ADAM ADVANCES HIS CAREER WHILE I LOOK AFTER THE CHILDREN

GEMMA KNELL, 34, lives in Burgess hill, West Sussex, with husband adam, 35, a marketing director, and their three children, aged two, five and eight. She says: When adam called me with news of his recent promotion, which came with a significant pay rise, it was proof that I’m worth every penny of my ‘mummy salary’.

paying me £300 a month for the past two years has let him focus entirely on his career, without worrying about school drop-offs, pick-ups or poorly children.

When we f ound out I was expecting our third child, we both knew it would cost too much in childcare to be worth my while returning to my job in the offices of an airline company.

having always earned my own money until that point, the last thing I wanted was to have to go to adam if I needed, or wanted, something new. so, adam pays the mortgage, utilities and grocery bills, then sets aside an extra £300 a month as a thank you for the work I put in at home looking after our three children.

It’s up to me what it goes on, and mostly I use it to buy clothes, or a trip to the hairdresser or beautician, and every nine months or so I have my eyebrows micro-bladed, at a cost of £150.

Usually I’d meet friends and my sisters for lunch, or girlfriends for dinner, at a restaurant. I would feel uncomfortable adding those costs, which feel like indulgences, to the household budget, so, psychologically, it helps me enormously knowing they come out of my ‘allowance’. and I budget, just like everyone else. If I want something expensive, I save.

Before Christmas and the children’s birthdays, adam transfers an extra couple of hundred pounds so I can buy presents.

I look forward to earning my own money again one day, but earning my keep concentrating on mummy duties is definitely right for us for now.