We talk a lot about negotiation, but I want to take a minute to talk about something else that is holding women back at work: all the unpaid labor we do at home. 

On average, women spend 7 hours a week more than men on unpaid labor (BLS).  That means the average man gets 7 more hours a week to work/relax/workout/sleep/make connections/enjoy life.  Talk about a competitive advantage.

It’s my suspicion that the difference is even larger for professional workers – just by looking around, it seems that those men are more likely to have stay-at-home wives, thus lessening the amount of unpaid labor they need to do to keep the house running.  The things I would do for a stay-at-home wife 😊.

This really hit home (pun intended) about a month ago.  Inspired by a conversation with Cami (more on her below), I sat down and built a super-simple spreadsheet to calculate how much time – and the dollar value of that time – I was spending on housework.  The final number blew my mind: 25 hours per week not including childcare.  How much better would my business be if I diverted some of that time to work?  How much less stressed would I be if I allocated more time to relaxing?  How much happier would my family be if I used some of that time to just PLAY?

I started making moves.  I outsourced laundry using sudshare.  I experimented with meal prep companies. I got serious about my husband contributing more.  All in all, for an extra $100 a week, I have gained 12 hours.  That’s 600 more hours a year. 

And this doesn’t just matter for working moms.  A conversation with Vivian, our phenomenal digital marketing manager, reminded me how much the extra time matters before marriage and kids too.  More time with friends.  More sleep.  More time to kick butt at work.  More time to do things you love.  

If you want to go down this path but could use some help, I highly recommend reaching out to cami@wifeco.com.  Talking with her got me into gear, and I’m loving these extra hours.

Here’s to having more time to use however YOU want to.

PS.  If you decide you want to try sudshare, this is good for $10 off your first order.