If people think being a stay-at-home mom is a leisure gig – they’re dead wrong.
In fact, it is highly irritating to me when I hear people say, “oh, you stay home with your kids! So what do you guys do all day?”
Excuse me – what do I DO ALL DAY?! I do everything all day!
Easily, a stay-at-home mom (SAHM) is one of the most underrated, under-appreciated, and overlooked “professions” on the planet. And yes, it’s a profession. Because to juggle as many hats as a stay-at-home mom does, you’ve got to be a downright pro.
If you’re not a stay-at-home mom yourself, let me break it down for you here. Let me spell out to you exactly what we do all day and how much someone in the working world would make doing what we do daily.
Housekeeper – $12 per hour
The daily chores, cleaning, tidying, and organizing is usually all done by the SAHM. Between laundry, dishes, mirrors, toilets, countertops, floors, picking up toys, rearranging closets, cleaning out drawers, vacuuming, dusting, and so on – it’s pretty much a never-ending cycle.
On average, a stay-at-home mom will spend around 4 cumulative hours cleaning the house per day.
Chauffeur – $13 per hour
Between going to and from school, soccer practice, clothes shopping, grocery store runs, and other kid’s activities – a SAHM is, no doubt, a pro at driving a minivan. Not only is she driving this vehicle, but she’s also cleaning it out, finding dirty socks and missing shoes, and hidden progress reports in between the seats on the regular.
On average, a stay-at-home mom will spend around 2 cumulative hours driving their kids around town per day.
Personal assistant – $14 per hour
Yes – a stay-at-home mom is basically a personal assistant for tiny humans. “Mommy, I want some milk.” “Mommy, can you fix my toy?” “Mommy, I pooped! Can you wipe me?” I swear, if we got paid a dollar for every time we heard the word “Mommy,” we’d be richer than Bill Gates.
On average, a SAHM will spend around 8 cumulative hours tending to their kids’ needs per day.
Personal chef – $25 per hour
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Sure, usually, it’s easier to grab a quick bite for the whole crew from a drive-thru. But most of us stay-at-home moms cook – and we cook a LOT. From pancakes and eggs in the mornings to ham sandwiches for lunch to spaghetti and salad for dinner, meals take lots of time and lots of love to prepare.
On average, a stay-at-home mom will spend around 2 hours cooking meals for their families per day.
Teacher – $27 per hour
We are constantly teaching our kids. We teach them their letters, numbers, how to walk, how to speak, how to read, how to share, how to play with others, how to memorize. And while some might not be homeschooling moms, teaching in some capacity is always something we moms are doing with our children every day.
On average, a SAHM will spend around 5 hours teaching their children per day.
Life Coach – $160 per hour
This one is the biggest one of all, in my opinion. Between teaching our kids how to set goals for themselves, be the best person they can be, treat others with respect, and see their value and worth in this life – ALL moms find ourselves doing this for our kids all day, every day. We are their counselor, their mentor, their skills manager, their cheerleader.
On average, a stay-at-home mom will spend around 9 hours coaching their kids through life per day.
So, let’s add this up. Between being a housekeeper, chauffeur, personal assistant, personal chef, teacher, and life coach, a stay-at-home mom should make…
$1,811 per day,
which equals to
$12,677 per week,
which equals to
$50,708 per month,
which equals to
$608,496 per year.
Yes. Those numbers sound fair to me. And that doesn’t include also being a nurse, accountant, personal shopper, and more. Phew!
