We single working women are lucky today because we can save so much time and effort by shopping online–for groceries (Peapod in Chicago delivers the stuff right to your kitchen), shoes, clothing, practical homeowner stuff like furnace filters, or whatever. Imagine–the Chicago Public Library system JUST got their system online so you can renew books on the website instead of having to trundle off to the library each time. And if you’re like me, sometimes you end up having to renew books a couple of times because you thought you were going to have time to read but you were too tired too many nights and just wanted to veg in front of the television.
Think about the old days when we had to do everything around the house, work full time, and run around at the most crowded times (after work and on weekends) to get all the shopping and errands done, especially us single moms!
Now I’ve been married (was for 18 years) so I know that it’s pretty much the same for a lot of married women. Many husbands don’t help much with shopping or errands or even doing kid stuff. But the nice thing there is, for most married people, at least there’s the comfort of two incomes when you both work. Incidentally, I greatly admire those families that decide to forego the extras and live in less luxurious quarters because they want mom (or dad) home taking care of the kids.
And I don’t know about you, but I’m always willing to pay a little extra to save the time and aggravation of running around. I figure my time is precious. So then, add the fact that women in general receive about 70 cents for every dollar men receive to the fact that single women are making it on one income, and you’ve got a picture of the financial struggle many single women face. By the way, you can find some good deals on lots of different items (from many of your favorite stores like Home Depot, Target, etc.) at the SWWAN store. Shop here and help SWWAN get points!
We’re going to be focusing on building our network of trusted service providers in the coming years. If you know vendors who deliver reliable, trustworthy service–especially to women–please email us with the business name, type of services, contact info (and your name as the referrer if you like) so we can talk to them about joining the SWWAN-approved vendor network.