My desire for my role in the household falls somewhere between the Victorian Mistress of the House, and the concept of the Stepford Wife.
I love the concept of command that the Victorian women had over their household, but also hold close the position of the woman as very much subordinate to her husband, doing all in her power to please him and sate his desires.
My ideal would thus be expressed as a medium between somber organization and happy-go-lucky air-head! (Could I have picked two more contrasting descriptions?).
It is a very difficult thing to take a backseat role when the wife is the breadwinner.
To take a ‘Stepford Wife’ role when shopping, for example could mean that the shopping budget would be blown by the husband’s desire to purchase something of extravagance, being unaware of the finances, or the effect that this frivolous purchase could have.
Furthermore, the attitude/mindset that one has to adopt in order to be successful in the workplace (unless the woman’s role is one of being totally dominated by those around her) is in stark contrast to the role that a person would adopt as a submissive wife.
Unless the woman would be able to have a split mindset, and leave the managerial, businessy ‘jacket’ at the door, I fail to see how it would be possible to operate whole-heartedly under two totally different guises.
Our budget has been and continues to be very tight.
Don’t get me wrong – we manage to live very well with what we can afford, but each month, I find myself biting my nails, and stomping my feet about how we can’t afford x, y, and/or z.
For a family of 2-and-a-bit, we spend a huge amount on groceries each month – and that’s buying the ‘Value’ brands and buying bread from the thrift store (baking my own bread is barely cheaper than buying it from the Thrift store).
We planted a large garden this year, so I hope to be able to can a lot of it for use over the non-producing months.