any housewives out there?

fred246

When we had children my wife gave up work. She's made it clear when we met that if we had children she wasn't working. When I started my last job I got very friendly with a family where they both worked doing my job. I was fascinated because they had loads of money but no time and we had lots of time but less money. We did DIY all the time while they paid people. They were always stressed mainly because our job didn't have a fixed finish time. I just worked in the knowledge that the kids were looked after. My wife used to cook every day and has passed those skills to the children who all love cooking. They used to live on Marks & Spencer microwave meals. We had more holidays but all European where they would pay for expensive worldwide package holidays like Safaris. I think their whole family have a better work ethic. I have taken early retirement while they say they are working for many more years.

Alikay

Tabbytabitha wrote: »

I thought it was just a discussion thread about life choices and reasons for them - a bit repetitive , to be sure, but interesting nonetheless.

True - and over the years I've been reading threads on this subject there has been no mellowing of opinions: It still pitches woman against woman, each team railing against the old stereotypes of dressing-gown-clad slattern watching daytime TV or hard-nosed business woman farming out her attachment-disordered offspring to a bevy of underpaid childcare staff!

PasturesNew

I'd LOVE to be a housewife.... the dream of being a housewife with only "domestic duties" was a dream. Unfortunately, Mr Right, who would be needed to pay for the luxury, never bothered to offer me the job.

I still have to do all the work, and earn the money to pay for my roof over my head and all the bills - and do all the jobs myself (or simply leave jobs undone).

Of course, it's important to be a Housewife in the correct household... can't be doing it in a 16th floor 1 bed council flat..... it's only worthwhile if you've got a nice house/garden in a decent little area ... and if the OH's secretary's a minger

pollypenny

When I had my DD there was only a brief maternity leave on offer (6 weeks) and very little child care available. Most people had no choice other than to give up work.

I found it very lonely at first, let alone housework being exceptionally boring!

fred246

All the women that I worked with were jealous that my wife didn't have to work. My wife had demanded a cleaner that I refused. I said that a housewife shouldn't have to employ a cleaner. I was telling them at work and one of the women said "you should have married me. I would have kept your house clean." Then another said "No you should have married me" and they all joined in. I couldn't believe it. A fat old ugly man with a line of pretty young women all saying I should have married them. The only thing I had was a well paid job.

happyandcontented

fred246 wrote: »

All the women that I worked with were jealous that my wife didn't have to work. My wife had demanded a cleaner that I refused. I said that a housewife shouldn't have to employ a cleaner. I was telling them at work and one of the women said "you should have married me. I would have kept your house clean." Then another said "No you should have married me" and they all joined in. I couldn't believe it. A fat old ugly man with a line of pretty young women all saying I should have married them. The only thing I had was a well paid job.

I have to wonder what 'other side of the story' lies behind that sentence!

getmore4less

where this all started is where it starts going wrong.

In life all tasks are only worth what someone will(can/wants) to pay for them.

The idea that all cleaning is worth £12per hour is complete nonsense.

For someone earning min wages they gross £7.83 net £5.32 for an extra hours work.

Unless they can find someone to clean for that then you are better off doing it yourself.

As you earn more there comes a point where paying someone to do a task is worth it financially, but for some jobs adding some trivial no brainer no stress tasks into the work life balance is more value than the net cash.

peachyprice

fred246 wrote: »

All the women that I worked with were jealous that my wife didn't have to work. My wife had demanded a cleaner that I refused. I said that a housewife shouldn't have to employ a cleaner. I was telling them at work and one of the women said "you should have married me. I would have kept your house clean." Then another said "No you should have married me" and they all joined in. I couldn't believe it. A fat old ugly man with a line of pretty young women all saying I should have married them. The only thing I had was a well paid job.

You sound like a right charmer, not.

I can think of nothing worse than staying home to look after a fully grown man with such chauvinistic attitude.

FBaby

Not reported by me. Clearly didn't agree but every post is as worthy as the other. Everyone is free to agree or not, take in what they read or ignore.

fred246

One day I sat down with my calculator. OK I don't need to work. Do I WANT to work? I handed in my notice the next day. Very few people seem to want to work when they don't need to although there certainly are a few. I certainly never met a female member of staff who said she would rather work than be at home.