02-21-2014, 09:30 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-21-2014, 03:07 PM by cookderosa.)
If this is too personal, don't answer, but what kind of $ would you like your job to generate? $500 a month? $500 a week? I think there are variations of many things you can do. This might be a long answer lol.
Also, random, but have you looked at ways to DECREASE your spending? There are things we do that have made huge differences over the years. I'm not saying these would work for you, but these are some of the little money things we do that keep our lights on.
I do all the haircuts 100% of the time. I added it up once, this saves us $27,000 from baby till high school graduation for our family.
I grow most my own veggies.
I do all the cooking- we rarely buy food already made/restaurant
I coupon (a new venture) which has saved tons.
I buy used and borrow before considering buying new. (Craigslist, thrift stores, Restore, etc)
We don't have cell phones or tv/cable
Expensive medical are always bought at tax refund time: glasses, braces, wisdom teeth, crowns, contacts, etc. We NEVER finance this stuff.
We don't own any credit cards.
I have a budget that we've followed on my computer since before we had internet! LOL I use it religiously. I know every penny coming in and every penny going out.
My 4 kids work off a small amount of their karate tuition by volunteering as available.
Generally, we don't pay people to do things we can do ourselves.
Little bits of income that I do from home:
sell things on Craigslist (varies)
jobs on Fiver (google it) $20 +/- a month
I ghost-write (this pays well,but my thesis is demanding, so I turn down jobs too. Jobs average $50-$250 I do about 2-3 per year)
have a yard sale at least once per year (couple hundred $)
my grocery cards are tied to Savingstar (google it) $25 +/- a month
my grocery cards are tied to UPromise (hardly anything $10/year)
Write a book *seriously, why not? You'll get a royalty check each month that your sales exceed $5.
Give a seminar or teach a class anywhere people gather (homeschool group, moms group, bible study, etc. - I have taught classes this way for YEARS, I'm sure you can teach something!)
Community Colleges hire "adult ed" teachers too, I've done this a lot through the years, you can expect about $100 for an afternoon.
Adjunct at your local CC. My college pays $1500 per course taught. So, I generally taught 3-5 courses per year - averaged $3000/year.
Have your kids start businesses for their income. We've never given our kids spending money (that sounds so bad) but seriously, they are all always loaded $! All our kids generate their own income, and have since...well, always. Our oldest has a job, but used to dog walk for a family that paid him $100/month. He did that for years. My second son's favorite is to resell things. He regularly repurposes items that he has found, were given to him, or he buys cheap, and fixes them up and sells for a profit. My third son has owned a gumball machine vending business since he was 9. He clears about $50/month. My 9 year old has (so far) managed to be frugal with his Christmas or Birthday card money but has found it limiting and just last month started dog sitting for a family. He earned $100 in a week. So, we never give our kids money, they are very motivated and if you ask them, they will tell you it never occurred to them to ask us for $ for something like pizza or movies. As you guessed, they'll get a cell phone/ipad, etc when they buy it- and they have. My gumball son just bought a $950 Alienware computer for himself! We provide clothes obviously, but if they want something extra expensive, they buy it (Hollister underwear!),
Again, I'm not suggesting these would work for you, I'm just showing you how we've managed to live on 1 (very lower middle) income all these years. Even this job I've just accepted is for 5-10 hours per week but I'll write my own schedule since I always have to be able to pull back when the demands of the family require it, so I understand your dilemma. I wish you the best!
Also, random, but have you looked at ways to DECREASE your spending? There are things we do that have made huge differences over the years. I'm not saying these would work for you, but these are some of the little money things we do that keep our lights on.
I do all the haircuts 100% of the time. I added it up once, this saves us $27,000 from baby till high school graduation for our family.
I grow most my own veggies.
I do all the cooking- we rarely buy food already made/restaurant
I coupon (a new venture) which has saved tons.
I buy used and borrow before considering buying new. (Craigslist, thrift stores, Restore, etc)
We don't have cell phones or tv/cable
Expensive medical are always bought at tax refund time: glasses, braces, wisdom teeth, crowns, contacts, etc. We NEVER finance this stuff.
We don't own any credit cards.
I have a budget that we've followed on my computer since before we had internet! LOL I use it religiously. I know every penny coming in and every penny going out.
My 4 kids work off a small amount of their karate tuition by volunteering as available.
Generally, we don't pay people to do things we can do ourselves.
Little bits of income that I do from home:
sell things on Craigslist (varies)
jobs on Fiver (google it) $20 +/- a month
I ghost-write (this pays well,but my thesis is demanding, so I turn down jobs too. Jobs average $50-$250 I do about 2-3 per year)
have a yard sale at least once per year (couple hundred $)
my grocery cards are tied to Savingstar (google it) $25 +/- a month
my grocery cards are tied to UPromise (hardly anything $10/year)
Write a book
*seriously, why not? You'll get a royalty check each month that your sales exceed $5.Give a seminar or teach a class anywhere people gather (homeschool group, moms group, bible study, etc. - I have taught classes this way for YEARS, I'm sure you can teach something!)
Community Colleges hire "adult ed" teachers too, I've done this a lot through the years, you can expect about $100 for an afternoon.
Adjunct at your local CC. My college pays $1500 per course taught. So, I generally taught 3-5 courses per year - averaged $3000/year.
Have your kids start businesses for their income. We've never given our kids spending money (that sounds so bad) but seriously, they are all always loaded $! All our kids generate their own income, and have since...well, always. Our oldest has a job, but used to dog walk for a family that paid him $100/month. He did that for years. My second son's favorite is to resell things. He regularly repurposes items that he has found, were given to him, or he buys cheap, and fixes them up and sells for a profit. My third son has owned a gumball machine vending business since he was 9. He clears about $50/month. My 9 year old has (so far) managed to be frugal with his Christmas or Birthday card money but has found it limiting and just last month started dog sitting for a family. He earned $100 in a week. So, we never give our kids money, they are very motivated and if you ask them, they will tell you it never occurred to them to ask us for $ for something like pizza or movies. As you guessed, they'll get a cell phone/ipad, etc when they buy it- and they have. My gumball son just bought a $950 Alienware computer for himself! We provide clothes obviously, but if they want something extra expensive, they buy it (Hollister underwear!),
Again, I'm not suggesting these would work for you, I'm just showing you how we've managed to live on 1 (very lower middle) income all these years. Even this job I've just accepted is for 5-10 hours per week but I'll write my own schedule since I always have to be able to pull back when the demands of the family require it, so I understand your dilemma. I wish you the best!
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