What's My Work Worth?

           Each Mother's Day, the staff at Salary.com releases its latest statistics on the market value of a stay at home mom's job.  Individual moms can calculate their own work's market value by answering a series of questions on the sites' Mom's Salary Wizard.

            Questions include number of children, location, and an estimate of the number of hours for various tasks performed per week (e.g., housekeeper, event planner, interior designer, nutritionist and staff nurse).  Answer all the questions and the wizard does it's work and tells you how much your various endeavors should bring you in the real world if the real world fairly compensated such things.

            On Mother's Day this year, I sat down at my computer and carefully provided the requested information.  I tried my best not to over or underestimate the number of hours I generally performed various tasks.  It wasn't easy.  My job is so varied that one week I might spend twenty hours on event planning (a birthday party and kindergarten graduation falling on the same week) and then drop my planning hat the following week to nurse my sick child back to health.  Obviously, then, this is no exact science.  It does, however, give you a ballpark number that you might want to throw back to your husband the minute he dares ask you what it is you do all day.

            So how much is my work worth according to Salary.com? Evidently, the family owes me a six figure salary--$144,000 per year to be exact. Not bad considering the fact that I left the practice of law at a large law firm making less.  Of course, in that world I actually received a paycheck.

            Armed with this information, I don't think it would be too far out of bounds to pay myself back a little. Maybe a short break at the Mall is in order.