If you are a one income family...

[mom31257]

and you need to bring in extra money, what kinds of things you do?

Edited March 29, 2010 by mom31257
change wording

[Dianne-TX]

We don't personally do this, but I have a friend whose husband delivers pizzas in the evenings. They've gotten a lot of extra money to buy items for their new baby. He doesn't work every evening, but enough and also on the busy days so the tips are better. My husband almost did this, but he couldn't ever get a call back from the local pizza shops. Don't know why for sure. If we get in a bind in the future, he will try this again or get another part time job.

 

A few years ago my husband worked part time at Home Depot in the evenings and Saturdays. They worked around his regular work schedule pretty well and it was a nice job that he enjoyed. They also paid well hourly.

 

HTH

[Brigitte]

My first shot was becoming and eBay seller. Next it was Usborne Books - that ended up making us a dual income family. I am still doing that, but I did just get my real estate license. I have friends that crochet/knit and sell at the local farmers' market. They also have chickens and sell the eggs. There is a lady at the farmers' market who makes soap and does quite well. I suppose a lot depends on how much extra you need to make and for how long.

[mysticamethyst]

I turned my hobbies in to jobs. I have sold Discovery Toys, Tupperware, and a few other home party things. Took me a while to realize I am not a great salesperson and I dont' have the friend ring to start that type of thing. What I did was turn my love of photography and Photoshop into a wedding/family photo business. I am hoping to extend that to working with local daycares for school photos. I have just started photographing infants, which I love. Wedding and infants have to be my favorite, its slow starting but I am not ready for full time anyway. In the past I have cooked dinners for 2 or 3 families that want homecooked meals but no time to cook, that led to decorated cakes. I didnt' like that so much turned my love of cooking into a chore. My suggestion is to looke at what you enjoy doing and that work with that and see what you get. Good luck:001_smile::001_smile:

[Jmac]

I watch a little girl during the week. I get her for four days a week, eight hours a day and make a steady extra hundred a week. It has been a huge answer to prayer to have that little extra income and I have become known as someone who babysits so during spring break I made quite a bit more. And I love having a house full of kids!

[MeanestMomInMidwest]

Well, we're not technically a 1 income family, since I work part time, but when I *save* money, I count it as extra money earned. And I don't mean when I buy something on sale. I mean when I reduce a monthly bill or save a substantial amount on something we considered necessary to buy.

 

I've discovered Aldi's ground coffee is just as good as my favorite Duncan Donuts and half the price

I freeze in the winter to lower heating costs

Dh is uncomfortably warm in summer to lower cooling costs

If refinancing is an option for you, rates are low and could result in substantial monthly savings

We don't carry credit card debt (saves on interest), but if you do, consider calling the cc company and requesting a lower interest rate. Sometimes this works, and will save money over tiim

 

After I make a change, I tally up the amount saved and count that as money I earned for our family budget. Does that make sense?

[specialmama]

I open the church across the street. I open and close for community rentals and sometimes set up for the odd condo meeting, which includes setting up a head table and arranging chairs theatre-style. It takes all of 5 minutes (20 if I have to set up) and I get paid $15 for open/close and $30 for an open/close with set up and tear down. There are peak seasons and dry seasons. For example, during the winter, the gym is rented out about 4-6 times per day. In the summer, it's about once per week. Big pay cheques in winter for minimal effort. :D

 

I should add that I feel guilty sometimes about this. But the church did ask me, I did not ask them, and they insist on paying in order to have a relaible person who will not quit after a month.

[babysparkler]

For a few difficult years I opened a dollhouse shop on eBay and supplemented our income a bit. DH plays piano and takes extra "gigs" when we need that little extra.

[Rhonda in TX]

DH does computer programming contract work, teaches double bass lessons, and has the occasional paying orchestra gig.

 

Due to DH's orchestra practice and performance schedule (this is his hobby), there is no way I could take an evening job. I would love to work part-time at Barnes and Noble, but that will have to wait. I do occasionally sell things on ebay.

 

Oh, we also have an online scrapbook store. It's self-sufficient and we can pull money from it sometimes.

[apmom]

I did sell quite a bit on ebay for a while. I would look at thrift stores and garage sales for children's items that I knew were high-quality and that people would pay a lot of money for on ebay, then resell them. It was time-consuming, but I enjoyed it and sometimes it was VERY profitable. I don't do it anymore. I just can't go looking for things with the kids in tow anymore.

 

Now, I do sell quite a few books on Amazon. And, I would guess many homeschoolers have lots of books around. It's really easy and takes almost no time to do.

 

I have addressed envelopes for a local business. (I did not really enjoy this, though.)

 

Now, I work sometimes for my brother-in-law who owns his own business and he pays me to encode HTML documents for his website. This is by far the most lucrative of my "jobs". It might be worth asking anyone you know if they might have work you can do from home.

[Jennifer in MI]

When we decided we wanted to start traveling more, I took it upon myself to find ways to save money that didn't involve me leaving the house to go to work. That was going to be too hard, I decided.

 

So, I called all of the companies we do business with - Comcast, Sprint, insurance companies, etc. We got those bills down to a level that saved us about $200/month. That money goes directly into a savings account.

 

Then, I looked at our grocery bill. Found ways to cut that without sacrificing our health.

 

Couponing. I know it's cliche! But, I go to CVS and Rite Aid once/week and never spend a dime. We get ALL of our things there for free. Shampoo, razors, toilet paper, soap, etc, etc,etc. It takes a while to learn, but now I'm down to about an hour a week for both. Last year, I was able to take advantage of their end of season sales and I got ALL of our stocking stuffers there - bubbles, candy, etc. And, some Christmas presents - slip and slides and pool floaties for the cousins from the south!

 

We are VERY careful with our utilities. We have our heat turned down as low as it can possibly be without us getting frostbite! We hang our laundry to dry. We turned down our water heater. We take shorter showers. We got the kids in on this. We budgeted for certain amounts for each item. Each month we're under, we add that amount to the vacation account. They now take VERY short showers and turn off lights constantly!

 

ETA - One more thing I forgot - try thrift stores before you go anywhere else for clothes. I was shocked when we did it for the first time! We got out of there for ALL of our fall clothes (including boots and leggings and coats) for $70!!!! That was when we needed a lot! I added the saved money to our account!

 

Anyway, I find that this works very well for our family!

Edited March 29, 2010 by Jennifer in MI

[Chris in VA]

I open the church across the street. I open and close for community rentals and sometimes set up for the odd condo meeting, which includes setting up a head table and arranging chairs theatre-style. It takes all of 5 minutes (20 if I have to set up) and I get paid $15 for open/close and $30 for an open/close with set up and tear down. There are peak seasons and dry seasons. For example, during the winter, the gym is rented out about 4-6 times per day. In the summer, it's about once per week. Big pay cheques in winter for minimal effort. :D

 

I should add that I feel guilty sometimes about this. But the church did ask me, I did not ask them, and they insist on paying in order to have a relaible person who will not quit after a month.

 

We pay a teen from our congregation $20 to close up the church over the weekend--don't feel guilty! :D

 

OP, I pet sit and baby sit. I babysit once a week for about 8-14 hours and make a little more than $8 after taxes. I pet sit on holidays and vacations--this week I'm visiting 3 cats and 4 dogs! It's not much, but last year I did a 15 day dog sit and made about $300.

[bettyandbob]

I teach swimming evening and weekends at the local community center. I have certifications for this and it pays quite well. dd has a very lucrative pet sitting business.

[newlifemom]

I tutor my nephew and am a tutor for Classical Conversations. I do these things to offset homeschooling costs as well as lessons etc.

[Jennifer in MI]

One more thing I thought of - have your kids get jobs! That way they have their own spending money and it teaches them good work ethic.

 

My oldest started his own grass-cutting business when he was very young. He did a GREAT job! Then, my two oldest got a job cleaning the bathrooms at the local Little League fields. They each made $400 in one summer. The oldest is now working on the field crew of the Little League and my 9 yo will start cleaning the bathrooms. This saves us money because the kids buy big ticket items for themselves! And, they buy gifts for their friends when invited to birthday parties.

[Pippen]

Couponing. I know it's cliche! !

 

:iagree:I also started out by selling what was around the house and what I could find that would bring in income on ebay and amazon. That generated extra for about a year, and increasingly I've been stock-up shopping and couponing to make up for the extra going towards music and dance.

 

It does take time--clipping, organizing, and especially shopping, but it's really stretched our dollars. Last night I went to the store for a few gallons of milk and realized that with the cereal deal they were running (free milk with X boxes purchased) and my coupons I could bring home 3 gallons of milk for about $7 or 3 gallons of milk plus 8 boxes of cereal for $11.50. Checking my coupon binder and doing the calculations took quite a bit longer than a quick trip in to grab milk, but 57 cents per box of cereal is a good price for me. This morning I made another trip out and my total with advertised prices and coupons was about 75% of the normal costs. Stores are in close proximity here so it's do-able.

[Dmmetler]

I teach private and small group music classes, mostly to homeschooled kids. Actually, it was having moved to this after my DD was born so I could be home with her that made me consider homeschooling at all!

[Aggie]

I've provided day care, tutored, worked retail and dog sat.

 

Can you give music or art lessons? Sign on with an office cleaning business (done after hours when your dh might be home)?

 

Have you cut grocery costs? When my dh was in school, we lived on legumes and eggs. No frills, no eating out.

 

Can you barter? Inquire about cleaning/cooking for an instructor in exchange for classes.

 

Could you/dh set up a lawn care business?

[MamaAkins]

I have done childcare in my home for the past 8 years to supplement my husband's somewhat meager teaching salary (he teaches public school). I watch one child full-time and another just one to two days per week. On average, I bring in about $600 per month doing this (paid under the table).

 

We also clean the dance studios where two of my dds dance. Since my father lives with us, we are able to do it at night when the kids are asleep (he's here to listen for them). I like that it's something that we can do together; it doesn't really take away from our family-time and the pay is good ($13 per hour). However, there are times when it's hard to muster up the energy to go in to "work" at 9pm when you're ready to wind down after a long day. It generally takes us 6 hours (3 hours each) per night and we do it twice per week (Wednesdays and Saturdays). We bring in about $500+ per month (on average).

 

My husband also does some private tutoring, on occasion. When he does this, he makes $35 per hour.

[mom31257]

Thanks for all the ideas. We are okay financially for now, but the house escrow is going up $100 a month next month due to property taxes increasing. We also have 2 vehicles paid for, but no room in the budget for another payment when we need another car.

 

I would like to find some ways that are flexible but can generate some income. I have a math degree and could tutor, but my family has some situations right now that I need to be available to help.

 

We would love to be able to travel more, especially next school year. We'll be doing American history next year. My dh teaches school and has lots of time off if we just had the money.

 

Thanks again!

[stripe]

A few years ago my husband worked part time at Home Depot in the evenings and Saturdays. They worked around his regular work schedule pretty well and it was a nice job that he enjoyed. They also paid well hourly.

Really? I knew someone who was a manager at Lowe's and made about $20,000/yr., which is why I am surprised.

[myfatherslily]

I don't fall under the category of "one income family trying to bring in extra money" but I do fall under "separated from husband and trying to bring in small income while still staying home and homeschooling". So, same result:)

 

I watch a little boy at my house 3 full days a week. He's a sweet boy and fits right in here. My boys are 2 & 4, the other little boy is 3. They play, they fight, they grumble when they have to see each other, they get sad if they can't... they act like brothers, basically!

 

I also found a job doing research online for a local company. They pay nicely for the work I do and I make as much with that in 10 hours a week as I do babysitting for 30 hours.

 

I found these jobs by asking around for ideas. Someone suggested Craigslist for babysitting jobs, and while I was nervous about that, I was also desperate!:) You have to be careful and smart about it, but it worked out perfectly for me. Another person told me about the other job and where to apply.

[Strawberry Queen]

I've done babysitting on and off over the years. I usually get kids by word of mouth. This is handy as I generally know the family and the child involved. Right now I'm doing after school care for a friend. It does not require a huge amount of effort from me but my kids are highly involved. I drive to pick her up at 3 and she's usually going home at 4:30. It is draining on my girls as they have to entertain the same person 3 days a week. I try to make this up to them by doing some extra things like going out to eat and buying them the odd new thing.

 

I started out having to do it in the fall, although the mom was only pt so it wasn't very frequent. Things changed at dh's job and it's not necessary anymore. I think I'll stop babysitting next year as I don't need to do it and it complicates my life.

 

I also do babysitting for a friend one evening a week. I really enjoy this as her kids are sweet and I don't have to deal with my kids. I get to play and interact with her kiddos and then send them off to bed. Then, I get to peruse all my friend's homeschooling stuff.:D

 

This is much less draining as it's less frequent and I don't have to deal with friend relationships everyday. It also pays better.;)

[Mommee & Baba]

I have an etsy shop. I sew alot of baby and children's clothing, cloth diapers, nursing covers, toys...ect..the list is HUGE :p I also sew many other things includes women's skirts, napkins, tablerunners, curtains...ect..

 

However this past few months I'm finding it hard to be able to handle the sewing demands and large wholesale orders I am open to. So I've basically not updated the shop for awhile now and whats in shop will stay until it sells. I have a random sale once in awhile for things that I'm finding time to sew up quickly..but my passion of sewing and enjoying it has haulted as I've found a new focus..homeschooling my children and raising them to enjoy having a baby along for the ride. It's a new challenge to say the least!

[Luckymama]

I sew also, though I don't have an etsy shop. I do mainly window treatments, bedding, and other soft goods, though I will do the occasional reupholstering and alterations. Now it's prom season so I'm altering dresses for my friends' daughters. I've been doing this for 15 years (good gravy!) and get all my work through word-of-mouth. I do hand out business cards to new clients and periodically to friends for them to share with others.

 

I like that I can take as much work as I want and that I can schedule it around our lives. I do nothing between Halloween and New Year's :D

[DawnM]

I have signed up to score for Pearson testing services. I have filled out all the paperwork and am waiting for confirmation.

 

Dawn

[DawnM]

I do this too. I just feel that it is far easier for me to cut things out of the budget than to work from home and bring it in.

 

Now, if I were to go back to work outside the home, I could bring in a decent income, but I am not willing to do that at this time.

 

Dawn

 

When we decided we wanted to start traveling more, I took it upon myself to find ways to save money that didn't involve me leaving the house to go to work. That was going to be too hard, I decided.

 

So, I called all of the companies we do business with - Comcast, Sprint, insurance companies, etc. We got those bills down to a level that saved us about $200/month. That money goes directly into a savings account.

 

Then, I looked at our grocery bill. Found ways to cut that without sacrificing our health.

 

Couponing. I know it's cliche! But, I go to CVS and Rite Aid once/week and never spend a dime. We get ALL of our things there for free. Shampoo, razors, toilet paper, soap, etc, etc,etc. It takes a while to learn, but now I'm down to about an hour a week for both. Last year, I was able to take advantage of their end of season sales and I got ALL of our stocking stuffers there - bubbles, candy, etc. And, some Christmas presents - slip and slides and pool floaties for the cousins from the south!

 

We are VERY careful with our utilities. We have our heat turned down as low as it can possibly be without us getting frostbite! We hang our laundry to dry. We turned down our water heater. We take shorter showers. We got the kids in on this. We budgeted for certain amounts for each item. Each month we're under, we add that amount to the vacation account. They now take VERY short showers and turn off lights constantly!

 

ETA - One more thing I forgot - try thrift stores before you go anywhere else for clothes. I was shocked when we did it for the first time! We got out of there for ALL of our fall clothes (including boots and leggings and coats) for $70!!!! That was when we needed a lot! I added the saved money to our account!

 

Anyway, I find that this works very well for our family!

[iluvmy4blessings]

I would love to tell you about how I have managed to generate a full time income while staying at home! It is something I prayed for years about and this year has finally been the year that it all came to fruition for me. I do not know if this is possible for you in your state etc. but certainly worth checking out.

 

The main thing that I do is home studies for CPS. I don't work for CPS. I am technically self employed and a subcontractor for a business that is a licensed child placing ageny in the state of Texas. Child Protective Services has contracted out some of these licensed child placement agencies to do home studies on families. I do kinship placements. Children who have been removed from their parent's home usually are first placed with a relative if possible. So I do home studies on the relatives who have asked for hte child to be placed with them. It is AWESOME. I can do as few or as many cases per month as I want for the most part. Sometimes it is slower than other times. It depends on the caseload that CPS gets. I make 300 per case. If I have to travel over 100 miles then I get reimbursed 50 dollars for mileage. When I go to do the homestudy, I inspect the home and interview the fmaily. After that I come home and write up the home study. I had to go through training to do this and send in my information to the state of Texas to become approved to do thse but the place I work for handled all of that for me. They send me cases and I have 15 days to do them. I go interview the family at whatever time I arrange with them to go. Then I come home and write the study and email it to the office . The studies are about 25 pages long and they do have to be done exactly right b/c it is a legal document that goes before a judge. I love to write and majored in English. I am very meticulous about my writing (except when I'm typing on my laptop in the bed at home as you can see my TYPOS!!) Anyway, it is awesome for me . I am able to do about 10 cases per month which is almost 3000 for me!! I am a single mom and this income has allowed me to homeschool. So it is a BLESSING> I do work myself hard though and stay very busy. I have a 14 y.o. dd who can babysit the rest of our crew while I go to home studies. I love it.

 

On top of that, I recently got hired by Pearson to score student writing responses to the state mandated testing FROM HOME!!d I do have a Masters degree in Education and my state teaching license but I am not positive if that was a requirement. I don't recall having to send in my teaching license. I think if you have a Bachelors degree it might suffice. If you go to Pearson website you can apply to be an at home scorer. I applied two years ago and just recentlyt ehy contacted me. I have not started it yet but it will pay around 12 dollars an hour. Again it can be done from home so I am thrilled to have one more way that I can generate income.

 

I hope you have similar opportunities available to you!!

Edited March 30, 2010 by iluvmy4blessings

[Tree House Academy]

I am a technical writer and I will occasionally take freelance writing projects on the side.

[Renee in NC]

Really? I knew someone who was a manager at Lowe's and made about $20,000/yr., which is why I am surprised.

 

One of the Lowes drivers who delivered block to us several years ago was making $9 an hour.

[iluvmy4blessings]

I don't fall under the category of "one income family trying to bring in extra money" but I do fall under "separated from husband and trying to bring in small income while still staying home and homeschooling". So, same result:)

 

I watch a little boy at my house 3 full days a week. He's a sweet boy and fits right in here. My boys are 2 & 4, the other little boy is 3. They play, they fight, they grumble when they have to see each other, they get sad if they can't... they act like brothers, basically!

 

I also found a job doing research online for a local company. They pay nicely for the work I do and I make as much with that in 10 hours a week as I do babysitting for 30 hours.

 

I found these jobs by asking around for ideas. Someone suggested Craigslist for babysitting jobs, and while I was nervous about that, I was also desperate!:) You have to be careful and smart about it, but it worked out perfectly for me. Another person told me about the other job and where to apply.

 

Very sorry to hear about your husband. You will make it!! I am very interested to know more about this research job online. If you can give me more info I would love it. thanks!

[Kimm in WA]

I'm glad the OP asked this question. We are in the position of me needing to bring in some $ as well...

 

Has anyone ever opened a coffee stand? I realize there are costs associated with the "hut" and start-up costs (no idea what they would be). I have 2 teenagers I homeschool plus a 10yo, as well as another teenager in dual-enrollment @ the CC. Seems like we could do shifts...we live on a rural "highway" where our driveway and the end of our property is on a small turnout off the hwy.

[KJsMom]

My sister works full time and hates grocery shopping, so she pays me to do her shopping every other week. She is a high school Spanish teacher. Lots of teachers are interested in personal shoppers. It's not a lot but it helps. I also make baby shower things bonnets, burp cloths, quilts, wipe containers and my MIL sells them for me. I decorate birthday cakes and occasionally sell those or trade them for other items. I just have to get creative because my dh is a rookie firefighter and we live on rookie pay!