This Dad Did The Math And Figured Out The Stay At Home Moms Should Earn $73,960 A Year

His blog post on the calculations went viral across the country.

When Steven and Glory Nelms of Dallas had their son Ezra, they decided that because of child-care prices it would be more affordable for Glory to stay home and raise him.

Steven Nelms

Seeing all that his wife does, Steven decided to calculate a numerical value for his wife's work to help him better understand and appreciate it.

Steven Nelms

Steven told BuzzFeed News that he delved into online research and even consulted some experts to figure out how much his wife's work would actually earn her. The amounts were pretty staggering:

Cleaning Service: $50 to 100 per visit at least once a week.
Personal Shopper: $65 per hour at four hours a week.
Chef: $240 a week.
Laundry: $25 a week at the bare minimum.
PR Assistant when she accompanies him to work functions: $75 per hour.

With those and other estimates, Steven calculated that the total earnings for all of his wife's work should $73,960 per year.

Steven is actually not the first to make the calculation. Others have done the same, and his number actually lies on the low end of the spectrum, with some calculations putting the total earnings in the six-figure range.

Steven Nelms

He wrote up the results in a post on his blog, We Found Glory, where his calculations quickly garnered national attention. Steven told BuzzFeed News that the reaction has been been mixed, but mostly positive.

Steven Nelms

"I think the vast majority of articulated responses have been positive. However, the big misinterpretation has been that by me praising my wife for doing what she does, I'm saying that we're doing it the right way and everyone else who doesn't match our family dynamic has got it wrong," he said. "And that's just simply not the case."

Writing the post really helped him grasp the concept of shared income, Steven said.

Steven Nelms

"I always understood the idea that my income is our income," he said, "but this really shed light on exactly how much she does deserve, and how essential it is to understand that no cent of what I 'earn' belongs solely to me as if I'm the only one earning it."

He added that his big takeaway was that appreciation really does go a long way.

Steven Nelms

"I think the big lesson to be had is to be mutually appreciative of what the other contributes to the provision for the family. Be specific with what you're appreciative of and remind them of that frequently."

Apr. 08, 2015, at 14:42 PM

The Nelms live in Dallas. An earlier version of this post incorrectly said they lived in Houston.