All homemaker’s work but not all get a salary. I don’t know said this but it is so true! Whenever you get down and out about not contributing to your family household, it’s sometimes helpful to be reminded of your tangible worth. Let’s take a look at a homemaker’s job salary and put some numbers in place.
It is disheartening to hear the usual questions: What do you do all day? Why don’t you work? You’re JUST a homemaker? It’s time we answer these questions with pride and confidence.
No, you don’t have to defend your choice to stay home, nor do you have to have these numbers ready to spew off.
Just take pride in your work and know that you are creating a safe haven for your family – something no one else can do as good as you. And then when you’re really down in the dumps and feel like your family doesn’t appreciate you, look at these numbers again.
Homemaker’s Job Salary Comparison
Personal Chef
Whether you like cooking or not, you have become a personal chef! It’s a joy to cook nourishing meals for your family but it’s also a lot of work.
You get to be as creative as you want or as simple as you want. You can include your kids in the process or kick them out of the kitchen for the day. You are the boss of your kitchen.
Also, don’t forget about the time you spend meal planning. There are great services out there like the Eat At Home meal planning guide, but you still have to invest your time into the plan.
If your family has special food needs or allergies, this job for you is even more important. A personal chef can make $30 an hour. Everyone is different, but I’d guess I spend 2 hours a day preparing food. This would include meals, baking, canning, freezing and all that jazz, averaged throughout the year.
That’s $21,900 a year for a personal chef.
Child Care
You will give your child the best care they need. Putting a price tag on that seems frivolous, but I will do it anyway for the sake of this article.
No one knows your child like you do nor will love your child like you do while caring for their physical needs.
Hiring a nanny can get closer to the care you would give your own child, but still wouldn’t replace you. And I feel a nanny is not the average for most American households.
Looking this article, the cost of daycare for one week for one child is $340. If the average family has 2 kids, that’s $35,000 a year for childcare.
Teacher
If you are a mother, you are a teacher. It doesn’t matter whether you homeschool or not. Day in and day out you are teaching your children, answering their questions and guiding them through how to handle day to day life.
You are their best and most influential teacher. Through direct, organized teaching and through indirect modeling. Everything from how to wash their hands to how to pull up their pants to how to navigate the road as a new driver are teaching moments.
On average, a teacher makes $50,000 a year. Whether you believe it or not, you are your child’s full-time teacher.
House Cleaner
We all know this is a never ending job even in a day! Keeping your home tidy is one thing, then you have to keep the dust and grime away on top of that.
Cleaning is a homemaking task that everyone needs to learn just to maintain a peaceful atmosphere.
When I cleaned houses for people, I charged $20 an hour and that was on the low end of the scale. Plus that was 10 years ago. Let’s be modest and say I could get $25 an hour today. The average house I cleaned was a 2 story, 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bathroom home. It would take me 5 hours to clean (not including windows) every week. That’s $6,500 a year.
Laundry Service
I have a small family of 3 (soon to be 4!) so I don’t have a ton of laundry. If I do 5 loads a week, I can stay on top of laundry.
If you have more children, more sports clothes or work clothes, this will definitely go up! But I will calculate for my family.
According to this laundry service, I can pay $35 for a 13 gallon bag of laundry to be returned to me folded. With sheets, towels and clothes, I’d guess my family could fill 4 bags a week. That comes to $7,280 a year.
Bookkeeper
My husband is involved in our finances by helping make decisions and going over budgets, but I’m the day-to-day bookkeeper carrying through on those numbers. I pay the bills and balance the checkbook.
But I’m also the main spender. Groceries, clothing, household items are all things I shop for without my husband. So I keep track of everything.
I gather tax forms and make sure everything matches up and I get reports ready for year end filing for our accountant.
The average pay for a bookkeeper is $40 an hour and I’d guess I spend and hour a week on our books. That’s $2,080 a year.
Grocery Shopper
Depending on the stores available to you, this homemaking skill can greatly vary in time. For me, I like to shop sales, so I’ll stop at two places versus one if I have time.
Or like in our small town, there aren’t that many options, so stopping at just one place for groceries is a rarity. I also like to shop from my neighbors and get food locally. This could mean stopping at the Farmer’s Market or stopping in directly at someone’s house.
According to Shipt, you could earn $22 an hour for grocery shopping. If you spend on average 45 minutes a day sourcing food, that’s $6,022 a year.
Driver
You are your children’s chauffeur. Depending on where you live and the number of children you have, your time spent in the vehicle will vary greatly.
Doctor’s appointments, school, sports, church activities, friend’s houses. It all falls on you.
We live very rurally so children walking to events is out of the question. Everything is at least 20 minutes away so this number will be higher for me.
The average pay for a chauffeur is $13 an hour. According to this report, moms spend at least an hour a day behind the wheel. That’s $4,745 a year.
Landscaper
This won’t be in every homemaker’s skill set, but for those of us who do it, it’s a chunk of change.
For me, I’m in charge of mowing the lawn and weed trimming. I take care of the garden and flower beds.
I shovel the sidewalk, the garage and the mailbox. I help shovel off the roof when the snow drifts too high.
A landscaper makes $35,000 a year. Let’s count on $35,000 a year for regular lawn and snow maintenance.
Psychologist
You didn’t know you signed up for this when you had kids, did you! The title sounds intimidating but really it’s you being a sounding board for your children. They need someone to attentively listen to them and offer feedback sometimes.
Your children need guidance and council from someone they trust and love who isn’t judging them for a popularity contest.
Everyone says the long newborn/baby nights are the toughest, but I’m thinking the teenage years will bring more emotional challenges. I’ll take physical challenges any day over emotional!
A psychologist makes about $79,000 a year. You as a mother, will be dealing with everyone’s personalities and needs all the time so we will include a full year’s salary.
Tutor
Even if you don’t homeschool your children, you will still be helping them with homework and special projects.
You will be going to parent/teacher meetings to see how your child is doing.
A tutor charges about $20 an hour. Let’s say you help your child with homework 4 nights a week for half an hour. For 36 weeks of school, you’d be paying a tutor $1440 a year.
Organizer
Keeping an organized home is essential for your sanity and the sanity of the rest of your family. A place for everything and everything in its place means that everyone can help clean up and maintain the organization systems you’ve set in place.
This is a daily job if you have a husband and children. Yes, they may be aware of how you like your silverware drawer but they won’t always take time to unload the dishwasher thoughtfully.
Cluttered space leads to a cluttered mind and doesn’t allow for full rest or creativity to flow.
Hiring an organizer would cost around $100 an hour. Let’s say you spend a combined hour a week keeping things organized. That’s $5200 a year.
Home Decorator
A homemaker decorates her home tastefully and prepares for each season. She hangs the Christmas decor as well as prepares the Easter baskets and chooses pumpkins for fall.
This part of her job description isn’t necessary but it adds the the haven she’s creating and the festivities of her family.
A decorator costs about $150 an hour. Let’s assume you’d change things up four times a year at 8 hours a pop. That’s $4,800 a year.
Nurse
It is essential for every homemaker and stay-at-home-mom to have basic first aid skills. To know how to treat a cut, handle a fever, help choking or treat a bite can help your child be comfortable and save yourself the hassle of having to load everyone up for a trip to urgent care. Treating a child at home when you can also helps keep the child from panicking in a new, hospital setting.
Staying up all night with a feverish little one is exhausting. Sleeping on their bedroom floor to monitor their breathing is more loving attention than a nurse in a hospital setting can offer.
An entry level nurse makes $26-38 an hour. I’ll use an hourly rate here because being a nurse hopefully only happens a few times a month. At $30 per hour for 10 hours a month, that’s $3,600 a year.
A Homemaker’s Job Salary
One year’s salary for a homemaker is worth around $262,567! Mindblowing! I know we don’t ever see this monetarily, but know, Homemaker and Mama that your work is the most important work you can be doing. But it’s still difficult at times to understand that homemaking will never be just a job.
So the next time you get discouraged with your daily homemaking tasks and duties, remember who you are doing it for and the eternal ramifications. And if it helps, come back to this number and be reminded of how much your yearly salary is worth in the world’s eyes.
