This morning I woke up to a sink full of dishes and a head full of ache. But that’s okay because at least I am worth $138,095 a year. Yes, according to research done by the “compensation experts” from Salary.com Inc., a stay at home mom, if she were paid for all of the work she actually did, would be making $138,095.

That sounds like a great amount of money, until I think about how much less it is than Britney Spears probably received for her much ballyhooed “comeback performance.” I should say her 15 minute, lip-synched comeback performance. And it certainly has to be more than what her nanny gets paid. (Although I am betting that nanny earns every penny.) So I start thinking about that certain overpaid stay at home mom, or should I say stay everywhere but home mom, and I get depressed. Which makes no sense really because it’s not like there is somebody ready to write me a check for that $138,095.
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When I get over the financial aspect of the study, I start thinking about the hourly aspect. The study claims that a stay at home mom puts in a 92 hour work week. Hmmm, since there are 168 hours in a full 7 day week, that would leave 76 hours a week for ourselves. Ha, ha, ha, ha! I nearly spit my food out when I read that part. But I don’t want to do that because I will have to clean it up! That must be a joke. 76 hours? Really? Well we do have to sleep at some point. And with 76 hours left for ourselves that would leave a little more than 10 hours for sleeping in a day. Okay, now I am nearly choking with laughter. But I don’t want to do that because I will have to save myself from dying! So to break it down even further, even if we got 7 hours of sleep a night (which is a generous number in my opinion), That would STILL leave 27 unaccounted hours in a week.
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I know many moms who would love to have 27 free hours a week to put their feet up. To do their own thing. To not have to wipe anything. No tears, no noses, no butts, no counters and no floors. (Wow, I really didn’t realize just how much time we spent wiping.) So I will give the study even 10 more hours back to account for showers, alone errands and such. But they better pretend compensate us for the 17 hours a week that they shafted us on.
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I am carrying on way too long about numbers when what I really should be saying is, there is a way for us to stay at home and earn some real money. If the work we don’t get paid for is not going anywhere, we may as well try to fit some money making capabilities in there. Then maybe that $138,095 will no longer be a fictional pipe dream!