How do you think you would fare as a housewife?

Well I don’t want children. I have a dog I love.
I’d get a job at some kind of coffee shop because I love making coffee and serving people.
I would live in a city like Philadelphia or Boston. I’d fill my day exploring the city and doing things with my friends.
I couldn’t stay in the house all day. I would go absolutely insane.
Not having a career would probably make me feel a bit inferior, but I think I’d get over that. Or if it’s an option, go to college. Provided we had the money of course.
All in all, I think I would enjoy it. I don’t know.
I know what I described sounds very far fetched and like wishful thinking.

Do I have to clean or can I hire someone to do that?

Does a poolboy come with this arrangement? :)

Well, first things first: being a man, I would not like being called a housewife.

I do it now. For now it is fine. I don’t think it is a good idea to do it for your whole adult life, too limiting.

There would be some serious murder/suicide going on, unless I got to fake my death and flee to another country.

Why exactly are there no children or pets (save for one) in this scenario?

I look cute in an apron, just sayin :¬)

I am a very good housewife :-) I work part time, we have a dog and a budgie, no children, and I fill my time pretty well (when I’m able) with housework as well as hobbies like reading, writing when I get the urge, I wish I had more energy and didn’t get “flattened” so easily, but again thats due to health issues. I work part time because thats all I can cope with due to chronic pain/fatigue, but I consider myself very lucky. Especially so in my choice of hubby, he’s never, ever made me feel inferior (quite the opposite bless him). I’ve been blessed and I’m very grateful.
huggles xx

I could do that. I’d even enjoy it, as long as I could ride my bicycle during the week.

Or, a poolgirl?

I could do it for a while, but, I would be awfully bored and feel pretty unfulfilled if I let it go on too long.

I’m not supported by anyone, but I already only work about 20 hours/week, have no kids, and two cats (shared between two adults in the house). Maybe it would seem different ifI were supposed to be a housewife. I might feel more trapped? Maybe somewhat discounted/inferior? But right now I just enjoy the freedom of working part time. It means I have time for hobbies and stuff.

I suspect that if I were being supported, I’d probably do more volunteer work than I do now, and I might work at a fun part-time job that doesn’t pay as well. Maybe I’d make a better effort to keep the house clean! I short, I think I’d do OK as a “housewife”, but I’d have to find some meaningful work outside the home… or an amazing hobby.

Sign me up! I enjoy being home and would definitely like not being the one responsible for bringing home the bacon.
No matter where I am I can entertain myself. You can lock me in a 8×8 cell and I wouldn’t be bored.
I would like to add a few items to your list of duties: I will do the finances and taxes, clean out the rain gutters, keep the driveway plowed, prepare meals, and even greet you at the door freshly showered and wearing a thong every now and then.

Is the position still open?

I need to engage my mind no matter what job I currently have. So, under your rules I’d probably volunteer or negotiate heavily to work more hours.

I love reading but there is only so much reading you can do before you go crazy and need to do something. I tend to burn through “hobbies” too. So I’d probably get to a point where I’d need some community involvement.

I’d be really ok with being a housewife, but not necessarily this housewife.

I would like being the type of housewife who cooks in the kitchen all day, and not the type who watches soaps all day. I think I would keep the house in order, cooking and cleaning but also have my own interests too. I’m an artist and writer, I would be happy to be a “kept” person if it gave me the chance to work on my creative projects. I would feel inferior to my partner by not earning as much of something that’s make believe anyway.

@all: You can hire people– Cooks, maids, etc.
Now I’ll actually read the responses…

I do just fine thank you.

except I don’t have a poolboy :-(

Add 4 kids, a tight budget and lots of community volunteer work and you describe my life.
I am not bored, I am happy and my spouse does sometimes try to make me feel inferior.

@MyNewtBoobs It’s to limit responsibility. If there were children in this scenario, then there would be mothering, which is definitely a full time job. Being a mother would also limit what activities a person could do such as smoking, drinking, traveling, and going out whenever you wanted to.

@wilma How can you be happy if your spouse tries to make you feel inferior?

@Facade my happiness depends on me not him.
I am not inferior to him, whether he wants to think so or not.

@Facade “your spouse tries to make you feel inferior?” wasn’t listed as part of the job description. Besides nobody can ‘make me feel’ anything. It is under my control.

Except when the other person is scantly clad. Then they can make me do anything. ;-)
(I see @wilma beat me to it.)

Oh, and I’ll mow the grass and keep the oil in the car changed too.

@worriedguy “scantily clad housewives” sounds like a TV drama ;-)

@wilma I might even watch that show.
When I’m sitting at my computer in the morning, I’m scantly clad in my ‘tighty whities’.

I need a wife like @worriedguy, do you do windows?

Absolutely. Both car and house.
Doesn’t everyone?

well, just giving my input- I was a housewife, cooked and cleaned, and acted as personal assistant and valet. I wasn’t allowed to work or anything like that. I never felt inferior, that’s between you and you. However, now it’s over, and I have all these years of no employment, as I never could pay the fees to keep my professional license up during this time and no way could I retake the boards. So I am staying with friends, on foodstamps, and driving a car that gets about 12 mpg. So be careful about the arrangements you make!

As long as there was enough money with one income to support ourselves, I would LOVE it. I love to cook, don’t mind house work, don’t have or want any children, I have a kitty. I love to paint and take photographs and make crafts and gardening and doing the grocery shopping and don’t mind running errands. I can make and hang art, arrange furniture and do a credible job with interior design. I don’t get bored easily and I like routine. So for me, it would be great!

@trailsillustrated that is the downside and my biggest fear.

That was my life for some years and I was fine with it, just wish my partner had been a happier person, more willing to go out of the house in his time off.

Each morning I had no issure to wake up and make us breakfast, clean the carpets real quick, groom the dog, wash our clothes and make sure all he had to do was open his eyes each morning, shower, eat and reach into any drawer, pull any hanger and what he needed would be there. What I did have issue with was living in a place I had no friends, no family, no car to drive, etc.

Working makes me happy. I really get some sort of perverse joy out of putting in a 60-hour week, studying into the wee small hours, etc. The feeling of accomplishment is a lot like the adrenaline/ endorphin high after a good workout. Being a housewife would not make me happy.

Sounds like a rather barren and purposeless life to me.

I wouldn’t.

It would depend on the guy. I’m guessing that it wouldn’t be so great.

Ps I was a board certified dentist with 10 year of education. I have been out of the work force for so long, today I went to a class to keep my food stamps with people 20 years younger than myself. It was fun, I don’t fear the future, just saying if you are a house wife have all your ducks in a row, you never know. I never thought for one moment this would happen to me now.

At this point in my life, I would love it.

I love to clean and food shop and am a pretty decent cook. I have a dog and there’s a ton of people I’d love to catch up with socially.

With my 25 hours of work, I could still pursue photography and graphic design.

I would miss my daughter though. Can I keep her? I could volunteer at her school too.

Truthfully, I’d probably be just as busy as I am now – but it’d be a nice change of pace from the work-two-jobs, 60-hour a week freight train I’ve been on for years (plus I still have to clean house, pay bills, care for the dog, and help care for my daughter anyway).

So, uh…where do I sign up?

I could probably do that under those conditions (although having at least one dog is a must) but I would definitely have to have a part time job so that I had a bit of independance. I wouldn’t feel inferior to my partner. I am on a much lower wage than him anyway so I can’t imagine it being much different. I would fill my time with my part time job, keeping the house tidier than it is right now (!), volunteering at the local dogs home or maybe studying.

I thought I would love it. I wanted to be Little Susie Homemaker – baking, cleaning, gardening, making dinner every night.

It is not like that for me; however, it is my own fault. It probably could be like that, but I am bored. I don’t have the self-motivation to get going on these things. I sleep a lot, watch TV, read, surf the net. I feel pretty worthless. I am ready to go back to work.

I am a housewife, and I love it. I don’t believe I was ever cut out for the “rat race.”
When I am not dealing with anxiety (which has been a big issue for me for a while now), I find it easy to fill my time. I enjoy volunteering, and I love having a part time job. I’m just not career minded.. which I don’t believe is the same as lazy, and I think I’m learning to be okay with that.