Working from home?

[Heavenly]

And ending on the happy note of the other thread....

What can a person do at home to earn money that DOESN'T involve interacting with a lot of people? I am really shy and would not want to do discovery toys or tupperware or anything like that. I just want something to earn some money to help supplement my husband's income. I couldn't really work outside of the home because I don't want my children in daycare and I don't have anyone to watch them. My husband is working on setting up a second business (networking marketing) so he is home from 5:30 to 8:00 but then he goes out and works in the evenings as well. So it really has to be something that I can do at home. I wish I could just stuff envelopes or type stuff or something. I like stuff I can do by myself. Gee I sound so antisocial! LOL And to make this a parenting issue I will comment that while I do agree it is usually best for children to have a parent at home most of the time I don't understand why is it an issue for a mom to work from home. The parent is at home and they earnign extra money. Best of both worlds to me.

[Lucky Charm]

I have a friend who is now officially a "Former Paramedic". She is an excellent cook, and would frequently get asked for recipes, or "orders" for whatever it was she made and brought to a school function, or the the ER. Anyway, she is making a ton of money making homemade pies, lasagnas (her Chicken Alfredo lasagna is the bomb!), and she does traditional English teas for birthdays, wedding/baby showers, etc.

I ordered four of her pies for Thanksgiving, and i have to work next Fri, sat & sun, so i have ordered Baked Spaghetti, the Chicken Lasagna and Shepard's Pie, so my husband doesn't have to cook (and if he chooses to make something, i will keep those on hand for when i have a project due for class so i don't have to cook).

This is just an idea, and i have another friend who cleans houses. She does it during school hours (all her kids are school age).

Good luck!

[Lucky Charm]

Heavenly, i realized you would have to leave for deliveries of the food or pies, but you can bring your kids with you. and you do have to interact with people, but it seems minimal.

[Girl Named Sandoz]

I have an online shop, selling crystal jewellery, handmade organic beauty products, & other holistic health & living products.

[Peppermint]

I do a bunch of things to make money from home.

My biggest money maker is selling on ebay. I make items that I sell, and I really like the "no hassle" sales of ebay. If someone wants what I sell, they bid on it, I don't have to "make sales", ykwim? And- I only list when I have the time. If I am super busy (like earlier this year when I had the new babe), I just don't list anything for a while.

I also babysit a little boy after school, that is about $40/week. I also have him when he has a day off from school for whatever reason, and on school vacations. It is better (IMO) that doing real full time daycare, but I still make some extra cash, and the little boy and his parents ROCK- so I lucked out there.

[charmarty]

May I ask what does your typical mama sell on e bay? Do you go but new things and then sell it at a higher price, or does one sell things they have but don't need anymore?

[littleaugustbaby]

charmarty - you can do both, really. A lot of people make stuff and sell it, too. When ebay first started up, my mom would go to discount stores like Ross and TJ Maxx, and she'd buy stuff really cheap and sell it on ebay for extra cash, and she did pretty well, in a good month, she made about $300 or so, and she was only doing it part time. If you really wanted to make money and do it full time, you could probably make a decent bit of cash.

[charmarty]

huh...cool! I learn somethin new everyday Thanks!

[Peppermint]

Originally Posted by charmarty

May I ask what does your typical mama sell on e bay? Do you go but new things and then sell it at a higher price, or does one sell things they have but don't need anymore?

I have a friend who does the buy and re-sell thing and does quite well. She has one child so she can shop during the day. She buys at end of seasons from good name stores like gap and stores the stuff to sell at the right time the following year.

My ebay business is make and sell, which can be quite a bit harder as you have to figure out something you can make that people will buy on ebay, and consider how much you will make an hour, I make about minimum wage with what I do.

HTH!

[bec]

Iwork for my father. He has his own photography business (he takes school pictures of kids in preschool and daycare.

I do all his editing, office work, and putting packages together when they come back from the lab.

It's all digital now, so it's mostly computer work until we get the photos back.

The fall is the busiest time, followed by the spring (winter and summer are pretty dead). It can be busy and stressful for October and November, but the money is good, and I don't have to worry about mouthing off to the boss! :LOL

I realize that you can't work for my father , but maybe you have friends or other family that own their own business that would let you do clerical or other office work out of your home?


Bec

[~Quse~]

I did e-Bay for awhile. First I sold a bunch of stuff around the house that needed to go and then I went to garage sales and thrift stores looking for brand names. It was exciting at first but became tiresome. I grossed about $220 my one and only month making about a 100% return on many things, however that doesn't include the relatively enormous amount of time I spent finding and posting things. I do love the "thrill of the hunt" when searching for great deals so it wasn't so bad.

[maya44]

my friend does e-bay and she too buys stuff at the end of season at high end stores.

But she lists it during the "wrong" season. Why?? Because when someone needs a cute swimsuit or a pair of swim goggles in October (because their kid is taking classes) or a Halloween costume in June (because they are going to a party or are in a play) they can't get them any where else.

She does REALLY well!!!!.

[MotherHen]

Hmm, I am currently re-evaluating what I do at home. I am an MLM junkie (health products)! :LOL

Ah, that felt good!

I have found the reality of working at home and needing to be on the phone a lot, not very good for the family (or my business!) So I haven't done much the past few months. But my dd is starting preschool in Jan and I am deciding whatever will I do?

I've done a little on ebay and also find the posting and emailing a bit laborious. If you get the right thing, it could work for you. I have researched some of the tools, but then I do lot of emailing anyway, so any MORE is well, MORE!

One thing that I have been thinking is that investing is way more practical for Moms. DH and I did a course in forex trading (foreign currency exchange) and the market in that is huge (and the opportunity with us/euro too, thanks to election.) We are learning that slowly with a really good course/system that is affordable.

For us, 5:30am is good trading time and you can do it before kids get up. (Yeah, right I know some of you are saying. ) I have also heard of a single mom who only trading 'on announcements' and did very well and is now one of our trainers. So the time commitment doesn't have to be huge.

[I wouldn't recommend stocks. Too much research and decisions are often too emotional.]

We have also got in several private investment clubs. In one, our money is earning 1.9% on trading days and we are getting out now 2k/month. That one is making me question selling anything else!

But our needs really need more income for the next year. (We just took our 98 car in for $2500 transmission job. Ouch!)

I am considering focusing on one health product MLM that has national brand awareness and we can participate in radio/tv ad co-ops. With those, you get lots of customers and just need to follow-up with them, so the phone work is reduced and you are not selling, as they already bought via the ad they saw/heard. (Plus we and the kids love the product.) I had got to earning $500/month in that 2 years ago when I worked it last (w/o tv/radio) so I know I can do well with that one.

Heavenly, you mention your husband is doing an MLM. Is there a way you can help him be more productive? Perhaps you can do mailings for him? Have him ask an upline for some ideas relative to his MLM. If his MLM is 'good', any work you can do to help him will help shorten the time to get to the bigger incomes.

My sponsor in that one I mention above worked with his wife and they did the radio ads and she did the follow-up calls for him, just an hour or 2 a day. They did very well together (reached $5k/month in 5 months) and I was most envious as DH does NOT want to sell anything!

Best wishes for your perfect match!