What does everyone do for income? - Page 2 « Back to Group Discussions

[katealicia]

I am so excited I found this group. I am very young still, so most of my peers haven't figured out the type of life everyone has been telling us we're supposed to live is so empty. I always knew I would rather stay home and be frugal, but I got a full-time job for a while just to see what it was like. It was horrible! I can't stand the idea of spending all my time doing aomeone else's work so that I can earn money to pay someone else to do my work (eat out instead of cooking, buying things I could have made,etc). Right now I stay home and dh is a student so we are living off financial aid and his part time job. But we both agree that it's better this way. Someday I would love for him to not have to work a regular job either, but it's going to take a while. Once he graduates he has a military obligation, so I'm hoping that the steady income will enable us to pay off my student loan debt and then start saving for that piece of land. The sooner we reach those goals the more unjobbing we can do! In the meantime I will be primarily caring for the LOs (pregnant with #1 right now). I would like to do some very part-time work doing something I believe in, like a yoga instructor or a doula, but right now ironically I can't afford the training/certification. So I think we are going to have to go through a few years in the military just to set us up for our real lives, and in the meantime just simplify in as many ways as we can. It's so funny because no one in my life understands my goals at all. They're like, why don't you want a good-paying job? They are all working to support their wasteful lifestyles. When I tell people that I would rather be poor than not own my time, I get blank stares. People definitely don't want to think about how much of their lives is spent working for other people compared to how much of it is their own. If they tell themselves it is the only way it makes them feel better. I'd rather figure all this out now than have a mid-life crisis later when I realized I dedicated half my life to other peoples' gain.

[trekkingirl]

well said katealicia! Welcome to MDC and the group

[Mama Jemma]

Wow, this is amazing! All these years I've been down on myself for being inconsistent, for hating to work for anyone else, for insisting on flexibility and independence in my life, etc etc....and I never knew to simply say, "of course I feel this way, I'm an unjobber!" I'm so glad to finally have a term for myself!

My 20s were a series of simultaneous part time jobs ( I could never bear one 40 hour week job, I always preferred two or three 20s), in everything from personal care for mentally handicapped geriatrics to managing an auto body shop to to one great summer as a traveling puppeteer! Then I got married and sat on the couch writing all day. After the divorce I spontaneously moved to Africa, where my unjobbing nature stood me in good stead as I figured out how to start over with no savings and no marketable career skills on a new continent! Ironically, here I was offered the first white collar job of my life, selling advertising for a huge global magazine. My agency is out of europe and I'm the only employee in Kenya, so I work my own hours with no supervision....as long as my numbers are good, my boss is happy. I can take my laptop to the tropical kenyan coast and work onthe beach for a week and my company never even knows. I get to meet all the prestigious players in the Kenyan private sector which has been a fascinating education. And I finally fulfilled one latent dream this unjobber never wanted to admit to.....getting to wear power suits and heels!

I think that if we are committed to a vision for our best life, we will find ways of making it happen. I'm now using my corporate experience and connections here to write a book about female entrepreneurs in Kenya. Writing is what I have always loved most, and now I've found my niche.

Plus, what with unexpectedly taking in a newborn three weeks ago, it's damn handy having a flexible schedule and being able to do most of my work via computer, from home.

Unjobbing is really a dream lifestyle!!

[calanagear]

I am a blogger, and although it took me about a year to bring in an income from my site, last month it did quite well. Our goal is to have my husband work from home in the next four months. It has been a long road to figure out how to 'unjob' and just be self employed in general ( anyone else fail to learn how to be an entrepreneur in school?? I mean couldn't they teach a few classes instead of the emphasis being on getting a job?) but it has been very fulfilling, as I get to stay home with my daughter and unschool her.

Elance.com is a great site for people who want to edit, write for companies, or do design work, as well as virtual assistant type jobs such as running a person's twitter account. I haven't used it myself but have hired several people off of the site and they all like it. I believe it's free as well, to post one's profile :)

[greenacresmama]

I trade stocks in the stock market. We traded our house we fixed up - materials (whoa) went a long way to get the start going. I am not sure how to talk to anyone and feel good about it though. I think the choices we make can have a little risk but when people think of the market they get worried. All I feel is food :). I guess I do really well. My trick is I have a limit and then I pull out. You can't really set a dollar amount, you have to think a bit more in percentage, but mine usually match. I have to trade on stocks worth around $10 to get it though. I know, everything can fall apart. I think this is why we really want to buy a home and pay for it. We feel that. BUT! Hey, we could always just get a job right? My DH and I both homeschool. We are planning on planting lots of food when we find our home (we might have it really soon, like really soon, just making sure we want to marry it.)  

I would love to know where you all live and if you enjoy it. Maybe it is just me, but the cost of living has played a big part in our plan. We have found a cheap beautiful county that is proving to be a lot of fun and is really nice for the kids. People here really want to make it more too - they aren't overwhelmed I guess :). It is fun. We drive around to see all types of nature, beach, and pick fruit. 

I can't stop making toys for my own kids, but I would love to make some on Etsy. 

A blog is probably going to happen soon. My mom is really, really good at that. I do all kinds of fun, healthy, vintage, DIY, traveling too, that my mom is completely yelling at me to blog. She does this thing called e-commerce and she totally loves it. It is so technically over my head though (though she complains is not, just like filling out forms). She is really good at it though. If she would only build websites! 

Blogging seems hard! I love living my life though. It really does seem like it can add a lot to the memory book though. I just wonder how to do it? Short sweet? day to day? all subjects? 

[changinglives]

Hi there, I work from home marketing all natural health products that are literally changing peoples lives.  I have always wanted to help people get healthy, but I never imagined my life being like this.  I am home everyday with my kids and because of this amazing business my husband was able to retire from his oilfield job and be at home everyday to do this with me :)  now our kids have both of there parents home yay!!!  We have been travelling the states and meeting incredible people everywhere we go, and  I am truly blessed to be able to help people on a daily basis and excited for the years to come :)

[MrsKoehn]

We don't have a lot of expenses. Our electric comes off of the Columbia River mostly, so it's cheap. We own our trailer, just have 5 more years I think to pay it off. Maybe less. I forget. He's putting extra on it. Water and sewer are free, trash is next to nothing bc we take it to the dump.

I do make some money homeschooling my 3 SILs (16, 14 and 12) 9 months out of the year. Not much, but it pays for my vitamins and health stuff, plus most of the food I order and a few extras.

Mostly, I work to save money. If you don't have a budget, I really recommend it. Snowball any debt and use the envelope system overall. We have a modified version of that.

I also coupon as much as I can. Resist the temptation to get things you don't really use or need just bc you have a good coupon or it blows it. I saved 22% of my grocery/household bill last year. You can print coupons from many online sites (find out your local store's requirements on these first. Some don't take black and white, or need a good quality print. Here I do color but in a draft mode. Works most of the time. Safeway has a rule, if a printed coupon won't scan, they don't accept it. Only had maybe 2 with this problem), get what's in the paper and write companies requesting them.

I also garden and can, freeze and dehydrate. Hubby hunts in the fall, doesn't always get anything, but two out of 4 years he has and that's a big help. 1 deer really took us far this year.

Another little silly thing, I have time to research best buys on online things.

I cook/bake a lot, as well as sew. Those crafts really can save $$.

If you plan to BF your LO and do cloth diapers, that'll save in the long run too.

I make most of my own cleaners too. BIG saving there.

Being a housewife really can save the $$ if you do it well. I'm sure you can! :)
 

[violetflapjack]

I guess I'm an unjobber too and didn't know it until I found this group!  It's cool to see what everyone else is up to to make ends meet.  I think my situation is kind of a mish-mash of a lot of the things that other people have already said.  Although currently DH is working for a landscaping company pretty regularly, but apparently that might slow down in the fall.

We've been "professional" students for about the last three years, while I've had a part time home based online gig through Lionbridge.  I'va also been blogging, but I haven't monetized it.  I don't really even have too many views outside of my friends and family that look at it, which is fine because that's pretty much why I started it, but having the extra money would be nice...

Mostly we do a lot of penny pinching around here.  We just moved to a place that is a bit more pricey than where we were since DH had a better job and everything (before we knew that it might not be as steady as we had originally thought).  So I've been getting way more into the money saving house wife mode.  I don't really think that a full time job for DH is really right for our family either.  We're unjobbers at heart and we've been talking more and more about things that we can do that are homebased where we could support ourselves and be available for our kids. 

[violetflapjack]

oh, yeah I aslo wanted to ask those of you who mentioned blogging.  I would love to read your blogs if you want to post the links or you can PM them to me if you would rather.  I love reading mom blogs and I'm always on the hunt for good ones!

[yippiehippie]

Heres mine

www.rebeccacarr.blogspot.com

I'd also love to see more blogs and learn about how you go about making $$ from them. I love to write and if I made $ I could actually find the time to do it! I'd also love to see anyone else's sites for whatever you're doing...lets share!

I finally opened up my own online shop, Nature to Nurture (check me out on Etsy and FB if you want!), making body and baby care stuff. It's random stuff I make anyway and I'm just gonna keep putting stuff out there and see what sells! The playsilks I've made have already sold out, as has my body butter, yay!! My aunt has offered to help market and make things and I just talked to a friend who wants to get into business too, making food, so we might try something together. It's amazing how motivated you get when friends and family start rallying for you, it also makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know I'm supported! I made a custom knit yoda doll for a friend and her LO is now carrying it everywhere. This is why I love doing this, it might never make as much as a conventional job, but I'm doing something that really means something to others, while staying with my kids, not paying the "big boss", and I'm able to manage my own time! It's a bit overwhelming right now, but will be worth it!

[HouseofPeace]

there's a group for people who live like this!  WHOAH!

my husband and i are both self-employed.  but we're definitely more 'unjobbing', i just didn't know there was a word for it!  kinda like i call it 'homeschooling' when we're definitely more unschooling....  

i was thinking the other day i couldn't say some things about BUYING stuff on the DDC I'm on b/c i DON'T BUY STUFF unless absolutely necessary.  here's how our income works-

my husband is in full-time unsupported ministry, and gets random support from people who believe in what he does.  this covers more of our bills this year than it has for the last 4 since we've had no 'real' jobs for income.  but we end up pulling in about 40,000 a year between the two of us, which is not much spending money.

i'm a stay-at-home mom of 4 small kids with one on the way.  i barter time/internet work/personal assistant work with 2 different farm groups for meat/milk/veggies.  and i'm a certified holistic health counselor when i can schedule in clients around homeschooling/farm work/ministry wife.  i'm working on charging more consistently for my time health counseling- though how do you get family and friends to pay you for health advice?  still working on that one....

thankfully, i'm able to make a lot of things as i'm pretty crafty, but also have a way of finding what we need.  housing and food are our highest bills (we're one car right now, in between minivans, but i can walk most places w/ a stroller) and we've been living on miracles and waiting for so long, that it's become second nature.  though i confess, access to farm fresh organic meat/veggies/milk/eggs with no need for cash is an amazing blessing.

homebirthing, and have state issued health insurance for medical emergencies, so most things are pretty well covered.  

so curious to wander around and see what everyone else does!  

[lotusrising]

I've been "unjobbing" for about two years now. I read "Unjobbing" by Micheal Fogler (I also met him in person when volunteering for the peace and justice council in kentucky...he's awesome) when I was about 21. I also read a lot of other books on voluntary simplicity and rethinking the 9 to 5 in my early adulthood, so I've always been seeking this path.

Anyway, recently, I've been writing for content companies (like ehow.com) online. The pay is generally low, but it pays the bills if you live simply and is sooooo flexibile. There is a forum called work place like home that you can google. I've found an endless amount of part time online work on there. Just keep in mind that most of it is low paying unless you have a very impressive skill set.

I've also delved into doing pt customer service jobs from home as well as search engine rating, but I hate both with a passion.

I'm going to college right now to get a bachelor's degree in marketing and also plan on going to massage school in the spring. I'd like my unjobbing life to be a mixture of freelance writing, writing on my own blog, and massage therapy in the next two years. We shall see. :) I might have to get a part time job as a waitress sometime as well, but I'd love the adult interaction since I'm a homeschooling mom too...