Money Musings 💭 How I tackle unequal labor at home
In the U.S. women perform 4 hours of unpaid labor per day compared with men’s 2.5 hours.
That’s almost 11 extra hours per week, 45 hours per month, and almost 550 hours per year.
What would you give for an extra 11 hours per week? What would you DO with an extra 11 hour per week?
That’s 11 less hours for our careers, for sleep, for personal development and for (G-d forbid!) FUN.
But, it gets worse...
Did you see the study that found that when women are the breadwinners in a heterosexual relationship they take on MORE of the labor at home?
This keeps me up at night. While I’m not the breadwinner yet, what better place to start than in my own home?
Last month J and I did an unpaid labor audit where we listed out all the things we do at home and for the kids. Then we added an estimate for the amount of time it takes us each month.
With two young kiddos, we are both doing a lot but I was still doing more of the unpaid labor (132 hours to his 122 - 8% more).
We also found that I was doing more of the "urgent" tasks (i.e. the tasks that had to be done within a certain time frame), like getting the kids ready for school or making dinner. While he had a lot more project based tasks he could do on his own schedule, like call insurance companies for hours on end or fill out back to school forms. I think that matters.
From there we came up with some ideas to better even out the workload and made a plan to review the audit once per month.
This was just a first look. Revisiting will help us account for anything we estimated incorrectly, tasks we forgot about or just general changes in our lives.
While we know it will never be perfect, our goal is that we plan for equal and then allow room for some flexibility throughout the week.
I’d love to hear from you. Do you feel like you do the same amount of unpaid labor as your partner? Have you ever done an unpaid labor audit or something similar?
MONEY MOVE OF THE WEEK
CELEBRATE NATIONAL HSA DAY!
October 15th is National HSA day! Yes, this might be the nerdiest holiday EVER lol BUT HSAs are magical accounts so I want to make sure you know about them.
What’s an HSA?
HSA stands for Health Savings Account and you are eligible to contribute to one if you have a high deductible health insurance plan (deductible over $1,400 for an individual and $2,800 for a family). You can set aside pre-tax money into your HSA (up to $3,650 for an individual and $7,300 for a family in 2022) and use the money on eligible medical expenses tax-free. 🤩
But - there’s more!
You don’t have to use the money the year you contribute it (or even in the next 10 years).
Once your balance hits a certain level, you are able to invest the money in the account and have it grow tax-free. TAX-FREE. No paying capital gains taxes - just like your 401(k) and/or IRA!
We are eligible for and max out our HSA each year. We tend to need more of the money than we expect for medical expenses (anyone else notice their health care costs going up each year?!!) but we’re able to invest in the account and are slowly but surely building that balance.
You can celebrate National HSA Day by looking into your eligibility and getting yourself signed up, if applicable.
At the very least, they’re a great way to get a discount on the medical expenses you’ll be paying for anyway.
YOU GOTTA SEE THIS
REGISTER TO VOTE!
At the Fiscal Femme we talk a lot about the disparities women, BIPOC, people with disabilities, mothers, and the LGBTQ+ community face, usually in a compounding way.
These disparities impact every area of our finances and culminate in a tremendous wealth gap.
We need changes in policy to close these gaps. And that starts with your vote. 🗳
We are less than one month away from the midterm elections. Make sure you are registered to vote!
You can check to make sure you are registered here and then register if you’re not.