Living Fair

The 92 Hour Work Week, How to Bow in Japan

Holy heck, I just saw a pretty scary table comparing a working mother with a stay at home mom's weekly work load. They both clock in at  NORTH of 90 hours. Now, that's my life as a startup entrepreneur right now but this means almost every adult woman is in this boat...Phew! Nasty! Save O Save.

                                            Working Moms Stay at Home Moms
Housekeeper                       7.2 hours           22.1 hours
Cook                                   6.5                   13.6
Day Care Center Teacher    7.2                    15.7
Laundry Operator                4.2                      6.7         
Coordination                        4.6                      4.2
Facilities Manager                3.5                      5.8
Driver                                  2.8                       4.2
Psychologist                         3.5                       3.9
Computer Operator             7.2                        9.1
Janitor                                  3.1                       6.3

Total weekly hours:  49.8 for working moms and a whopping 91.6 for stay at home moms.  Please note that working mothers report working an average of 44 hours a week at their jobs (Salary.com).

Now, let's be serious, this is servitude. This is painful. This is walking across  a hot desert in full Victorian-Era garb with a heavy load...?

How's that for justification for Laborfair.com?...as if we needed justification to hire a cool, trusted, quality person to help us with any or all of the above. Got me thinking now about outsourcing...Can we outsource being a best friend, a wife, and a sexual partner?  Hmmmm, ok, never mind....While I never had a modicum of time to watch any kind of tv, including episodes of the uber-popular "Sex and the City." I'm sure watching Samantha, Carrie, or any of the other urban goddesses on that show perform just one week of this type of effort would have been comical. Manolo Blahniks and Janitoring, that's an odd couple if I ever heard of one.

Bows, Japanese style, are in order. Nothing but pure reverence for you working moms, stay at home moms, you're truly amazing. Now, it's time to stop being amazing and start being kind to yourselves. Like I always say, "do it yourself is overrated" when there's such great "do it for me" available.

We're here to help--Go the FAIR!,

Jenna

Video interview with Jenna Raby, founder & CEO of Laborfair.com

Watch this interview with Jenna Raby, founder and CEO of Laborfair.com. Jenna talks about Laborfair with Steven Tse of eBay during the 2008 San Francisco Home Show. Learn about what Laborfair.com is, its free service to consumers, the range of service providers Laborfair.com offers and how it differentiates from other online marketplaces like Craigslist.

Hairnet's for Trees. I've been there.

Holiday season, wreaths on the door, way too much recycled Christmas music on the radio--it’s that time of year again-run for your life! I'm always feeling out of time or out of money this time of year--that's one of the biggest reasons we created Laborfair--find affordable, quality help fast! Last Christmas, determined to save time, my partner imposed a perfectly measured NET of Christmas lights on our evergreen beauty rather than taking the time to make hoop-skirts of color in his own tribute to creative, organized chaos.  He's an artist, he makes me gorgeous jewelry and beautiful wood sculptures, so this was a travesty. The result? Seen from distance, the tree was pure perfection, lights distributed in perfect equilibrium. If you have ever hung holiday lights on anything, perfect equilibrium is unattainable. It looked bizarre. Up close, an abomination. Wrapped in a straight jacket hairnet of lights, she was confined and unhappy. I protested audibly and we both laughed hard at ourselves. 

How can our lives be so hectic we can’t enjoy the creative process of lighting the holiday tree? It felt definitely incongruous with childhood memories of an evening spent untangling green electrical cords, changing burnt out bulbs and re-positioning lopsided lights all warm inside from Applejack and Dark Rum eggnog. Thankfully, the net returned to its cardboard box and went back to Walgreens. 

Perfection has a place--but not in my life.  I enjoy the "good enough" that yields memories and wonder.This year, I have coordinated holiday clean-up and pack-up through Laborfair. I'll save the time in the aftermath.

At Laborfair, we are true believers that “DIY” is overrated, except when it comes to creativity and self-expression.

Peace. Be well. Be Merry.

 

 

What’s Fair? Laborfair announces Bay Area first quarterly Wage Report

How much to pay for a job well done is a concern and frustration for just about everyone who wants and needs household, personal and family care. As our name suggests, we help you as the consumer make informed decisions about what is a fair hourly wage for your job request.

At Laborfair we create a transparent marketplace that ensures both consumers and providers are fairly charged and compensated for work performed.

Rate Guidance:

Our rate guidance table (visible in the What's Fair section of this blog) can be used as a benchmark for average hourly rates per category in your local area. Use this to help you determine what is the fair wage for your job. The information is a summary of real time data collected across our site on September 22, 2007. Of course, your agreed-upon rate with the provider varies depending on the specifics of your job. We will release these quarterly.

These numbers clearly show that savvy consumers can save money by contracting directly with a qualified and experienced service provider. At the same time, the report gives us a unique window into what people in business for themselves are earning as a living wage instead of what they would earn as a minimum wage at a larger company or agency. The report also highlights some interesting variances around the Bay Area in the costs of services by region. For example, the average fee charged by a handyman on the Peninsula is $33.68 while San Francisco is much less at $22.15. Hmmm, interesting. Other averages across big categories here at Laborfair are:

• Child Care: $19.24/hour
• Housekeeper: $17.83/hour
• Handyman: $25.75/hour
• Adult Care: $17.00/hour
• Gardener: $17.37/hour
• Painter: $22.29/hour

So, now that you are getting your house or apartment in shape for those holiday parties, you know what it might cost you. Enjoy, Jenna