A Full Plate

Every now and then I hear a stay-at-home mom or wife say that some of her friends and family members with outside jobs think that she has nothing but time on her hands.

It's never that way around here. I'm never bored. I never find myself watching the clock in the middle of the afternoon, wishing the day would be over. I have plenty of work to do. I enjoy my work and wish I had more time to do it most days. Granted, there are days when I spend a little too much time on the computer, but other than that, I don't waste a lot of time here at home. I don't spend my hours watching TV, chatting on the phone, doing unnecessary shopping or reading (I wish!).

I spend my time keeping people, pets and things clean and organized, I cook, and I handle the household finances. Since I am home with Kat more than Shane is, I take on most of the day-to-day parenting duties. Because Shane has been working a lot of late days and Saturdays lately, I'll also be doing a good share of the mowing and lawn care this spring. Those are some of the things I need to do.

I cook from scratch, make some of our household cleaners, carefully plan our meals, keep stock of what foods and household consumables we have on hand, keep a very detailed budget and record of our spending habits, and track such things as our utilities usage. I also earn a (very) small income from mystery shopping and selling items on eBay. I both need and want to do these kinds of things. I do them in part because I enjoy doing them, but also because they help me to provide the kind of home environment Shane and I desire for ourselves and Kat. They help Shane and I move ahead toward a bigger goal -- to be able to live free and simple lifestyle, without the worries of debt, by the time we retire.

With what's left of my day, I enjoy spending my time reading, sewing, knitting or crocheting, and spending more time with Shane and Kat. I do these not because I must, or should, but because I can. These "downtime" activities are the payoff. But like most things in life, there's no payoff without work first. It's wrong (inaccurate) for the workaday world to assume that SAHs jump right to the reward without earning it.

We earn it. We just don't get a paycheck for it.