Supplemental Income

[June Bug]

My daughter is 2yrs,4mo old. Before having her I worked full-time. After my maternity leave was over, I decided I only wanted to work part-time so I could spend more time with her and that is what I have been doing ever since. I work out of the home 19 hours a week and would love to keep this up but am finding working only part-time to be a real strain on our finances. I am looking to start supplementing my income with something I can do from home, preferably in the evenings, at naptime, or on the weekends. I guess I am looking for any ideas, advice, success stories from others in a similar situation.

I have lots of ideas for my own business but haven't been able to make the leap from idea to reality and am not sure I have the time or energy to do so. I just don't know, with our VERY tight financial situation, if it is the right time to start something new or if I should be looking into working for someone else, like some kind of internet company or other company where I can work from home.

Thanks for any thoughts!

[happysmileylady]

IT's tough.  Really tough.

First, financially speaking...you have to spend money to make money.  It costs money to buy work supplies, office supplies, marketing, advertising etc.  Even printing fliers off requires the costs of ink and paper.  And depending how tight your finances are, that can be an issue.

And then theres the time/concentration issue.  It's hard to find time to work when you spend a substantial part of your day changing diapers, preparing food, putting down for a nap, grocery shopping and cleaning up spilled milk.  And, even if you find time to sit and work, there's no guarentee that you will be able to really focus on it.  It's hard to focus on designing a new sales flier, or knit a new hat or whatever, when your 2 yr old is climbing on the banister or wants more juice just 2 minutes after you gave her some and sat down. 

And of course, then your part time job gets in the way too.  I sometimes feel like I can't really get anything else done on the days I have to work.

BUT, that doesn't stop me from trying it.  I work part time in retail, plus I am a photographer, and I sew and sell baby slings and other accessories.  I am finally kicking some things off in both areaas, as I got a little bit of income, so I have used that to sign up for some bridal shows/craft shows.  I didn't have to work today and had planned on working on my displays and on sewing up a few things for the craft show, but none of that got done.  It took over an hour to get the little ones down for their afternoon nap.  I didn't have a chance to eat my meal when the 2 yr old was eating hers because the 5 month old was nursing and I am not coordinated enough to eat over a nursing baby.  So I ended up using nap time to eat, and then when I was done, the 2 yr old was back up, despite the fact that she had only been asleep for half an hour.  And then I had also planned to grocery shop, but that took twice as long as it should have.  Plus I ended up burning dinner, so I had to basically make 2 dinners instead of just one. 

[sunanthem]

I don't stay home with my kids anymore, but I do go to college full time during the day while they are in school. I did stay at home with them for a few years, though, and I still do what I did; babysitting and etsy.

Babysitting is just naturally a good fit. Sometimes I'll sit on the weekends or weeknights, or even over nights, sometimes I take my kids with me if the family is cool with it, sometimes I leave them home.

I also have had a side hobby etsy shop for the last couple years, and add to it when I have time, and that helps out too, if I have more time, I add more to the shop, especially before the holidays b/c I make toys, if I don't have time, I kinda leave it for awhile. I don't do crafts shows of local shops, but have been encouraged to expand to those.. which I probably will do eventually.

Any other small talents you have you can make a few bucks on, and to me mother's word of mouth is the best advertising. Can you clean? Or run errands or petsit? Even those things only take a few hours here and there. Use your talents and talk to people and see what they need.

I may not work like everyone else, but I try to make use of the oppurtunities I see where I can, even a few hours work is more income, so I take the job. In the past I have also; designed logos for local doula biznesses, done Reiki treatments and ear candling treatments, made costumes and such, taught needlefelting classes......

Also look for other ways to make $ besides working such as doing kid's consignment sales, or perhaps selling your garden stuff at the local farmer's market. I sell off my extra strawberries each year. This will be my 3rd year and already people are emailing me now who want first dibs! lol.

just be creative and get to know people. Hope that helps.

[sunanthem]

OH, other suggestion, you just can't try and work with little kids.. it doesn't get much done, believe me, I've tried, BUT,

one thing that helps, especially financially is babsitting trades. You may not be able to swap the baby yet, but find another 4 yr. old and a family you are friends with and you can watch their kid one day, and they watch yours another...

Your kids can get very close with another family and have great friends and playtime this way, too.. we do it all the time.

[June Bug]

Thanks for the ideas! It sure is hard trying to get anything done with little ones around but we just gotta keep trying when we those quiet moments, that or take a nap 

[lactatinggirl]

I donate plasma twice a week and make 200/month doing it. I know it's kind of weird, but I use it as "me" time and read books or what not while DD spends some time with grandparents. The place I go has a daycare area, but your LO has to be potty trained and DD isn't yet. The place I go is really nice and you can make appointments online. It's Biolife. 

[beansmama]

Plasma is a good option, unless yer a wimp, like me! My Dh works at a plasma place...you can't get $200/mo, but close - as long as you go twice a week you'll end up getting monthly "bonuses" and all that. But they are ridiculously strict about certain things - like no piercings or tattoos within the last year. Milwaulkie has a center - talecris (it happens to be the co my dh works for, just a diff. state ;)

[Sharlla]

the plasma center here use to pay $65 a week but they lowered it to $40.  otherwise I would start doing it again.

[umsami]

OK, no where near plasma amounts, but I did learn about Swagbucks on this board.  I've scored 2 $5.00 Amazon gift certificates in the past 2-3 weeks, which is very nice...and I really haven't done anything different.