Some questions - thrift forums, turning a spare room into cash, part-time work - Page 2

[laura163]

Don't freak out about working Christmas Eve. I had to do it this year for the first time. My store closed at 6, it was so slow after lunch that I think I left early.

[Smokering]

I'm hoping I get paid soon for my article. Once I have some cash in the bank I can "fund" a mystery shop to a shoe store (you have to purchase a pair of shoes and then return them the next day); it pays $40, which is pretty good for a mystery shop!

I've been looking at free Wordpress templates. I have all this natural haircare info (I've written lots of articles about it for Suite101) and have been vaguely meaning to make a blog about it for ages. I know it's not a get-rich-quick scheme, or even a get-rich-at-all scheme, but
I might be able to make a few adsense pennies out of it, so!

Right. This week's to-do list (which, yes, is suspiciously similar to my last; there's a lot of stuff I didn't get done!):

-Fill in mystery shopping form with new bank details; send image of it to mystery shopping company

-Call Sacred Heart again re invigilating

-Write CV and send it off with cover letter (I wrote a CV yesterday, but DH said it was more like a cover letter)

-Ring survey place and ask about bringing the baby along

-Ring the Autistic Association re tutoring

-Write tutoring ad

-Get DH to help make up an overnight nannying ad

Also:

-Divide fruit box up for SIL

-Visit SIL

-Make shopping list

-Go to supermarket

-Make baby present for Saturday's baby shower

-Bake bread

-Visit friend who just had a baby, with some kind of food

-Bake snacks for choir

Edited by Smokering - 8/31/11 at 3:08am

[JudiAU]

Originally Posted by lilyka 

around here a nanny gets paid way more than a part time babysitter.  Probably double.  The adds I was looking at ranged from $15-$20 an hour. So for 8 hours....remember to educate yourself on local tax laws.   In the states nanny's get assaulted with taxes.

I am curious what you mean by "nanny's get assaulted with taxes." In my experience nannys either work under the table, in which case they pay no taxes, get paid partially in cash and partially on the books, in which case their tax exposure is very low, or are paid fully on the books with their employeer covering everything besides income taxes. Most get paid vacation time and if they receive health care assistance, it isn't taxable income. If they have children, they probably quality for the earned income credit which reduces their tax liability to almost nothing.

How are they"assulted with taxes." Very curious.

[Smokering]

Yeah, I'm aware of the need to take care of taxes (my sister got in trouble over taxes awhile back - she was innocent, just clueless). DH is self-employed and SIL used to work at Inland Revenue, so between them they know a bit about taxes. I just had to find out my tax code for mystery shopping! I'll probably make, like, $100 over the course of a year, but it still gets taxed. Oh well!

I just spent a slightly depressing half-hour chasing up editors to ask why they haven't responded to my queries. I don't mind an outright rejection - well, I do, I mean, duh, but it's better than sending off a query into the void and getting no response at all. Makes me feel like a very small fish... which I am. :p I should look into writing for the newspaper, but for some reason that seems far more scary than writing for magazines. I think I watched too many episodes of Lois and Clark, and got this impression of hard-bitten cynical professionalism complete with power-padded shoulders and heels; none of which is me. I'd like to write for the Lifestyle section (kind of a pull-out magazine thing), not covering actual current events so much as doing the odd op-ed or humour column. But I have no idea how to get into it.

ETA: Tomorrow I'm doing two mystery shopping assignments. If I do 'em right, that's $65. Not too shabby! I just signed up for another two mystery shopping companies. I won't be able to do it that often, because of the baby; but I can at least look out for worthwhile assignments.

Edited by Smokering - 8/31/11 at 3:10am

[insidevoice]

Originally Posted by Smokering 

 I should look into writing for the newspaper, but for some reason that seems far more scary than writing for magazines. I think I watched too many episodes of Lois and Clark, and got this impression of hard-bitten cynical professionalism complete with power-padded shoulders and heels; none of which is me. I'd like to write for the Lifestyle section (kind of a pull-out magazine thing), not covering actual current events so much as doing the odd op-ed or humour column. But I have no idea how to get into it.

Depending on the size of your paper, it is worth sending some samples of your work to the editor and telling them that you are available. In many cases though, they want someone who will be willing to pick up coverage of small local events that won't exactly be front page subject-matter, but it can be intriguing anyway. They usually have no shortage of reporters wanting to cover the big stuff, but it can be pulling teeth to get coverage of the other stuff that's less flashy.  Of course, it doesn't always pay well, but it IS usually something, and the connections are local and often lead to a small column. 

I started simply by covering local small subjects- or those that were controversial enough the editor didn't want her name associated with an article, and progressed from there.  I think it was initially something like $75 for 300-500 words.  From there, I've managed to springboard to other publications and haven't sent a query in about three years.  I am able to pick up pieces I would like to do when they are offered, and don't have to jump through the hoops to get there anymore. It's a nice place to be, but I wouldn't have reached that point if I hadn't been broke enough to start out doing the local boring stuff (we refer to it as the Chicken Dinner News- Aunt May visited Billy Bob last week for supper, and Vern decided to sell the ranch to the new owners from California don'tcha know! )  An extra $75 a week made a difference, I wrote anything I was asked to write, and I bit my tongue as  it was dumbed down and poorly edited.  

[lilyka]

Originally Posted by insidevoice 


\(we refer to it as the Chicken Dinner News- Aunt May visited Billy Bob last week for supper, and Vern decided to sell the ranch to the new owners from California don'tcha know! )  

HAHAHAHA...this made my day.  I remember visiting my grandma for a summer in Ouray CO and my arrival, stay and departure all made the newspaper.  Whats even funnier is people read it and stopped into my job to welcome me to town and introduce themselves.

[insidevoice]

Originally Posted by lilyka 

HAHAHAHA...this made my day.  I remember visiting my grandma for a summer in Ouray CO and my arrival, stay and departure all made the newspaper.  Whats even funnier is people read it and stopped into my job to welcome me to town and introduce themselves.

It's seriously crazy.  We cut back on it at one point because really, well, it's not 1922- but there was a HUGE outcry from the older folks in town.  We had to put it back. In a 12 page paper, it took up two pages! 
 

[Smokering]

Just thought I should update!

I got my own bank account. :) I'm currently making miniscule fragments of money here and there. $5 for one mystery shop, $40 for another (and a free $15 purchase for another, which will be one of DD's Christmas presents). $70 carer support money for looking after my disabled sister last night and today. $120 for my last month's internet articles.

So that's something, I guess! It'll add up; I'm not spending any of it. When I get a decent chunk I want to invest it, purely because it sounds exciting and adult.

I put up a bunch of ads around Uni the other day, offering my services as a tutor. DH did the copywriting (that's his job, largely) and it was a cool ad, but I'm not too sanguine about getting responses. I also rang a lady about a short-term gig picking up her daughter and taking her to school, but I doubt she'll respond - I only have my restricted licence, so really shouldn't be doing it anyway. I also pitched four more articles to my editor this morning - hopefully she'll let me write two articles for the next issue.

I still haven't advertised my services as a tutor for young kids yet, or put up ads around the hospital for night-time nannying (the ad on the intranet didn't go through - it counts as "business promotion". Sigh.)  DH needs to help me with those and he's pretty busy.

Sometime soon I want to go to the dump and look for furniture to refurb. I figure I'll start with just one or two pieces, and if I make a decent profit on them I'll get more into it. The idea appeals...

Any more ideas are greatly welcome!

[hopefulfaith]

Nice work!!  I've been following along and rooting for you.  :)

[Smokering]

Thanks hopefulfaith. :)

To update... no responses from the tutoring ads at Uni. A shame; they were good ads, too. DH is a copywriter and helped me write 'em.

I haven't done much more about finding a "proper" job, because DH got another client and things were less tight for awhile. They're back to being tight again, though; I guess I should get used to that for the time being. The frustrating thing is, people LOVE DH. He's very good at what he does. A bigwig in the marketing biz wants him to speak at three conferences next year, in Australia, Portugal and London! Hopefully that will get him the exposure he needs for lots of clients; currently, though, he gets tons of fanmail and not that many clients. It's weird.

Anyhoo. I've been making bits of money here and there. Got two $70 mystery shop jobs last week (which would be more exciting if I didn't have to fork out $200 each time for a pair of shoes... I get the money back, but I like to see my balance going up, not down!). Sold some books, again for $70. Mum's going to sell some more for me on Harvest Curriculum Swap, a homeschooly resource Ebay-type deal. And I've put the rest on TradeMe, although I doubt I'll get much for 'em. These are ones I don't read any more, though, so even a few dollars is better than donating!

The really exciting news is.... my friend's mother rang me and wants to rent us the cottage on their orchard! It needs doing up, which they're currently doing, and she won't let us see it until that's done lest we get put off; but it could be awesome. She said they'd charge about $200 a week, and we're currently paying $340! We can have chickens, and a veggie garden, and it's out of town but not too far out (takes about 7 minutes to drive in, she says). And it's surrounded by plum and apple trees.

I'm trying not to get too excited, because DH won't consider the place if he doesn't like the looks of it; but it could be just what we need. We've always wanted to live in the country and do the homestead thing, and this would be a great chance to practice, AND save on rent at the same time!

I did try to find some old furniture to do up from the dump shop the other day. No luck. Still toying with various crafty ideas - selling kids' aprons? Selling fancy tote bags? Etsy shop? (Ehh, there are like a billion of those, though, and I don't have just one product with enough potential to open a specialised shop; and I don't tend to trust the "dabbly" ones much - you know, the ones that sell a crocheted this and a knitted that and a few cloth nappies and a hat and a maternity dress and a vintage lamp - they don't seem very professional. So at the very least I'd have to do a LOT more research and product development.)