Work and Worth

Source : The Daily Mail - UK

Researchers reckon a housewife's work is worth £30,000 (~$50,000) a year.

They broke down the costs according to the average wages paid to professionals for tasks such as getting children dressed and ready for school, feeding them, helping with homework and getting them ready for bed.

The survey revealed the average housewife spends 273 minutes (4.55 hours) each day looking after the children - getting them dressed and ready for school, feeding them, entertaining them when they get home from school, helping with homework and getting them ready for bed.

A further 71 minutes will be spent vacuuming, dusting, washing, cleaning toilets and bathrooms, tidying, and cleaning the floors.

The average housewife also spends 14 minutes making the beds - for which a chambermaid on an hourly wage of £5.52 would be paid £1.29.

Cooking is another big chore for housewives - who spend about 63 minutes a day in the kitchen preparing culinary delights for her loved ones.

By comparison, an experienced head chef taking home a respectable £16.48 an hour would earn themselves £17.30 for their time.

The poll revealed that once the cooking and eating has been taken care of, the housewife spends a further 28 minutes a day washing up - for which a qualified kitchen assistant would be paid £2.57.

A further 39 minutes a day is spent trawling through the family's finances - working out how much money the family has to spend for the month, paying bills, going through bank statements and liaising with banks, building societies and mortgage providers.

The same tasks would earn an accountant a very respectable £12.50, based on an average hourly wage of £19.23.

Not surprisingly, 71 per cent of women polled say that the successful running of the family home is a full time job.

And 66 per cent of women feel their efforts to keep the house running like clockwork go unappreciated by partners and children.

Is it worth the work?