Monetizing Motherhood and Marriage

Oooh, I love my title. Anyway, these days a dollar price can be put on virtually anything, so i decided to do the same for marriage. I remember this being done in the news a few years ago, but it was really unrealistic; they basically added up the salaries of a driver, chef, tutor, etc to get the final figure.

I'm trying to give the absolute minimum values for each 'service' provided. For example, under 'nanny services', i only accounted for a workday of 8-6, even though realistically, a mother often has to 'work' in the evening and overnight. I didn't want it to seem like I was trying to inflate figures. Obviously, these aren't official, just for fun.

HUSBAND offers:

1.Rent&utilities-$500/month (cost of 1 bedroom apartment/2)
2.Groceries- $100/month ($300/3)
3.Cell phone bill -$40/month
4.Sperm donation-$50 per pregnancy
5. Round trip airfare- $2000/year
6. Used car like Toyota- $5000 one time cost
7. Auto insurance- $2000/year (wife has own car)
8. Health insurance- $2000/year
9. Gas expenses- $1200/year

So assuming one year, the cost would be $6000 rent+$1200 groceries+$480 cell phone+$50 'donation' (lol) +$2000 airfare+$5000 car+2000 car ins+2000 health ins+1200 gas = $19,930

Since a car is not bought every year, the cost would be $14,930/year.


WIFE offers:

1.Housekeeping-deep clean 4 times a month - $400. There is no charge given here for light daily cleaning like dishes, since that comes under the 'nanny' section.
2.Egg donation --$8000 per pregnancy.
3.Surrogacy -$23,000 per pregnancy.
4.Wet Nurse Services- $1000/week for actual nursing, $700/week for milk from a milk bank. Source: http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/marie-claire/features/society-celeb/article/-/5886111/wet-nurses-the-latest-a-list-accessory/
5. Nanny Services. The cost of having a nanny from 8-6 7 days a week at $12/hour would be $3600/month. The assumption is that duties are shared on the weekend. This figure includes services such as doing laundry, cooking during the day, driving and light housekeeping related to the children; since a normal nanny would do all these duties.
6. Cooking Services. The average chef in an average restaurant gets paid about $10/hour. If we assign the same cost to the wife's labor, and assume she cooks 5 days out of 7, the cost is $200 a month. For breakfast and lunch, we are assuming that husband makes his own and we're not including dinner parties.

The monetary value of services provided here depends a lot on the reproductive status of the Wife. some figures:

A year where woman is stay-at-home but as no child:
$4800 housecleaning+$2400 cook service= $7200

A year where woman is working and gets a maid and orders takeout.
still $7200 since she still has to pay someone else for those services. If a stay at home mom with no kids does this, then it's zero.

A year where woman is pregnant and has her baby in month 9:
$4800 housecleaning+$8000 egg donor+$23,000 surrogacy+$12,000 for 3 months breastfeeding+$10,800 for 3 months of nannying+$2400 for cook service=$61,000

A year where woman has children at home but not pregnant or breastfeeding:
$4800 housecleaning+ $43,200 for 12 months nannying+$2400 cooking=$50,400

INTANGIBLES given mutually:

These things don't have a monetary value; some people would say they are 'priceless'.

-Companionship
-Love
-Lovingzzz (yes some people might call it prostitution, but i think that's crude, since in marriage, it should be a mutual thing)
---
To make it more 'even'
Woman could be a work-outside-the-home mom and pay all her own bills
Housekeeping could be exactly 50/50
Egg/sperm donation could be considered an even exchange (maybe i should remove them in the other calcs too)?
Kid could be on formula rather than breast milk or milk could be bought
Kid could go to nanny
Food could be ordered from outside

Then everything would be even, other than the big task of pregnancy. In countries where women don't work, the guy's income is a huge deal, since the girl would never be able to provide for herself after marriage and kids. Obviously nannies and daycares are not popular in those countries (i don't think any even exist in Pakistan) so after kids, it is very necessary for her husband to be able to earn. So over there, the marriages are mostly out of income concerns rather than a companionship type thing.

In the States, money matters too. Wealthy women usually like to marry a guy as successful as themselves. However, the importance of money to a potential wife is reduced a lot since she is earning herself, and then companionship and romantic compatibility carry a greater weight.

However, despite people marrying for 'love' nowadays, I'm surprised that old school attitudes towards money persist. Men often treat their wife like a child rather than an equal partner just because she is not earning. Like they'll stay stuff like, "oh you spent $5 at starbucks, you could've made chai at home". These men would definitely not question a nanny for spending $5; why are they questioning their wife? Shouldn't they be more lenient and generous with the mother of their child? I hope wives of cheap guys can make them realize this.