20100104

The Going Rate - The Changing of the Sheets

We have only been paying for work around here for less than a year. It is hard to figure out the going rate for many jobs. Frankly, we don't have a line item in our budget to pay for someone to clean our house. But since we are only paying Miss Love so far, things haven't gotten out of hand.
One thing that I am trying to be careful about is not overpaying for jobs. For instance, changing the sheets on the bed. Right now, taking the sheets off the bed takes a bit of energy, because she is not so big, but the bed is. However, as she gets older the job will get easier and faster. I don't want to pay less then, just because she is better at it. So I tried to pick a wage that may seem small now while the job is tough, but may be about right later. Also, there is room for a raise if need be.
So this is what we have done so far:
  • taking accessories off the bed (blankets, animals, pillows) ...........$.05
  • taking the sheets off the bed (and pillowcases) ..............................$.05
  • taking accessories out of the crib (involves climbing in) ...............$.10
  • taking sheets off the crib ...................................................................$.10
  • taking accessories of Queen bed (guest or master bedroom) ......$.10
  • taking sheets off Queen bed .............................................................$.10

Nobody gets paid to do their own beds. When My Soldier Boy gets old enough, he can do his own bed, and Miss Love will have to find a different source of income. If Soldier Boy decides to pay her out of his own money, then that is his choice.

I cannot wait until Miss Love ( or any of them for that matter) are able to put sheets back on their beds. Especially the crib. I am inclined to pay double for this, just because I don't like it that much. Which is how our economy works. People get paid more to do the jobs nobody else wants.

  • putting sheets on the bed (twin) ....................................................$.25
  • putting accessories back (neatly) ...................................................$.05
  • doing the whole job(twin) ................................................................$.50
  • putting sheets on the crib ................................................................$.50
  • putting accessories back ..................................................................$.10
  • doing the whole job (crib) ................................................................$1.00
  • putting sheets on the Queen ...........................................................$.50
  • putting accessories back ..................................................................$.10
  • doing the whole job (Queen) ...........................................................$1.00

Now, I still stand by the belief that everyone needs to make their own bed daily, but I am happy to pay some one else to change my sheets. And according to her allergist, we should be doing this at least once a week due to the dust mites.

It seems like a lot of work to have the jobs broken down this way, but these kids aren't physically able to do the complete job, yet they are still willing to do work. I want to be able to encourage their industriousness while still being fair. This way they can still get paid for partial jobs, but then they can earn a bonus when the whole job is complete.

So do these seem like fair wages? or am I taking advantage of poor innocent children?

2 comments:

  1. I hated putting sheets on the crib mattress too! Had to pull the mattress out, put the sheet on, try to get the mattress back in without the sheet falling back off or getting all tangled in the bumper and messing up the crib skirt. I know I could have eliminated some of the frustration by not having a bumper or skirt...so glad to be done with cribs!

    I think those are very fair wages! So do you kids get to pick and choose which ones they want to do, then? Or are the expected to do the whole task?

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  2. Thats a good question.
    Right now, they only HAVE to do their own bed, and only Miss Love can take her won sheets off without help. The boys can manage dumping blankets no problem.
    Right now, any jobs have been strictly voluntary (with pay, of course) but if they don't do it, I just do it.
    I am hoping that as my kids get older, I can just list the jobs, and then they will compete for who gets to do it. Maybe I am dreaming.
    But most of the jobs are simply to make my life easier, besides them learning life skills, of course.

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