time prior to returning to work) was not enriching their lives in any way, shape or form.
When we have snow or sick days now I or my husband stay home with them. The quality of their lives has not decreased in any way, shape or form since I went back to work.

[Anonymous]

The value is... If you get divorced you spit your assets. So whatever you own , divide it by 2 and that is the value of your labor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much would you have to pay a kind, loving, educated nanny to be on call 24/7, to forgo all sick/vacation days and stay with the job for 18 years? Someone who takes care of your kids with long term consequences in mind? Someone who loves your kids so much that they'd run through a fire to save them? Someone who is willing to nurse your sick kids while they themselves are sick?

What is a SAHP anyway....it is someone who loves their job so much that they are willing to work for free.

Tee hee.