Being A Mom - Worth A 6-Figure Income

Sometimes it’s hard to be proud of being a stay-at-home mom. When you think about all the stereotypes - spoiled and so forth - it can get frustrating. It often feels like few people appreciate the work of a stay-at-home mom. But when you think about it, stay-at-home moms have plenty to be proud of and plenty of work to boot.

In fact, I’d say that many stay-at-home moms that I know, myself included, do an absolutely amazing job caring for their home and family on a ridiculously tight budget. Despite what many people think, few stay-at-home moms are spoiled little Stepford-type wives with husbands rich enough to support the family EASILY. Living on one income for most of us in the stay-at-home mom category is pretty tough, a major sacrifice.

As a stay-at-home mom, I often remind myself that being with the twins all day is hands-down the most important role in my life right now. I’m contributing tremendously to the people that they will grow up to be. We stay-at-home moms get to determine how our children will be raised. We also get to enjoy the luxury of time in sharing all kinds of experiences with them, and we get not only the “quality time” that has always been so hyped-up in the past, but we also get the “quantity time” too. Few experiences compare!

I’ve talked with some other stay-at-home moms who say that it’s really tough to feel accomplished when so many accomplishments in today’s society are measured in dollars. I have to agree. Raising children and staying at home with them is an invaluable contribution, but you definitely don’t get cold cash for the kind of work we do. The dollar value of being a stay-at-home mom is not so obvious at first blush….more on that below.

Well, we stay-at-home moms can start to take heart about our value. A recent report by CNN suggests that if mothers were hired to do all that we do, we’d be very well compensated!

Salary.com released its annual market valuation of a mother's work. After talking with 400 stay-at-home and working mothers, it determined the 10 major jobs a mother performs at home and the number of hours she typically devotes to each of those jobs.

Researchers then tried to determine the competitive market value that an employer would pay for one person to do a blend of those 10 jobs seven days a week.

Salary.com determined that a stay-at-home mother might be paid as much as $134,121 for her contributions as a housekeeper, cook, day care center teacher, janitor and CEO, among other functions. The stay-at-home mothers surveyed said they logged a total of 92 hours a week performing those jobs.

The market valuation for working mothers – who make up close to 70 percent of all mothers with kids under 18 -- comes to $85,876, assuming a 50-hour week in the Mom role. That would be on top of whatever salary a working mother draws from her job outside the home, working 44 hours.

So, here’s what we can conclude: Running a household is comparable to a top manager's job – a manager who in the workforce might easily make six figures. So, now we know and hats off to all of us stay-at-home mommies!