You know what you earn from your day job, but how much is your work around the home worth?
We’re not talking about putting a price on love; more on the pounds and pence value of cooking, cleaning and childcare.
Research shows* that we can put the value of the average mum and dad’s work in the home as:
Mum - £29,535 a year
Dad - £21,601 a year
This is based on the average pay rates of similar jobs, and as you can see, they aren’t unsubstantial sums. If you weren’t around, paying someone to come in and do those tasks would be beyond the means of the vast majority of families.
Although life insurance can be a huge financial help if a parent dies, the same research found that only 51% of mums and 55% of dads have it.
If your family won’t be able to maintain its current lifestyle if one parent was gone, it might be worth giving it a bit more thought.
No matter what you choose to do though, it’s useful to know that there’s a monetary value to housework. I’m particularly keen to see how much putting the bins out is worth.
* Legal & General’s ‘Value of a Parent’ survey, carried out between 24th April and 4th May 2015
