For those of you who earn income from home...

[Kipling]

I was going to say "for those of you who work from home," but we ALL do that, don't we?

Anyway, I have a friend who has a 2 and 4 year old. I won't go into details about the family situation, but suffice it to say that she needs to figure out a way to earn an income. She does not want to put her kids in daycare, so she would like to figure out something that she can do from home. She doesn't need to earn a full-time salary, but something to help out with bills would be great.

Do any of you have suggestions?

TIA

 

ETA: My friend's husband is unavailable right now (meaning, he can't work, can't support the kids, can't watch the kids, etc. - it's a very long, sad story). So, it is falling upon her to provide for her family. She needs to do more than just cost cutting tips. Also, babysitting is not an option due to the unstable home environment. Something that she can do at night from home would be ideal.

Edited September 15, 2010 by KristenD

[Chris in VA]

I know there are several threads about WAH opportunities.

Arise is currently in the midst of a big hiring boom--it's telephone work.

She could pet sit or baby sit--this is what I do. It's out of the home, but the $ is pretty good. I do not bring dd with me, though; your friend would have to figure out a way to do sitting at her home or after her hubby gets home. Sitter City is an online "match up" site she could register on for free. She'd have to be very careful to screen pet clients so her kids stayed safe.

[Jennifer in MI]

Babysitting. I'm always amazed at how much can be made!

 

I don't work from home, but I do everything in my power NOT to spend. I find that the time I spend putting into planning out our meals, using coupons to get free items at CVS and Rite Aid, planning Christmas and other holidays early, shopping for used clothes instead of new, etc. ends up "making" us money. KWIM?

[hillfarm]

First, read some of the stuff on the www.wahm.com website, for work at home moms.

 

I posted a while back when I was first getting started with online content writing. It is not all that creative, but the money is not bad. I sound like an infomercial when I talk about it, but I'm just telling the truth about my experiences.

 

I can work from home or anywhere else I have access to a computer and internet (library, cybercafe, etc.). I can work any time of the day or night. I don't have a contract so I can do as much or as little as I want (I took the entire summer off). I can give myself overtime whenever I want, so can bring in extra income. I get paid to my PayPal account twice a week. I make $25 for each 400 word article I write, which takes me about an hour each. And if you already have an internet provider, it doesn't cost a single penny to get started. You just have to apply and send some writing samples.

 

I first started doing it when dh got a pay cut at work. I wanted to try to make up the difference so we wouldn't have to redo our budget. I reached that goal last week. Now I am working to pay off dd's new braces. Hopefully I will be able to have that covered by the end of the year. I am only trying to do 2 articles per week day, so I'm bringing in $1000 per month.

 

I know there are other types of online writing that people can do, but I don't know anything about them. When I started this, I kept thinking it was too good to be true. I set up a separate, dedicated checking account so that if this went bad it wouldn't screw up our regular checking account. So far, everything has gone fine. I get paid to PayPal, then once a week I transfer my money from PayPal to the special checking account. When I reach a goal, I withdraw that amount from the account and go spend it. (My favorite part!:D)

 

HTH

[Kipling]

Thank you for the tips!

I will take a look at the WAHM website, and I would appreciate any other suggestions that I can forward to her.

[SeekingSimplicity]

What about a cleaning job? Could she take her kids with her to clean houses? I had a job once cleaning houses for medicare. It was something I could have taken my kids along (to the houses at least, not the meetings) if I had to.

 

I wish your friend good luck, and hope she finds something. I'm looking for ideas here too. We need a second income, but I can't work outside the home. And everything I've found to do at home requires high speed internet, which I can't get.

[micheller1]

I did transcription from home for about 5 years. I worked for a company called cybersecretaries. I think they've changed their name in case it comes as something else. You do need a foot pedal and to download transcribing software. You also need to have relatively fast typing speed.

 

Good luck to your friend.