How Did Marriage Become a Mark of Privilege?

Re:How Did Marriage Become a Mark of Privilege? by RijilV on Monday September 25, 2017 @09:30PM (#15335496)

This is a good misconception and undervaluing of what work means. Just because someone lacks a paycheck does not mean they do not work. Since my spouse retired we eat out half as much, we are both in better shape, we grow a non-negligible amount of our own food, have organic eggs from our own chickens, etc etc. our weekends are no longer packed with house work, small and medium sized home improvement projects happen at cost without paying someone else.

We have a fanancial planner and have gone through multi excersizes tracking our spending. The end result is the work my spouse does saves around $50k a year in expenditure alone, not to mention the physical and mental health improvements.

I think we often forget what work means.

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Re:How Did Marriage Become a Mark of Privilege? by dpark on Tuesday September 26, 2017 @04:58AM (#15337195)

Replace "work" with "work for a paycheck". Obviously there is a lot of work to be done at the house (though not every stay-at-home spouse does this), and I don't think I really implied otherwise. The context of "work" was pretty clear.

I'll be honest, though, I think your financial planner is telling you what you want to hear. $50k reduction in expenses is huge, especially given that you didn't even mention childcare. You essentially listed food, cleaning, and labor for small home projects. And you only reduced your eating out by 50%. I'd be interested in seeing the numbers because I can't imagine how you're saving the equivalent of a ~$70k salary every year by cleaning your own house, doing your own small home projects (Is your wife really hanging drywall during the day while you're at work? If you're doing these home projects on nights/weekends, you're double counting.), and cutting your eating out budget by 50%. Do you eat at Michelin star restaurants multiple times per week?

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