A full-time housewife has shared why she chose to ditch “hustle culture” to serve her house and husband.
Amanda Mosallam had a “typical” experience in her early to mid-twenties, spent socialising and climbing the career ladder.
But that all changed when she met her now-husband, Anthony, in November 2022, with the couple going on to marry a year later.
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The 29-year-old quit her job as an admin assistant a month after getting engaged, in favour of embracing her new role as a wife and homemaker.
She now calls herself a ‘tradwife’ – taking on traditional gender roles in the relationship, such as cooking and cleaning, while her husband owns a home inspection business.
Amanda is also a ‘homesteader’ – growing crops and preserving food on her land.
While her lifestyle now appears picture-perfect, it’s a far cry from the path she was on a decade ago.
“In my teens and early twenties, I lived a pretty typical modern young woman’s life,” Amanda, who lives in Georgia, US, told What’s The Jam.
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“I bounced around jobs, got a degree, dated around, got my heart broken, struggled with depression and binge drinking, and found myself quite aimless at 25.
“I was working in an industry that I’m passionate about, but the 9-5 life just wasn’t for me.
“I knew I wanted the freedom to plan my own schedule and pursue my interests outside of the workforce.
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“I was also starting to delve into my faith, which largely, shaped my foray into wifehood.
“I think most people would agree that who we are at 19 is – or at least should be – in stark contrast to who we are at 29.
“I’m pleased that’s the case for myself.
“They say your brain isn’t fully developed until your mid-twenties, which was about the time I realised I wanted to be a wife and began dating exclusively for the purpose of marriage.”
Despite feeling “groomed” to become a “strong, independent boss babe”, Amanda says she “broke the mould” when she met 31-year-old Anthony and embraced the traditional elements of wifehood.
Amanda describes her life as being “rooted in faith and obedience”, having joined the Orthodox Christian church after growing up catholic, and then being a self-described atheist during her late teens and early twenties.
Now, a typical day involves laundry, cleaning and housework, cooking meals from scratch, baking bread and baked goods for her husband and loved ones, exercise, volunteer work, and hobbies like crocheting and writing poetry.
She rarely drinks, focusing on her health and wellbeing, and “looks for ways to serve family, friends and the community”.
She and Anthony have 11 chickens and two goats on their land, who Amanda helps tend to.
Her lifestyle has garnered some backlash, but Amanda doesn’t let it bother her.
She said: “I get the occasional hateful comment/DM from feminists or people who simply don’t understand the tradwife lifestyle.
“A few people in my personal life may not fully understand my lifestyle, but they try to be as supportive as possible.”
Far from the common notion that tradwives are heavily restricted, Amanda says the opposite is true for her.
She explained: “As a full-time homemaker, I have the ultimate freedom to spend my time how I want to.
“I no longer have to rush out the door in the morning or partake in hustle culture.
“To people who criticize this way of life, I’d say that they probably don’t really understand it.
“Many people falsely assume that couples who live on one income are wealthy – when in reality, most of us are frugal, middle-class folks who budget and live within our means.
“Since the tradwife lifestyle has been trending in recent years, many people are associating it with the 1950s housewife archetype.
“While I understand the sentiment, it’s not really accurate.
“The goal of our lifestyle is to slow down and reclaim our heritage as women, learning skills that predate the Industrial Revolution.
“Women have been wives and homemakers for all of human history and, if anything, the 1950s is a bad example of this lifestyle, because that era glorified convenience and consumerism.
“I think a big reason people associate tradwives with the 1950s is because that was the last era that women mostly wore dresses and skirts.
“Yes, we tradwives are known for our dresses and skirts – but that’s just scratching the surface of who we are and what we believe in.”
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