What if you hired professionals for a month to handle everything spouses usually do themselves? You'd end up with a surprising bill and a great reason to share a laugh together.
A family experiment
One fine evening, a husband and wife decided to start a company. They came up with a name in an instant: "Home Services, 24/7." They appointed the cat as director. He doesn't do anything anyway, but he looks at you with absolute confidence.
The kitchen sends the bill
They started with the dishes. Who did them today? Who did them yesterday? And who won the battle against the burnt pot? Turns out, if you had to pay for every single wash separately, the usual kitchen routine starts looking like a pretty serious line item.
A chef with no days off
Next came the food. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and the eternal question, "What's good to eat around here?" Groceries don't count: they cost money whether bought by the family or a hired chef. But the labor of cooking definitely has a price.
"Dad, let's go!" taxi service
Then came the travel log: kindergarten, after-school activities, the doctor's office, the store, and visiting grandma. Sometimes the husband drives, sometimes the wife. It's a family car and shared routes, but by the end of the month, the trips add up so fast a taxi dispatcher would be begging for a vacation.
The fifth floor with no elevator
Now for the heavy artillery: shifting the wardrobe, carrying the washing machine upstairs, pivoting the sofa in a hallway where even the cat has to walk sideways. Some chores happen rarely, but when they do, life instantly turns into an adventure.
Home technical support
A lightbulb burns out, an outlet sparks, a faucet starts leaking, and a cabinet door decides to live its own life. You could call a handyman. Or you can fix it yourself, provided you have the skills and it's safe. When it comes to electrical work, it's always better to leave complex tasks to a professional.
The yard, the garage, and everything else
The grass grew in the yard, a mysterious box labeled "essential" appeared in the garage, and it's time to change the car's fluids. It's easy to overlook this work until someone suggests looking at the price list for a professional contractor, auto mechanic, or gardener.
Counting services, not each other
That's when the couple made an important discovery: it's much more useful to calculate how many services the family provides with its own hands, rather than keeping score of who owes what to whom. One cooks, the other drives the kids. Tomorrow they swap. Both can do the exact same things, and the calculator accounts for it all.
The chief financial officer
"We're a wealthy enterprise after all!" the husband said, looking at the final total. "Only where's the profit?" the wife asked. A voice from the kids' room chimed in: "Can you buy us some ice cream?" The cat-director remained silent. He had already written off the profits for cat food.
How much is your family's labor worth?
Now it's your turn! Move the sliders separately for him and her, change the price of services, and see the results in dollars. This is a fun experiment, not a competition: there's no need to actually send each other invoices.
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